Wish You Were Here

Chapter 26



It was only when Milo arrived at the Villa Argenti the next day that he saw the full extent of the damage of the earthquake. His side of the island had got away lightly in comparison and he looked around his beloved garden in despair.

The Goddess Garden had taken the brunt of the quake and one of Artemis’s hounds had cracked in two and Athena had lost an arm but actually looked better for it, Milo couldn’t help thinking. More traditional, he thought. She’d probably pass for an ancient work of art now and scholars would come from all over the world to gaze upon her and write sonnets.

But it was his beautiful Aphrodite that almost caused him to shed a tear. She lay smashed in at least a dozen different pieces, her lovely face gazing up at the sky uncomprehendingly.

‘What should we do with her?’ Lander asked him as they looked at the broken beauty who no longer towered above them but had been brought down to earth.

‘We’ll have to take her to that guy who did the repair on Hera last summer after that idiot tourist carved his initials into her bottom. Mr Carlson will be furious. Aphrodite is his favourite. He’ll want her mended or a new one made,’ Milo said.

‘I don’t think they’ll be able to fix her,’ Lander said, running his finger along the crack around her pretty neck.

‘We have to try,’ Milo said.

‘I don’t know much about statues,’ Lander said, ‘but she looks pretty dead to me.’

Milo shook his head. ‘We can’t allow her to be dead. We have to try and save her. She’s too important to the tourists to let her go,’ he said, not daring to add that she was just as important to him.

‘And what about the garden?’ Lander asked, looking around. The damage to the plants was nothing compared to his master’s beloved statues but it still had to be cleared up. Terracotta pots had cracked, a wall had come down and the greenhouse had lost most of its windows.

‘Look,’ Milo said, ‘it’s Friday afternoon. There’s not a lot we can do now, is there?’

‘I guess not,’ Lander said.

‘Let’s just tidy up as best as we can and think about how we’re going to sort the rest of it out before his highness returns next week.’

Friday afternoons were usually a time to wind down in the office. They were a time to sort out any bits of paperwork before the weekend exodus, to tidy away, to file and move on. So, it came as rather a surprise when Larry Baxter’s wife turned up.

Monica Baxter was a tiny woman with a big attitude. She looked as if she spent half her life in a beauty salon and the other half in London’s Bond Street and, today, she didn’t look pleased. Larry was in an interview with someone and Alice was just about to offer Monica a cup of tea whilst she waited for him but it wasn’t a cup of tea she wanted. It was Alice.

‘I trusted you, Alice Archer!’ she all but screamed.

Alice flinched as the little woman hovered menacingly over her desk. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I thought you were different.’

‘Mrs Baxter – what are you talking about?’

‘What am I talking about?’ Her scarlet-painted mouth quivered in a frightening manner. ‘I’m talking about you trying to seduce my husband – that’s what I’m talking about!’

The whole of the open-plan office fell silent and Alice blushed to her very soul. ‘I think we should talk about this somewhere else,’ Alice said.

‘I bet you do, you double-crossing floozy!’

Alice leapt up from her chair and did her best to guide Mrs Baxter through to a vacant interview room and closed the door behind them. ‘Please sit down.’

‘Don’t you tell me what to do!’ Mrs Baxter said. She looked quite wild now and Alice wondered if it was a good idea to be trapped in a room with her.

‘I don’t know what Larry’s been telling you,’ Alice ventured, ‘but–’

‘He’s not told me a single thing!’ Mrs Baxter said. ‘He just talks about you in his sleep – every single night.’

‘Oh, God!’ Alice said and she watched as Mrs Baxter sank into one of the interview chairs as if all the air had been knocked out of her and there was nothing Alice could do but sink into the chair opposite her.

‘I just can’t understand it,’ Mrs Baxter went on, a look of complete astonishment on her face. ‘I mean, you’re so plain. I didn’t think I needed to worry.’

‘But you don’t need to worry,’ Alice assured her. ‘Nothing’s happened, I promise you. It’s all just some misunderstanding. I’m not seeing your husband. He doesn’t even look at me in the office if you want to know the absolute truth. I’m seeing Ben Alexander.’

‘Ben Alexander? From the finance department?’ Monica Baxter looked perplexed. ‘Well, excuse me for saying so but you’re just not his type.’

As much as it pained her, Alice had to agree with her. ‘Listen,’ she said, ‘something strange has been going on but I can’t really say any more than that.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Mrs Baxter said.

‘I mean, this thing with Larry. All you need to know is that nothing’s happening. I promise you,’ Alice said, wringing her hands together like a bad actress.

‘And why should I believe you?’

‘Because you know me!’ Alice said. ‘We’ve talked at a dozen office parties. You know the sort of person I am.’

‘I thought I did!’ Mrs Baxter said, her scarlet mouth narrowed into a thin, mean line.

‘But you do know me and you know I couldn’t go behind your back like that.’ Alice looked at Mrs Baxter beseechingly and saw that she was beginning to calm down. ‘And Larry – well –’ Alice paused, wondering how she could phrase this without insulting the poor woman, ‘he just isn’t my type.’

Mrs Baxter stared at her for a moment, her lips twitching nervously and then a tiny smile shone through and a little giggle emerged. ‘He isn’t your type!’ she said and she made a strange snorting sound.

‘No,’ Alice confirmed. ‘He isn’t.’

Mrs Baxter snorted again. ‘He isn’t my type either!’ she said.

‘Mrs Baxter?’

‘Oh, God!’ she suddenly exclaimed. ‘You must think I’m such a fool.’

‘No!’ Alice said. ‘Not at all.’

‘How could my Larry ever hope to attract a young woman like you even when you are so plain-looking when he’s so – so – well, he’s not exactly George Clooney, is he?’ She seemed to be half-laughing and half-choking and Alice became alarmed.

‘Mrs Baxter – let me get you some water!’ she said, getting to her feet.

‘I’m fine!’ she said, catching her breath, her hand clasped dramatically to her chest. ‘Oh, dear! I don’t know what came over me. You’ve got to forgive me, Alice.’

‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she assured her.

‘How could I ever have thought that Larry and you—’ she shook her head.

‘You have absolutely nothing to worry about,’ Alice told her. ‘There’s nothing going on.’

Slowly, Mrs Baxter got up from her chair and made her way out of the interview room.

‘Are you sure I can’t get you a cup of tea or something?’ Alice asked.

Mrs Baxter shook her head and then stopped abruptly. ‘You mustn’t say anything to Larry about this. You won’t, will you?’

‘Of course I won’t,’ Alice said, but she could already see that half the office was buzzing with gossip and she was sure it wouldn’t take long before word reached him about his wife’s terrifying outburst.

Alice watched in relief as Mrs Baxter headed down the stairs and then she returned to her desk. It was only five minutes later when Ben entered the office.

‘Hey!’ he said as he approached her desk. ‘What on earth’s been going on? The whole building is talking. Somebody told me Monica Baxter came in and picked a fight with you!’

Alice rolled her eyes. News sure travelled fast in a building society but how on earth was she going to explain it all to Ben? She took a deep breath, knowing that now was the time. She had to tell him everything and she couldn’t put it off any longer.

‘There’s something you should know,’ she said quietly.

‘Oh, God! You’re not having an affair with Larry, are you?’ Ben’s face crumpled in disgust.

‘Keep your voice down!’ Alice said, flapping a panicked hand at him. ‘Of course I’m not having an affair with Larry.’

‘Well, tell me what’s going on!’

‘That’s what I’m trying to do!’ Alice said, leaving her desk and ushering Ben into one of the interview rooms, closing the door behind them. Alice couldn’t help feeling a sense of déjà vu and wondered if she was destined to spend the whole day explaining her way out of awkward situations.

‘So what the hell is going on?’ Ben leant against the table at the far side of the room and crossed his arms in front of his chest. It was a serious, no-nonsense pose that struck fear into the heart of Alice and she swallowed hard.

‘Just give me a minute,’ she said, wondering where on earth she was going to start. At the beginning, of course, she told herself, trying to maintain some sense of control but the words that first tumbled out of her mouth were startlingly uncontrolled.

‘I made a wish and it’s come true,’ she said.

Ben frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’

Alice took a deep breath and tried to slow her thoughts down. ‘You know when I went to Kethos?’

‘That Greek island?’

She nodded. ‘Well, there was this statue in a garden – a statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.’

‘I know who Aphrodite is,’ he said.

Alice nodded. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Well, she’s meant to make wishes come true. If you wish for love.’

‘So?’

‘So I made a wish. I wished that men would notice me – really notice me.’ Alice paused, waiting desperately for Ben’s response.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said at last. ‘What’s some silly wish got to do with anything?’

‘Everything!’ Alice said in exasperation. ‘You never would have looked at me if I hadn’t made that silly wish.’

‘What?’ Ben said, his eyes full of surprise.

‘Face it, Ben – you never noticed me before and I’ve been under your nose for years.’

‘But that doesn’t mean anything,’ he said. ‘My mum and dad worked together for years before Dad finally asked Mum out. People come together at the right time – that’s what I think.’

Alice shook her head. ‘This is different.’

‘How’s it different?’

‘I’ve been—’ she paused.

‘What?’

‘I’ve been getting a lot of attention lately.’

Ben’s eyebrows drew close together and his face suddenly looked dark. ‘This is about Larry, isn’t it?’

‘It’s not just Larry. It’s – well – lots of men.’

‘Alice!’ he said, his voice abnormally high.

‘Not like that!’ she said. ‘It’s all really superficial.’

He shook his head. ‘Let me get this clear because I’m really struggling here. You’re saying I’ve fallen in love with you because of some silly wish you’ve made on an inanimate lump of stone? That I’ve had no choice in the matter? Is that what you’re saying?’

‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m sorry, Ben.’

There was a pause where they just stared at each other for a long time. Ben was the one to break it.

‘Alice – I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘This just seems insane.’

‘No, Ben! It’s all true. At least I think it is. I can’t explain it really but everything’s gone mad since I came back from Kethos.’

He stared at her, his bright eyes narrowed and uncomprehending. ‘I thought this was all too good to be true,’ he said at last. ‘I thought you were perfect.’

‘But I’m not,’ Alice said. ‘I’m far from perfect. I’m plain and dull and—’

‘And you’re mad, aren’t you? You’re one of these crazy, neurotic women who can’t accept it when a man falls in love with her. You’ve got to question it and pick it apart until nothing’s left.’

‘Please, Ben – I’m not. Really I’m not. I wouldn’t make something like this up. I couldn’t even begin to.’

‘You don’t believe I really have feelings for you, do you?’ he said.

Alice looked at him and the pained expression on his face tore at her heart. ‘I daren’t believe it. I can’t allow myself to.’

‘Well, if that’s the way you feel, I think we should probably end it,’ he said, his gaze holding hers for a moment.

Alice nodded. ‘I do too,’ she said slowly.

Then he did something totally unexpected – he walked across the room and took her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a sweet, tender kiss and Alice felt tears welling up in her eyes. What was she doing? Why was she pushing him away like this? She must be mad.

‘Goodbye, Alice,’ he said. It seemed a strange thing to say because she knew she would see him every day for the rest of their working lives together but she knew what he meant. They’d never be together like this again.

She closed her eyes as he left the room. She’d never felt such a heavy weight of sadness before but she knew that this was the right thing to do and, as she opened her eyes and watched him walk away, she couldn’t help feeling a little bit relieved.