chapter Nine
The office should have felt a little cramped, with the addition of two new people, but it didn’t. A new desk had been added to the outer office for Clive and Fadeke to share, while Oliver, now Sophie’s assistant, retained his old desk. Lola Balogun, the new receptionist, sat at the desk by the door, the severity of her dark blue suit and smoothly braided hair belied by the good humored smile that never seemed to leave her face.
The space had been rearranged somewhat, so that Ada’s desk now occupied pride of place in a corner, confirming that she was the boss of the outer office. It was a jovial atmosphere that Monday morning, as everybody got to know each other. Lola had been a receptionist at a multinational company, before she resigned to have her kids, now that her last child was five years old she had decided to get a job again and the position Living Lagos had offered had been ideal for her.
Clive was just excited. Fresh from university, it was his first real job. He already had ideas for subsequent covers that Ada found interesting. In the few hours he had spent in the office, he had already become best friends with Oliver and Fadeke.
Ada forced herself to take part in the friendliness and the bonding, especially when Sophie was doing the formal introductions. Later, when Sophie had returned to her office, Ada went to her desk to sit quietly and think. She knew she ought to prepare her itinerary for the week, set tasks for Clive to do, do something herself to get her mind off the one thing that had been troubling her all weekend. Eddie Bakare!
But it was hard. She just wanted to lay down somewhere and close her eyes for as long as it too for her to completely forget that Eddie had ever existed. That he had ever kissed her, and made her want things that she didn’t want to want.
Her body still shuddered with pleasure whenever she thought of that kiss in his car. She had tried to convince herself that it was just physical, but the ache in her chest that came from the realization that it was probably really over with him, made it hard to believe.
Clive was showing off some moves on some new graphic design software to Oliver. Fadeke was paying attention too, looking entranced, whether with the software or Clive, Ada couldn’t really say. She got up, leaving them to get to know each other and made her way to Sophie’s office.
Sophie was engrossed in going through some papers that were laid out on her desk. Aside from the hum of the AC, the only sound was that of her pen as she tap tap tapped it on the desk in concentration. She looked up when she noticed Ada.
“Ah!” She sighed, pushing the papers away. “Just the person I want to talk to.” She relaxed on her chair and flexed her fingers. “What’s up with you?” She asked. “You look miserable.”
“Do I?” Ada laughed self-consciously. “I’m just tired.” She moved through the tiny office and took her seat at the desk opposite Sophie.
“Do you want to go on leave?” Sophie asked. “It’s a bad time, but if you’re fatigued...” She shrugged.
“I’m not fatigued.” Ada replied. She gestured towards the outer office. “I just wanted to come in here for a while and leave the young ones out there free to get to know each other without me looking over their shoulders.”
Sophie laughed. “So who is not a young one?” She asked. “You?” She shook her head, still amused. “I have good news for you though, something that will excite you out of your tiredness.” She smiled. “Sometime around noon today, your car will arrive.”
“Oh my God!” Ada exclaimed, excited despite her dismal emotional state. “Wow!” She jumped up ran round the desk to hug Sophie. “I’m so excited.” She said breathlessly.
Sophie laughed. “I hope you won’t name the car though.” She said. “I’ve met too many people who call their cars Nancy or Pharaoh in this Lagos.”
Ada grimaced then joined in Sophie’s laughter. “Naah, I don’t think so.” She said, amused. “I may consider Mr. Darcy though.” She added as an afterthought. “If I were going to name my car, I’d call it Mr. Darcy.”
Sophie burst out laughing again.
“It’s been a while we really talked.” Sophie observed when the mirth had passed.
“Well, you’re still on your honeymoon.” Ada replied teasingly. It had been more than a year since Sophie got married. “Maybe that’s why.”
Sophie raised a brow. “If that’s it, then I’m afraid we’ll never get to talk.” She smiled. “My honeymoon is going to last forever.”
“Amen somebody!” Ada quipped. They both burst into laughter again.
“But seriously.” Sophie said. “Are you really not going to tell me what’s going on between you and Eddie?” She sounded hurt.
Ada sighed. She realized that this was why she had come to Sophie’s office in the first place. She wanted an excuse to talk about him.
Sophie mistook her pause for reticence. “You really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She said. “But I can’t help being curious.”
“No, it’s fine.” Ada said. “I want to talk about it.” She paused. “It’s just… nothing happened really.”
Sophie scoffed. “I’m not blind, you know?” She gave Ada a speculative look. “Did you guys have some sort of fling?”
“No!” Ada exclaimed. “No.” She frowned. “It was nothing like that. He came over to my house a couple of times, he said he liked me, we went out once, and we had a fight….” She shrugged. “that’s about it.”
“That’s can’t be all.” Sophie’s face was a study in disbelief. She leaned forward. “You know when I said Eddie always wants to talk about you?” She asked.
Ada nodded.
“Well now the mention of your name is enough to make him change the subject.” She said, leaning back. “So I know that whatever happened between you two, it must have been serious.”
He didn’t want to talk about her at all! Or even hear her name mentioned! Ada tried not to feel hurt at that, but it was impossible.
Sophie was still looking at her. “You know what?” She said. “Tell me from the beginning.” She narrowed her eyes, “and don’t leave anything out.”
It took almost an hour. Sophie listened without interrupting as everything spilled out. It was pleasurable to talk about Eddie, Ada realized. It was pleasurable to remember how she had enjoyed herself in his company. When Ada got to the part about the fight, she saw the first frown appear on Sophie’s face. She faltered as she told Sophie about the things she had said to him. They sounded mean now, as she said them again, mean and childish and silly.
When she was done, Sophie was silent for a while, as if deep in thought. Ada waited for her to say something, the silence weighing on her. How bad had she messed up? She wondered. Eddie had been Sophie’s friend far longer than she had. Sophie was bound to feel more sympathy for him, and to be miffed that Ada had insulted him. She waited.
“How do you feel about him?” Sophie asked finally. “I mean deep down, besides the ‘trying to interfere in your career’ and ‘embezzled money’ issues…” She gave Ada a measuring look. “How do you really feel about him?”
“I don’t know?” Ada sighed. “I don’t want to like him.”
“But you do.” Sophie stated.
Ada nodded. “I do.” She accepted. “But this is Eddie!” She exclaimed. “He is a flirt, isn’t he? It’s always either one woman or another!” She sighed. “And not just any women, those popular girls back in school, these socialites in Lagos.”
Sophie frowned. “Do you think he’s out of your league?” She asked. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid that he’s better than you.”
Ada bristled at the words, but only because they were so true. She had been afraid, she couldn’t lie to herself, or to Sophie.
Sophie didn’t wait for an answer. “Because that’s not the case at all, you are beautiful, intelligent and unusual, not the typical Lagos fare.” She smiled. “Kind of exotic if you ask me.” She paused. “I think he really likes you, you know, and contrary to what you think, Eddie is not a womanizer, it’s not his fault that women like him, but he’s never led anybody on that I know of. He’s a good sort of guy.”
Ada looked out of the window. Outside, the sun had risen very high, and was now bright, yellow and glaring. She frowned. It would have been so much better, if Sophie had told her she was better off without Eddie, called him a flirt who didn’t deserve her or something like that. Now she just felt like she had messed up really, bad.
Sophie wasn’t done. “I don’t understand why you’re so concerned about Dele Solanke, or Eddie wanting to know about publishing your book. First and foremost Eddie is a business man, He wouldn’t go all out if he didn’t think you had a good product.” She paused. “I understand how you feel about the money, Ada, but be realistic, If you’re going to cut everybody who has ever benefited in any way, directly or indirectly, from Nigeria’s corruption from your life, you’ll have to cut out everybody, including yourself.”
Ada sighed. Sophie was right, of course. Things had only seemed black and white while she had been throwing the words at Eddie. Thinking about it now, there were so many shades of grey.
“Don’t judge him, he’s not the same as those children of corrupt politicians living in million dollar apartments abroad and popping bottles of champagne at different clubs every night.” Sophie said. “Eddie’s not like that, he’s really responsible, and along with his family he has given a whole lot of that money away, and helped a lot of people.”
Like Sophie. Ada thought. There would be no Living Lagos, if it hadn’t been for Eddie’s money.
“Maybe you should ask yourself this.” Sophie said finally. “Do you think Eddie would do the same thing his grandfather did, if he were in such a position today?” Her voice was serious. “Or do you think he would do better?”
Ada was prevented from replying by the sound of Fadeke squealing excitedly in the outer office. Sophie rolled her eyes and sighed.
“I think your car has come.” She said. “Or else Fadeke is going to have a lot to answer for.”
It was the car, delivered straight from the car dealership. They all thronged downstairs to see it. Mr. Festus, the floor security man, looked up from his issue of Complete Sports to look at them curiously as they piled into the elevator.
The car had come in one of those complicated looking trucks for delivering cars, with a ramp and everything. It was a brand new Honda City, dark red and gleaming in the sun. The seats were all covered up in transparent polyester, as was most of the car.
It was beautiful, Ada thought. It was exactly what she would have chosen. She smiled and whooped along with everybody else, as everybody expected her to. Sophie stood back arms folded, a smile on her face. Fadeke was clapping excitedly. “iwannanewcartoo! iwannanewcartoo!” Oliver was saying in a voice that was both dejected and comical at the same time.
Later, after Ada had made a great show of peeling off the polyester, they went back to the office. The rest of the day passed rather quickly, Ada kept herself busy with work and showed Clive some of the things she expected him to do. Whenever her phone rang she still broke into a sweat, but it was never Eddie. Obviously, he had truly decided to leave her alone this time. It hurt.
She didn’t get a chance to speak to Sophie again for the rest of the day. Not until she was leaving in the evening. She walked up to Ada’s desk “Think about what I said, okay?” She said meaningfully. Ada nodded. She was already thinking about it, she thought, frustrated, but what would thinking achieve, when she had already ruined everything.