Under a Watchful Eye(102)

‘Well. Introductions are in order,’ said the woman who’d sat beside me.

‘This is Wendy,’ I said, without looking at the woman on my left. ‘And that’s Natalie,’

‘Pleased to meet you. Giles White,’ Giles said, looking from side to side in bemusement as the room bloomed with the scent of Chanel perfume.

‘It’s been so exciting to see the last book received with such enthusiasm,’ Wendy said. ‘And we’re delighted to tell you that Seb has been working on something else, something very special. Though we think the publisher can do a bit better with what they pay him for his work. Particularly as there’ll be nothing else like it, out there.’

I watched Giles shift in his seat. ‘Sorry, who are . . . ?’ He turned away from Wendy’s amused and mocking face. ‘Seb, I’m sorry, but we really should be discussing this more formally. Why don’t we take a walk? We could pop into that pub we went to last time—’

‘What’s wrong with here?’ Wendy asked. ‘And you don’t need a pub to get drunk in. Seb’s happy to do that anywhere these days.’

I lowered my eyes to the floor when she spoke about me. I felt my thin body shudder within that wretched bathrobe.

‘But he’s been very busy,’ Wendy added. ‘Hit a rich vein. You could say he’s been channelling something unique.’

Maintaining a stiff smile, Giles struggled to restrain his temper. ‘There’s material for the new book? Is that so, Seb? I must say, it’s all news to me.’

‘Well it would be, wouldn’t it, with you so far away, with your lunches and things, your authors and parties in London?’ Wendy emphasized ‘London’ as if she had singled the city out for particular scorn.

‘Wendy,’ Giles said, in a voice that was barely keeping a lid on his crimson thoughts, ‘would you mind if I spoke to my client alone? We’ve some business to discuss. That’s why I am here. That’s why I have travelled all the way down from London. Isn’t that so, Seb? To discuss business with my client.’

‘We have a full involvement in our partner’s work,’ Wendy said. ‘There’s nothing about Seb or his books, or his agreements with you, that we are not conversant with, Giles.’

‘Seb?’ Giles said. His bewilderment waged a war with his anger at this woman’s manner. And yes, the more he considered the situation, the more aware he became of the tension that the women had introduced into the room. I could read it in his eyes.

Was one of these women my girlfriend, then? He must have wondered. He glanced again at the washing piled beside him. The underwear looked expensive, as did the dresses, though they didn’t appear particularly well cared for, strewn about like that, like territorial markers.

He would struggle to accept my romantic involvement with either of them. He would have been equally mystified by what either of them saw in me, in that state.

‘Nat!’ Wendy said, and so suddenly that Giles flinched. ‘The outline, if you please.’

‘Oh, oh. Of course. Let me fetch it.’ Natalie rose from her chair and teetered into my office.

‘Seb?’ Giles tried again to reach me. ‘Seb, can you tell me what this is about? We’ve several important matters to discuss.’

I merely shrugged, my posture suggesting the haplessness that I felt.

That was the first time that Giles had looked upon me with pity too.

Nat bustled into the living room and handed the old paper file to Giles. ‘The proposal!’ Breathless with glee, she added, ‘People will be astonished!’

‘Will they, now?’ Giles replied. He took the file from Nat’s outstretched hand. I watched her fingers tremble, and the sight of her yellowing nails made Giles recoil. She’d transformed herself into something feminine, but forgotten to pay attention to her hands.

‘Nat,’ Wendy said sharply, and glared with disapproval at her friend, if that’s what Natalie even was.

‘I’m sorry. But it’s just so exciting!’ Natalie said. She came and sat beside me, on the other arm of the chair. Tentatively, she reached out a veiny, quivering hand and placed it upon my shoulder.

Giles glanced at the folder in his hand. ‘API’ was stencilled at the top of the file. API, what does that mean? I watched my agent’s confusion increase. There couldn’t have been more than three sheets of paper inside the file. ‘Seb, what is this?’

‘We’ve told you what it is. The proposal. Isn’t that what you need?’ Wendy said.

Giles opened the file and the scent of old card became noticeable in the room. He looked at the letterheaded API folio, all browned with age around the edges. He began reading the first paragraph.

Wendy and Nat extended their heads towards him, like hungry birds inside a dirty nest.

After several minutes, Giles looked up at me. ‘What is this, Seb? An outline for a short-story collection?’

‘Something far more ambitious than Yellow Teeth,’ Wendy said, her own grin back in place, while she wrinkled her nose at the mention of my last novel. ‘We think he may have missed the point in Yellow Teeth. You could say, he may have missed the boat entirely. But that book served a purpose, didn’t it, Seb? Kept it all going. Though this is a far more accurate and comprehensive vision of his ideas.’