‘I’ve been here all day. I thought I would kill two birds with one stone.’
‘And buy a Christmas tree?’
‘Oh, I’m not taking it. It was more of a gesture. I’ve told them to resell it.’ Poor Owen could have had that one after all, she thought.
‘If not a Christmas tree what are the two birds then?’
‘Well, you.’ She’d worked that out for herself. ‘And a business meeting.’ Blythe tried not to be niggled that he’d lumped her onto the end of a business trip.
‘Around here?’ Her interest was piqued. Her father usually stayed within the boundaries of the North Circular, never venturing far from his beloved London.
‘It’s important to diversify and grow, Blythe. Business is constantly evolving. You have to stay on top of it. Which leads me to you. How is your career progressing?’
Did all children have conversations like this with their parents? she wondered. It was like having an annual appraisal but without the positive praise, nice lunch and occasional bonus payment. ‘I’m still senior negotiator…’ As she said it, she thought of Amir. ‘Ludo took on another senior negotiator at the end of last year but I’m the senior, senior negotiator if you get what I mean.’
‘Not really. Why would Ludo bring in another member of staff at the same level?’
It was something she’d pondered at the time. ‘There was a lot of work and Ludo is keen not to work long hours now he’s getting older.’
‘Is that the only reason I wonder?’ said Hugh, although she wasn’t sure it was a question.
Fearing he was going to suggest she wasn’t doing her job properly she tried to think of positives to share. She remembered the competition. ‘Back in May I beat the office sales record. A whole year of top monthly sales – something you said wasn’t achievable. I emailed you about it at the time.’ She found she was nodding furiously in an attempt to make her father understand the magnitude of the feat.
‘Every so often I delete everything in my inbox. If it’s urgent people will message again. This thing with Ludo and the new negotiator…’ He appeared to be pondering something. ‘Perhaps Ludo was trying to mix things up a little by bringing in an outsider to test you. Or maybe preparing a replacement.’ He tilted his head. ‘What do you think?’
She’d taken Ludo’s explanation at face value. ‘Ludo said he was expanding the team because we were doing well and extending our area.’
‘Hmm, surely you’d bring in junior staff and train them up. Much cheaper and less likely to upset the balance.’ His eyes had a glint. ‘Unless upset the balance was exactly what he was trying to achieve. You know about the Tuckman model?’
‘Form, Storm, Norm, Perform. Yeah, I’m familiar with it.’
‘Sounds to me like Ludo brought someone in to thrust you all into the storming stage. Yes, I bet that was the reason. Smart old fox, that Ludo.’
Blythe had had enough of work talk. Her relationship with her father was an unconventional one. He and her mum had split up when she was six. She didn’t remember too much about the actual split, although she remembered her mother sitting on the stairs and crying as her dad walked out. At the time she’d cried too, thinking that her daddy had gone on holiday without them. As the visits dwindled to the annual event they had been for many years, Blythe had felt obliged to squeeze all their conversations into that one meeting. There were the regular scheduled phone calls, but her father was always distracted and she could sense he was itching to get off the phone.
She didn’t like that she’d not been able to prepare for his visit. Not that she did a PowerPoint presentation or anything, although her father would likely respond better to that, but she felt she had so much to cover off. She liked to jot down all the things she’d achieved. She longed for the day he might say he was proud of her, but unless she could somehow match his success she feared that day would never come. That didn’t stop her trying. While she ordered her thoughts on that front Blythe decided to tackle what she saw as the other key reason they met up – to cultivate and improve their rapport. Perhaps one day they would have the easy relationship she saw others enjoy with their fathers –or perhaps not, she thought as Hugh checked his watch.
‘How are you, Dad?’
‘Business profits have increased by three-point-four per cent on last year, which is ahead of my own stretching growth projections and I’m forming some ambitious plans for next year.’
Blythe sighed deeply. ‘But how are you? Not the business. You.’ She realised she was waving the empty mugs around so she stopped.
He seemed momentarily perplexed by the question before recovering. ‘My annual health check was all clear.’
‘That’s good.’ Not exactly the chatty response she was after but at least he’d answered the question. Her father was hard work. ‘How’s your love life?’ she asked, with a smile.
He frowned at her. ‘I don’t have time for that.’Just like you don’t have time for me,she thought bitterly. And not having time didn’t mean he didn’t have some poor woman trying to cultivate a relationship with him. ‘Are you dating anyone?’ he asked.
‘No, not at the moment. Like you, I don’t really have time.’ That wasn’t strictly true but common ground with her father was hard to come by so she’d grab what she could. ‘But a life of all work isn’t healthy. I’d like to meet someone special.’ An image of Sam marched into her head, shocking her.
‘I suppose you need to factor in children, if you’re planning on having any,’ said Hugh. ‘They frequently decimate a woman’s career.’
That was a depressing thought. ‘Thanks, I’ll think about that and add it to my plans.’
He nodded and they stood there in silence. Blythe was grateful for the cheer that went up. ‘I think the auctions are over.’ She watched Greg shaking hands with people as he left the podium, heading straight for them.
‘Hello there, Hugh,’ said Greg, grasping his hand and pumping his arm like a long-lost friend. ‘Great to see you here. Has Blythe been telling you what a fabulous job she did with the display this year?’ Greg instinctively put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
