Page 26 of Broken Beyond Repair

“Yes, on Saturday. He was due to spend the summer with Peter until the news broke of my coming back to the UK; then he was straight on the phone to ensure Xander would be coming here instead. He’s not going to be happy about it. Hmm… you don’t have to tell me.”

Peter, Sydney assumed, was the husband or ex-husband.

Hanging up the phone, Beatrice made yet another call. A furious clicking from her direction caught Sydney’s attention.

“Book the chap to come and check the swimming pool this week before Xander arrives; he’ll want to use it.” As quickly as Beatrice had turned her attention to Sydney, she turned it back to the person on the phone. “Darling, how are you? Oh, sorry I’ll be brief, I didn’t realise the time. Your father is terribly busy, so you’ll be spending the summer at home… I don’t know… yes, I know he doesn’t have a job. Look, I’ll be home, so you may as well base yourself here for the summer. It will be nice to spend some time together. I’ll have my PA collect you from the station on Saturday; text me the time. Yes, he’ll collect you the following Saturday for the week… You’ll have to take that up with him.”

Poor kid, Sydney thought. They were always the ones to suffer when a marriage broke down. Did he not realise his dad was clearly not interested? Not wishing to listen to the rest of the conversation and feeling the need to stretch her legs, she made her way outside to the patio area to check the state of the swimming pool. Her phone vibrated in her shorts pocket as she wound back the pool cover. It was James. He had a cheek.

“How’s it going with the hottest actress on the planet?” he asked after she picked up.

“Don’t.”

“Are we still pretending not to notice?”

Sydney ignored his comment. “Did you know she’d have me doing the housework because the housekeeper is unavailable? Did I mention the laundry? And that I have to cook!”

“Ah, that’s why they wanted someone who could cook.”

“Seriously, James? You could have warned me.”

“You’re a great cook, Syd. Me talking to you now is only due to you keeping me fed at uni.”

“Yeah, well, now I wish I hadn’t,” Sydney hissed, kicking at a clump of weeds between the patio joins.

James chuckled.

“You know, she clicks her fingers to get my attention; she’s not said please or thank you once. Justvery good. Four times.”

“Look who’s counting!”

“What?” Sydney didn’t like what he was implying, although it wasn’t far from the truth; she was counting. Technically it was five times if she included the ‘very good’ she had said on the phone the first time they’d spoken.

“Syd, you know these people; they are rarely the politest. Why are you letting her get under your skin?”

She knew why — she disliked rudeness. There was no place for it. Previous clients could be a little uptight, yet most of them had the nous to realise a PA was there to help, and the better you treated them the more helpful they became. A kicked dog only returned so many times with a wagging tail. She expected better from someone like Beatrice Russell; in truth, she was disappointed that someone so attractive on the outside could be so ugly on the inside.

That was another reason she kept her nose out of ‘society’—it was true what they said about never meeting your heroes. Yes, Beatrice was an attractive woman who was beginning to make her a little hot under the collar, and yet she would benefit from a complete personality transplant.

“Can’t you get someone else?” Sydney pleaded. “She doesn’t need or deserve the best.”

James didn’t reply.

“Youdidhave others lined up, didn’t you?”

The realisation hit her when he continued to be unresponsive.

“You asked everyone else, and they said no, didn’t they?”

“You insist on not knowing about who you’re working for. Everyone else informs themselves. Which is why you’re the sucker that got stuck with her.”

“Jam—”

“Which is why you’re the best, Syd. You treat everyone as if you don’t know their sordid secrets because you don’t. And everyone has them, trust me.”

Did Beatrice have sordid secrets? She’d like to know them.

“Come on, think of Gertie,” he urged. “How would she feel if you gave up on the job that’ll get her fixed? Grin and bear it for her, eh?”