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Hywel

“Hywel, have you got a minute?” Alaw sat down next to me in the coffee shop without waiting for an answer.

I closed my laptop, feeling slightly queasy after having quickly checked my online banking.

Santander may as well have just put up an alert that said it ain’t good, Chief when I tried to log in.

I’d been sat trying to sort out my business and my roiling conscience, both needs battling against one another with no sign of who would ultimately win out.

Money or morals? I hadn’t realised that would ever be a choice I would make consciously.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“So, we know things aren’t fabulous for you at the moment. And Alun and I really appreciate what you’re trying to get back. I just wanted to present you with another option, if you’d be so inclined.”

She pulled an iPad out of her bag and gave it to me to hold, and she tapped the screen to start a slideshow. AA Small Business Consultants was on display in big letters. Another tap, and the logo shifted, became Aha! Small Business Consultants.

I smiled somewhat warily at her. “What am I looking at?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve been picking up some more clients in Aberystwyth, Tresaith, all the little villages and towns within about 30 miles of here. Business is starting to get a bit too much for Alun and I to handle together.”

“So you changed the name of your business to make it less attractive to customers?” I liked to think of myself as a pretty intelligent man but this had me feeling completely lost.

“We changed it to incorporate your initial,” said Alaw. “Well, we haven’t changed it yet. Might not at all. But we wanted you to know, if you were to decide not to head back to London…well, the option’s there. If you wanted to invest, become an equal partner.”

“In consulting? For little shops?”

“I know, I know. You’re used to more. But you came from here and built yourself up to something massive in London. Just your story will inspire some of the more ambitious businesses around here.”

I didn’t know what to say in response. It hadn’t even been something I’d considered, staying in Hiraeth.

And I didn’t know if I could. What would I do when Macsen twigged that Prentis had a spare room back in a week or two?

I couldn’t live in my uncle’s spare room whilst working hard telling people their businesses could be great.

“You don’t have to decide any time soon. And we can negotiate your entry investment if you want to be an equal partner, or if you’d rather just be an employee we can skip that step altogether.”

“On that topic…” my stomach dropped as I gathered up the courage to admit my plans to Alaw. “Two of the shops want to buy from me. So I’ll sell those. Nathan’s shop…”

“Was he difficult?” asked Alaw. “We’ve been working with him, but his confidence isn’t the best.”

“Not… It doesn’t matter. I’m not selling his shop on without his consent. So I’ll stay as his landlord for as long as he needs.” As long as I can afford it, my mind supplied.

“That’s fantastic!” Alaw gave me a genuine smile. “And the garage?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“If Macsen can’t afford to buy…”

“I haven’t asked him. I don’t think I will. He can keep renting from me as usual.”

“I’m confused. I thought you needed to sell these properties…and now you’ve decided not to?”

“I know, I know. It doesn’t make much sense. But I need to think on things….”

“Like a job offer?” Alaw said. I smiled back, a tight smile which probably didn’t fool her at all. “Right, I’ll head off. See you later. Think on my offer.”

And then she was gone. I knew I’d not been talking a lot of sense.

But I could struggle on without selling the garage or the little shop, and only sell to those who were keen on it.

That seemed the most sensible option to me now.

And I’d built up such a good…something with Macsen that it seemed like it would hurt to destabilise that now by talking business.

I finished up my coffee and stood up, stuffing my laptop into its case and pulling my collar tight round my neck. I thanked James for the time and the free coffee, and stepped into the outdoors.

Snowflakes were starting to fall so the walk home was lovely. It so rarely snowed and stuck in London that to see it so freely falling in the outside air and clinging to branches and my own coat was wonderful.

It was weird how quickly I’d come to think of the garage as home.

But it felt like it, in its own little way.

And Macsen and I…we felt like the world’s most dysfunctional couple.

Occasionally hooking up, otherwise locked into a new kind of domesticity that I’d never experienced before.

He lived a slightly messier life than me, and I was always running round to wipe up an errant spill or crumbs on the coffee table.

Equally, being around Macsen was teaching me to relax.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone out after work with Brian purely for pleasure with friends.

We had always gone out pretty frequently but the reason was always to network.

Michelin Stars and expensive red wine on a company tab as long as we shilled more money out of potential investors.

Sitting on the sofa and playing games with a beer in hand felt alien to me after so long hashing out contract agreements after work.

I wondered if Brian had scammed anyone else out of money in the same way he had me.

Or if he was only so casual with my money because of our relationship.

He probably hadn’t intended on me catching him with his cock in someone else, so would he have been able to talk me round if the…

extenuating circumstances hadn’t been so bad?

I shook my head as if that would help me physically dislodge the thoughts. I hadn’t thought much of Brian for the last two weeks. If I’d been in London I would probably have obsessed constantly, but there was no temptation for that at all here.

My phone began to buzz in my pocket. When I checked the screen I chuckled. It was as if my brainwaves had somehow reached London, as it was my financial advisor.

“Hey, Mike,” I said with some trepidation.

“Hey, Hywel. Just wanted to check in on you. How’s things?”

“Good, thanks.” They were. Despite living in a tiny space on a sofa with my ex-best friend’s little brother, things were really bloody good. Well, apparently I’d graduated to sleeping in the bed now, so, even better.

“Are you listening to me?” Michael asked. “I just asked about your future plans and you just… sighed into the phone at me.”

“Sorry, long day. What do you want to know?”

“I’ve been doing a bit of digging. There’s a small medical start up who’ll be doing rounds of investment soon and I think I can get a syndicate together to invest. There’s a nice bit of poetic justice in it for you as they’re working on a competing technology to the one Brian fucked you over with.

And I’m guessing their second funding round could easily triple or quadruple the value of that share. ”

I snorted. I really wasn’t sure that I gave a shit about Brian, but investing in any start up? That was more my style. “How much do you want me to buy in?”

“Minimum fifty thousand. Seems doable from the valuations you’ve sent me, and I won’t need the money from you for a couple of months to give you time to find a buyer and complete.”

“Ah, Mike. Sorry, no can do. Things have changed a little bit. Two of the properties definitely aren’t getting sold. The owners…”

I didn’t have to finish making an excuse before Mike cut across me. “Don’t tell me two weeks has turned you into a bleeding heart?”

“Just…tell me what I can do with less than half that, when you have an answer.”

“Will do,” said Michael before the phone cut off. My stomach felt uncomfortable and in bits. There could have been a chance for me to not just get on my feet but do seriously well from it. And I’d just thrown it away.

I was almost at the garage, and the constant talking with people about my future had left me exhausted.

I just wanted that safe space where I could kick back with Macsen and a beer, maybe cook for us tonight and harass him over his untidiness…

and then, if he still wanted to, crawl into bed with him tonight.

I sighed out loud. After Alaw and Michael’s conversations, my head was in a spin.

Michael’s investment call should have filled me with excitement.

Wasn’t I chomping at the bit to be King of London?

Not really. If I was honest with myself, not really.

The way Macsen had offered to share his bed with me, the thought of his mouth on mine…

that’s what got my heart beating. The cranky bastard had his hooks in me and I had no idea if there was any of the same feeling there in reverse. Perhaps I could ask him.

I felt my heart rate tick up as I the garage came into view. The lights were on downstairs so I knew that Macsen was working still. I wondered if he’d finished on my car, or if maybe he would be working on some other project.

“What the fuck?” I asked as I rounded the corner, mostly to myself. In the absence of any other noise Macsen tilted his head backward to look at me.

The car looked brand new, pristine, ready to drive again. But for the fact every door, wheel and even the roof and headlights had been fearfully removed from the chassis and placed on the floor.

“I was going to just smash the windscreen up in front of you,” said Macsen. “But I got bored waiting and compromised with myself on revenge.”

“Revenge for what?” I asked dumbly. Had he not liked the sandwich?

“For your…ownership,” said Macsen. I noticed a couple of beer bottles behind him. Had he been drinking whilst working?