Free Ellie's Return by Bronagh Pierce Page B

still had more of the technical knowledge and she still
listened to his advice but she ensured that she seemed to be taking it with a
pinch of salt, it was better to undermine him and make him feel as though he
was of no value, and once he saw the business going in Lola’s direction he
would be glad to have any stake in it at all. It was important to leave Tom
some kind of status because she needed him to stick around and to at least hope
that he would be able to win his business back for himself. The short term plan
was to marry him and get him to persuade his father to hand the assets of his
own business over to Tom as a lifetime gift to avoid the inheritance tax. Tom
had not encouraged this idea so far but she would work on that, and when it was
his she was would work on wresting it all for herself as part of a divorce settlement. After that she did not much care what happened
to Tom, but he had lost his fire since she had been with him so he could go
hang. The schemes she had been instigating and perfecting had so far accumulated
her enough start up capital to get her shops going and the money she got from
Tom’s and his fathers business would make her as unstoppable as he had once
seemed. Poor silly Tom, imagine taking all that time to build something and
then losing it by being soppy over a woman. Men were so easy to manage. She may
even have done him a favour, even if he had to learn it the hard way.
    There was a knock at the door; it was Charlotte,
the elegant shop assistant. She was telling Lola that the blonde lady was here
again from yesterday. Lola’s musings were interrupted but she did not look
around, she simply told the assistant to say she was not there. The footsteps receded
but then came back and there was a knock again. Lola spun around in her chair
to eject Charlotte, but standing in her place, smiling and as radiant as ever,
was Ellie.
    Lola froze for a moment, unable to respond
to the situation. She had been reaching a mental block in knowing how to deal
with her friend, and every time she worked through what she do in this
situation she found herself unable to think further and turning instead to
other matters. That was the breaking of a cardinal rule for Lola who had a plan
for everything, who rarely left any predictable situation unplanned for, but
she had let herself down here and would have to wing it. She smiled and stood
up and crossed the office to give her a hug. She told her how wonderful it was
to see her and asked why she had not announced she was coming. Ellie was thrown
momentarily and decided to say that she wanted it to be a surprise. Lola told
her that was such a shame, she was in the middle of so many things, she was
overseeing the renovation of one of the shops, costing her thousands, and she
was just back from a buying trip and going on another next week, but in the
meantime she had got roped into organising a charity event for tonight which
she was going to be busy with all day.
    Ellie looked so happy to see her, that
Lola was convinced she could know nothing. She asked Ellie where she had stayed
last night. Ellie did not seem surprised that she knew she had been in town
last night, and said she had stayed with her mother in London and just come
down now on the off-chance. Could Lola really not spare half an hour for coffee
in case they did not see each other again? Now that she was standing in front
of Lola, her old friend whom she had adored for so long she did not want to
have a confrontation with her, maybe she had no right to be angry at her for
loving Tom, since she of all people ought to understand that. Part of her
wanted to say she knew and she understood, and part of her wanted to see what
she had to say about it. Another part still wanted to bolt, and never come
back. She felt so nervous that her legs were shaking, and she was trying very
hard not to talk too much or say anything to give herself away, her best friend
always knew when nerves had got the best of