But then meeting Jeff Baker was strange anyway. Like everyone at school, she’d been impressed by the whole Jeff Baker legend. The kind of selflessness he’d shown when he gave away the memory crystal was phenomenal. It was a yardstick that none of today’s politicians or business leaders could ever hope to be measured against; even Sir Mitch wasn’t building his space-plane out of altruism. Jeff’s age had made him remote and iconic, someone you admired from afar like a historical figure, because you never got to actually meet them.
Now, though, not only was Jeff Baker that original legend, he was also rejuvenated. Doubly famous, and utterly fascinating. And she was dating his son. It made her nervous, which was why she was babbling like an old-fashioned rock star’s groupie.
“Sounds like a good job,” Jeff said.
“It is.”
“What subjects are you taking at school?”
“Dad!” Tim said hotly.
“What? I’m just being polite.”
“Yeah, but school! That droops.”
Jeff turned to Annabelle, spreading his arms wide in appeal. “All right. So how long have you two been together?”
She smiled before giving Tim a teasing sideways glance. “Couple of weeks.”
“Dad!”
“Sorry, Timmy, I guess I can’t be trusted out in public. But look on the good side, I didn’t launch into telling Annabelle about how cute you were when you were younger.”
“Was he?” Annabelle asked. It was hard for her not to laugh, Tim was squirming so. In a way Jeff Baker was almost worse than his wife and her friends. A lot more interesting, though.
“Absolutely. When he’s not around, I’ll dig out some of the old family videos. You can see him running around in his shorts when he was seven.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
Tim groaned in dismay.
“It’s a conspiracy, Timmy,” Jeff said with a wide grin. “The whole world exists simply to make life hell for you.”
“Nice meeting you,” Annabelle said. She squeezed Tim’s hand, and they walked away together.
“That was a big mistake,” Tim moaned. He snatched another champagne flute from a waiter.
“I expect he needs time to find his feet. This must be very strange for him.” She glanced over her shoulder to see Jeff standing alone, holding his flute up as if unsure he should be drinking. For a moment she wanted to go back and show some support.
“Yeah, maybe,” Tim said. “I guess this wasn’t the right time to introduce you.”
“Thank you anyway.” She moved a fraction closer, her expression serious. “It was nice of you to invite me in the first place.”
Tim’s face turned a deeper shade of red. “Um, about invitations. I don’t know if anyone’s asked you or anything, or if you’ve already got someone to go with, but if you haven’t, and you’d like to, I wondered if you’d like to go to the ball together. That’s…with me. If you were going. I booked some tickets, that’s all. And quite a lot of our friends are going. So it might be nice, I thought.”
“’Course I’ll go with you.”
“Yeah?” Tim’s whole face radiated happiness.
“Yeah.” She poked him in the chest. “Took you long enough to ask.”
“Sorry. I didn’t know if you wanted to.”
“Oh yeah.” Their faces were centimeters apart. “I wanted to.”
They kissed. Just a teasing toying sort of way, to see how far the other would push it. There was a whoop from across the room. Annabelle pulled away, grinning, to see Martin and Colin at their most oafish, making big-time gestures at them. She sneered back at them, and started kissing a delighted Tim again.
IT WASN’T HALF PAST NINE when Jeff wearily climbed the stairs. Downstairs the party was over, with the catering crew and Mrs. Mayberry cleaning up while the Europol team ate up the leftover canapés and finished the open bottles of champagne. Tim and his friends had all gone to catch the bus into Stamford. When Jeff asked what they were doing, Tim said: “Couple of clubs, that’s all.” There was a pause. “All right?” He sounded as if he wasn’t sure he should be asking permission or not.
They had so many boundaries to work out.
“Sure,” Jeff had said. “Have fun.” He didn’t believe the teenagers could possibly possess so much energy. It was all he could do to get to the top of the stairs without pausing for breath.
“I’m going now, Mr. Baker.”
That was Lucy Duke. Jeff half turned on the top stair. She was standing in the hallway, buttoning her coat. “Okay then.” Jeff hadn’t made up his mind about Ms. Duke. He imagined it wouldn’t be too difficult to dislike someone who tried so hard to be reasonable at all times.
“Have a good weekend, sir. I’ll see you on Monday morning. There are several interviews scheduled, mostly foreign press.”
“Good night.”
“It was an excellent party, by the way.”
The door to Sue’s bedroom was open. Jeff saw her inside, and rapped lightly on the door frame. She was sitting at the dresser, touching up her makeup. Her welcome smile turned to genuine concern. “You look tired.”
“I am.”
“Make sure you get a good sleep tonight. There’s nothing on tomorrow. You can rest properly.”
“Right. I met Patrick tonight.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would matter with so many people about.”
“It doesn’t, I suppose.”
“He’s waiting for me downstairs now. I’ll tell him. He won’t come again.”
Jeff suddenly felt lonely. “Where are you off to?”
“We booked a table at the Black Swan. The food there’s lovely; they got a new chef there just before Christmas. You’ll have to try it.”
“Sure. When do you get back?”
“I don’t know, Jeff.” She cocked her head to one side, regarding him carefully. “Our arrangement hasn’t changed, has it?”
“No. Absolutely not. Have a good night.” He turned to leave.
“Hey.” Sue’s voice lightened. “You should worry, now you’ve got that Nicole after you.”
“Nicole? Oh, James’s granddaughter. What do you mean?”
“I saw the two of you together.”
“Yes, she was trying to convince me their company should review my finances.”
Sue arched an eyebrow. “Is that what they call it these days?”
“What…?” A sudden flurry of very disconcerting emotions rustled through Jeff’s head. Fright was prominent amid them.
“Come on, Jeff,” Sue said. “She was all over you.”
“Don’t be stupid. She’s young enough…” He trailed off. Did that phrase actually apply to him now?
“I think you need a long night’s sleep. You’re going to have to start coming to terms with what you are sooner or later.”
“Jesus Christ!” He hadn’t noticed, he really hadn’t. Now, all her mannerisms, the playfulness came flooding back into his mind. She’d been flirting with him.
“Pleasant dreams,” Sue murmured as she left.
Jeff’s own bedroom was at the end of the house, with a big veranda looking out over the rear lawn. The wide glass doors were shut, and the curtains closed against the night. His pajamas were laid out on the big double bed, ready for him. He barely got his shoes off before he flopped back on the mattress. Sue was walking down the stairs, talking to her bodyguard.
It truly had never bothered him before. She’d always played by the arrangement rules, being discreet for the sake of Tim. Maybe she hadn’t been the absolute best mother in the world, but then again, he’d hardly been the best father, and at least she’d always been there for the boy, which was the whole point of the arrangement in the first place. Back when he’d made the offer to her, that was all that mattered to him. He’d left having a child so late it had almost become a lost hope. When he thought of his first disastrous marriage, then all the affairs there’d been after he became famous, the way he’d been so full of himself as the years rolled on unacknowledged, it could so easily have not happened. He hadn’t even realized he’d wanted children and the comfort of continuity they brought until he was in his late fifties and saw all his contemporaries with their grandchildren. That was when the awareness struck hardest. Money had come to his aid, and he did have a decent amount of it despite the philanthropy for which he was so well known. So Tim was born. A somewhat cold method of bringing a life into the world, as he’d be the first to admit. However, the boy had given Jeff a sense of pride and satisfaction that was worth any mere financial price.