Authors: Victoria Sinclair
‘Yes,’ she replied curtly. ‘I read it all.’
‘Ah, good. Then you’ll be able to give a brief review of the reading for the rest of the class, won’t you?’
‘I…I’ll do my best,’ she stammered, wondering why he’d put her on the spot like this.
‘Well, begin. We’re waiting.’
‘OK,’ she began shyly, but he interrupted her.
‘At the front of the room, please,’ he said dryly. ‘You can’t possibly expect to give an effective speech from your seat.’ Blushing furiously, Emily bit down hard on her lip, keeping a tight rein on her emotions. She stood up slowly and walked to the front of the room. He stood just metres from her, and her body was powerfully aware of the fact. Her unwanted attraction to him didn’t seem to be waning, no matter how much he humiliated her. Obviously she was a greater masochist than she’d ever given herself credit for.
‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘Miss?’
‘Peterson...Emily Peterson,’ she replied, hardly able to remember her own name, let alone anything about the chapter she’d read the previous night. She opened her mouth and stumbled through a vague explanation lasting not more than a painful couple of minutes which felt like an eternity in hell. She returned to her seat, head bowed, feeling like an utter fool.
‘Thank you Miss Peterson. Well, I suppose that’s the best I can expect from a first attempt, but I expect better of the rest of you in the future.’ Emily ground her teeth, put on a false smile, and wished fervently that she could leave the lecture theatre and never return. But that was not an option. Nicholas Cavanaugh was not going to intimidate her into leaving. Anger took the place of mortification and she opened her mouth to speak.
‘Well that’s hardly fair!’ she interjected. ‘How can I possibly be expected to give a good presentation on something I read yesterday? You never told us we’d be expected to memorise it! Had I known you were going to thrust this impromptu speech upon me, I would at least have had the foresight to take notes.’ She was pleased to hear murmurs of agreement from the students around her.
Nicholas Cavanaugh stared at her penetratingly for a moment before speaking, his nostrils flaring in indignation. Emily held her head high and kept her gaze locked on his. Finally a tense smile appeared on his lips. ‘Perhaps that’s true for a classroom situation. But in the world of business you’ll be expected to give presentations at the drop of a hat, sometimes having to summarise information you’ve read only moments before. You must all learn to prepare yourselves for such an eventuality. If you can’t, then you may as well quit now.
‘I’m a professional businessman with a company in Melbourne. I know what the demands of the job are, and I expect that by the end of this semester all of you will too. Now, at least, you’ll all know to be prepared. If you must, take brief notes and revise them before class, but please get into the habit of absorbing what you read.’ His eyes bored into her as he spoke, making it feel as though every word was directed solely at her. The coolness of his tone felt like ice in her chest, and it took every ounce of courage she had not to slink away like the failure he thought her to be.
For the remainder of the class she took notes furiously, refusing to look at him even once. The hour dragged on interminably, but finally she was free, and at long last her body returned to its normal state.
She arrived at work and sighed at the huge pile of correspondence sitting in her ‘in’ box. Determined to get the morning’s events well out of her mind, she switched on her computer and got to work immediately. Her boss, Mark Overington, had left a message saying he’d be out of the office for the rest of the day, so she could work in relative peace.
During her lunch hour, she called the mechanic and was relieved to discover that her car had a simple fault with the alternator, and would be ready for her to pick up that evening.
After lunch she set to work on some filing, and unfortunately, the task was so routine that it left her mind free to wander, and wander it did, right onto Nicholas Cavanaugh. Just the thought of him set her heart to pounding, and turned her insides to jelly, which made her dislike him all the more. He was so well presented and self assured; although he couldn’t have been more than ten years her senior, and she wondered what had given him the confidence and poise that she so obviously lacked.
Fortunately, once the filing was done, she was able to settle down to doing the accounts payable, which used up just enough of her mind that she was able to forget that annoying man for the moment.
At five o’clock on the dot, finished with all her work for the day, Emily tidied her desk, locked the building and hurried to the bus stop, arriving at the mechanic’s at twenty past five, only to find that her car was still being worked on.
‘Sorry I’m not finished yet,’ the mechanic, Rick Jeffries, said politely. ‘Would you be able to wait another quarter hour or so?’ Emily frowned slightly, annoyed.
‘I suppose I’ll have to. What’s the problem?’
‘We had a rush job to finish and had to put yours on hold.’ He looked at her apologetically, and she frowned in response.
‘A rush job? I need my car as much as anyone else,’ she said, wondering why her car got relegated until someone else’s ‘rush job’ had been completed.
‘I really am sorry Emily. I thought I’d get done in time. If you’re in a real hurry, I can get one of the boys to give you a lift home.’ She repressed a sigh.
‘No, don’t worry about it. I can wait.’ Waiting now was better than catching the bus again tomorrow, she thought ruefully.
‘Thanks,’ he said gratefully, clearly glad she wasn’t making a fuss. ‘I’ll get back to the car right away. Have a seat in the office. Make a cuppa if you like.’
‘Thanks a lot, Mr Jeffries.’ She knew half her frustration came from that morning’s lecture. The fact that the car wasn’t ready irritated her, but she understood the mechanic’s position.
She made herself a cup of coffee, not knowing how long she’d be waiting, and called home, promising Steve that she’d take him and Veronica out to dinner to make up for her delayed arrival, a deal he readily agreed to.
After ending the call she got the unnerving feeling that someone was standing behind her. She swung around to look, her heart taking a small leap in her chest as she did so. She noticed first the neat navy coloured pants, and then moved her eyes up to the crisp white shirt and jacket, and finally to the finely moulded features, thick, dark hair, and icy blue eyes. She gulped uncomfortably, nervously running the conversation with her brother through her mind, just in case she’d let the name ‘Nicholas Cavanaugh’ slip out accidentally.
‘And who do we have here? You’re looking quite cosy Emily Peterson. I wasn’t aware that you were friends with Rick Jeffries.’ Emily didn’t like the insinuation in his voice.
‘I’m not,’ she said defensively. ‘He’s my mechanic, and right now he’s finishing my car.’
‘Well I hope he finishes it properly. He left my radiator cap undone, and I damn nearly wrecked my engine driving off in it.’
‘I suppose your car was the rush job that needed to be done so urgently that I’m still sitting here waiting for mine?’ she said sarcastically, irritated by his tone. He had probably demanded such prompt attention that the poor mechanic working on his car had slipped under pressure.
‘It probably was. It may have escaped your attention, Miss Peterson, but I am a busy man and can’t afford to have a car that doesn’t work.’
‘Yes, I can imagine how terrible it would be for you if you had to be late for an appointment!’ she snapped. Fortunately, he had the grace to look surprised and even slightly ashamed.
‘I’d forgotten about that,’ he confessed, smiling ruefully. ‘I must admit I thought your excuse was just that, an excuse. I suppose I owe you an apology.’ She raised an eyebrow at him.
‘You do.’
‘Well then, I apologise for doubting your truthfulness yesterday.’
‘And?’
‘And what?’ He looked truly puzzled.
‘How about apologising for embarrassing me in front of the entire class!’
‘OK, that too.’ Emily stared at him silently, lips pressed together. ‘OK, OK. I apologise for embarrassing you in front of the entire class. It was wrong of me to draw attention to you the way I did. Just don’t let it happen again.’ A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and Emily was surprised to find herself smiling in response.
‘I try not to make a habit of it, as a general rule. But when one drives a fifteen year old car, these things have been known to happen.’
‘Unfortunately they happen with new cars too, occasionally,’ he said ruefully. ‘As it is my radiator will need a good flushing out after what it’s been through. I’m just lucky I stopped driving soon enough to realise I was out of water. I hate to think what would have happened if I’d driven all the way back to the office. The annoying thing is that I didn’t notice the problem earlier!’ he said in consternation, while Emily looked at him in sympathy, something she wouldn’t have felt for him five minutes earlier. ‘If the car hadn’t just been serviced, I would have paid more attention to the fact that it wasn’t running as smoothly as normal. I thought it was just the tuning! Well, enough of my grumbling. I shouldn’t be complaining this way in front of you.’
‘That’s perfectly all right. At least I know you’re human now!’ she joked, trying to make light of his serious mood. He raised his eyebrows at her. The look in his eyes ignited something within her, leaving her breathless. She turned away from him, her heart still hammering fit to burst. The effect he had on her was frightening. Especially now he’d decided to act like a human being.
‘And what led you to believe I wasn’t?’
‘I had you pegged as one of those Mr Perfect types,’ she said lightly, trying desperately to regain her composure. ‘You know, the sort who never makes a mistake.’
‘I can assure you that mistakes are my speciality. The most valuable piece of advice I can give you is that mistakes are the best learning tools you have. Just never let yourself feel like a failure because you say or do something wrong. Learn from it and move on. That’s why I’m where I am today, because I never let the small things get me off track in my career. If you do the same, I can assure you that you’ll succeed at whatever you try.’
‘I see. So even someone as pathetic as I can make it in the demanding world of business?’
‘If you believe you can. Did you let my attitude toward you affect the way you saw yourself?’
‘No. Well, not much. I simply decided to prove you wrong about me. And I will!’ He grinned at her, and Emily felt her insides melt. Her heart was still racing in her chest, and a liquid heat filled her.
‘That’s the attitude! It’s people who take it personally and quit as soon as they sense opposition who fail in life. You only succeed if you persist at what you’re doing, and don’t let others dictate your feelings of self worth. And never allow yourself to put up with second best. Here comes Rick Jeffries now. He’s a good man, but he made a mistake and I’m going to make sure he knows it.’
Rick entered the room, concern on his face at the sight of Nicholas’s grim bearing.
‘Hello Mr Cavanaugh. Your car’s fine. I’m dealing with the repairs myself.’
‘So I should hope! Such a mistake is unacceptable. It’s lucky I realised the car was losing water before serious damage occurred!’ Emily watched the interaction between the two men with interest. Nicholas clearly dominated the other man, making Rick seem somehow smaller than usual, and the way Rick deferred to Nicholas was almost embarrassing to watch. Emily realised that seeing Nicholas’s interaction with others would be an education in itself.
Nicholas left the office looking far more satisfied than he had on arrival. He turned once towards Emily, and with a half-smile on his features nodded at her in farewell.
‘Everything all right?’ she asked the mechanic as he watched Nicholas stride away.
‘Yes, fortunately. I’ll have to give those boys a talking to! There’s no excuse for such clumsiness, and unfortunately I’m the one who’s got to wear it. It’s lucky he didn’t end up with a cracked head!’
‘I’m glad you kept hold of your temper then!’ she said with a giggle. ‘You could have made quite a mess.’ The mechanic’s sombre expression lightened, and he laughed.
‘I hope you realise I was referring to the engine!’
‘Of course.’ She grinned
‘At least your car’s fixed and you’re free to go. I’ll give you the key and send you out the invoice in the mail.’
‘Thanks a lot,’ she replied. ‘I’ll see you later.’ She walked over to her car and climbed in. It purred like a kitten as she started the engine, and she drove home feeling lighter in her heart.
‘You’re finally home! Let’s eat!’ Steven’s enthusiasm made her laugh.
‘Hang on!’ she said. ‘I just got here.’ She shook her head as she looked at her brother and sister, trying to remember when she had been as young and full of energy and excitement as they were. ‘It’s been a long day. I had not just one, but two encounters with the infamous Nicholas Cavanaugh, lecturer extraordinaire.’
‘Tell us about it on the way, Em,’ insisted Steven. ‘I’m dying!’ Emily debated changing from her work clothes into something more comfortable, but the grumble in her own stomach precluded the desire to change.
‘OK, let’s go.’