Tall Poppies (46 page)

‘And it wasn’t working before?’

‘Oh, it was working, but in a small way. We fixed that when Harry came on board. He’s a genius programmer. He creates the software, Nina applies it to the market, I spread the word.’ She tugged at Jack’s hand. ‘Come over here, see the boardroom.’

Jack laughed. ‘The boardroom? Oh babe, you’re kidding.’

‘Good morning, Lady Elizabeth,’ said a middle-aged woman in a smart navy suit.

‘Good morning, Mrs Potts. Jack, this is Mrs Potts, our executive assistant.’

‘Good morning to you, ma’am,’ Jack said .politely,

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trying to hide his disbelief. Elizabeth showed him into a small, well-equipped conference room, with a mahogany table and four chairs. Then she shut the door behind her and kissed him triumphantly on the lips.

‘I’m not kidding,’ she said. ‘I’m deadly serious, Jack. This time it’s working. And we’re in charge. If it keeps up this way, I’m going to be a multimillionaire before I’m thirty years old.’

‘Is Elizabeth still busy?’ Harry asked, slightly annoyed. ‘Is this about your new project?’

‘Yeah. I’m done with the conceptual stuff. I need to know if we can sell it. I only have forty minutes before the Unilever meeting.’

‘You’re starting to sound like me,’ Nina said, glancing across the hall. The boardroom door was still closed and she smilel. ‘Elizabeth’s got a lot of history with Jack

Taylor. I think you should just let her alone.’

‘It’s going to mean working late tonight.’

‘So what else is new? Success is tough,’ Nina replied. It was true. The addition of Harry had given them everything Tall Poppies needed. Nina’s cold efficiency was offset by Elizabeth’s warm English-rose persuasiveness, and the addition of the older American scientist banished any remaining doubts. The small companies they’d worked with before recommended them highly, but now they had somet}ing fresh to offer. Computerisation. What sci-fi writers saw as a sinister force, and Establishment fuddy-duddies regarded as a passing craze, was taking over. Namath’s maverick code-jockeying now had a legitimate target. Tall Poppies became IT consultants to the UK drugs business. They were in demand right away. Nina made her first, really big score, an efficiency programme for a division of Procter & Gamble. After that it was open season.

Nina was straining to go like a Dobermann on a leash.”

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She’d waited for this all her life. When Harry complained he was being pushed too hard, they hired more programmers, all the brilliant, unorthodox talents the hiotech giants wouldn’t touch. At Tall Poppies, staff wore Hawaiian shorts, Beatles Tshirts, anything they liked. And they kept their own hours, as long as the work got done. Soon Elizabeth needed marketing help too. They physically outgrew their surroundings, rented another floor.

Nina was now speaking to the landlord about a lease

on the whole building, and they hired accountants and lawyers. Elizabeth arranged interviews in the business press.

‘What do you feel about this overnight success?’ the

‘ FT asked Nina.

‘Overnight?’ she’d laughed. ‘It’s taken me years.’

‘Never mind my partner,’ Elizabeth butted in. ‘You

have to speak fluent obsessive to understand her.’

The uptight, besuited journalist tried another tack. ‘Female entrepreneurs seem to be the wave of the future - Rnita Roddick at the Body Shop, Debbie Moore at Pineapple. Why do you think this is?’

‘Well,’ Elizabeth said, looking over at Nina, ‘we women have to give ourselves a chance, because nobody else is going to.’ ‘And have you girls always been friends?’

Nina shrugged. ‘We girls have always hated each other.’

The hack put his pad down. ‘I don’t understand.’ ‘Why not? I’m speaking English,’ Nina told him curtly. ‘And is that still the case?’ asked the stuffy jerk, with a look that clearly said they were mad, hysterical females, and how the hell were they making all this money?

‘No.’ Elizabeth grinned over at her partner. ‘We tried

to keep it up, but the truth is, we were just too busy.’

‘We understand each other better now,’ Nina added.

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‘And the third partner? Dr Namath?’

‘I like Harry,’ Elizabeth said carefully, ‘and our working relationship is terrific.’

He’d been satisfied with that because he had to be, Nina reflected. Elizabeth was too smooth to let anything slip out: how they worked together fine, but Harry and Nina fought all the time. Pushing. Yelling. Stand-up fights, blazing arguments the staff could hear through Harry’s office wall, the two Americans jabbering at each other in a barrage of slang. Elizabeth acted as a bridge between them, and there was too much work and new business to have it get in the way. Nina knew it was mostly her fault, but she couldn’t stop.

It was torture, having him there all the time. Watching him as he crouched over a computer station, his eyes locked on the scrolling numbers, his face lit up by a monitor.°Sometimes they worked together late at night. Nina took care to keep out of his way. Otherwise, the urge to reach over and ruffle his hair might be too strong. She couldn’t bear the way he looked at her sometimes, a guarded glance, like he was trying to figure out how he’d gotten her so wrong.

Every day she hoped he’d turn up and announce a new girlfriend. Every day she was terrified of it. When she had to be physically close to him, it was almost too much to bear.

But Nina couldn’t do without Harry. His reputation grew every week. He was the engine for her revenge on Tony Savage, and for her and-Elizabeth both, that was the absolute priority.

Elizabeth had told her what Tony said: ‘You have to cut down the tall poppies.’ Every job they landed, every new bill that got paid, was a slap in that bastard’s face. Tony refused to comment on all the good-natured questions about his daughter’s success. When Nina

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imagined the journalists bugging him, it gave her exquisite pleasure.

And even better, they were hurting him.

Nina pitched Dragon sometimes, just to be spiteful, and when they turned her down, she went to their competitors. Dragon had its own IT people, but they were hidebound, way behind Tall Poppies. In the UK, on the Continent, rivals were chipping away at Tony’s market share.

The first day Dragon’s stock dipped, Nina opened a bottle of Cristal. Tall Poppies was still a small business, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

‘Yeah, success is tough,’ Harry said. ‘Just like you.’

The?’ Nina tried to smile. ‘I’m just a marshmallow. Look, is it really urgent?’

‘Damn straight, it’s urgent.’ Harry ran his hands distractedly through his hair.

‘Then how about I go over it with you?’

‘Tonight?’

0

‘Not if you don’t want to,’ Nina said, blushing.

‘No, it’s OK. Your place or mine? Or does that sound

too much like a date?’

‘Your place is fine. And no, it doesn’t sound like a date,’ Nina said with a touch of bitterness. ‘Don’t worry, I know better than that.’

‘Let’s go back to the hotel,’ Jack said, kissing her forehead and eyebrows. ‘You’re turning me on, sugar, I swear.’ He bent her back, both his arms resting on the boardroom table. ‘There’s a desk in the bedroom, I want to get you butt naked and push you down across it and—’

‘Jack!’ Elizabeth pushed him off her. ‘Jesus! Is that all you ever think about?’ He grinned. ‘Nope. Sometimes I think about having

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you go down on me. Or getting you in the tub and washing you with a little bubblebath …’

Elizabeth’s creamy skin blushed a deep rose. ‘Cut it out! This isn’t some kind of sex-trip, Jack. This is serious, this is seriously my business!’

‘I know that.’ Jack stood upright, letting her wriggle

out of his arms. ‘And I’m totally impressed.’

‘And surprised.’

He shrugged. ‘That too. OK? I admit it. But come on, baby. You know things are changed now. You don’t need to be worrying, y’all are going to get a whole lot of money for your share in this thing, and when we’re in Texas you and me can—’

‘Wait a second.’ Elizabeth held up one hand. ‘Back up. What did you just say?’

Jack shook his head. ‘You’re right, I’m all messed up. Going too fast. But I’ve had years of practice at that.’ He dropped to one knee and took her hand in his. ‘Elizabeth, you know I love you. And you love me, unless you’re one

hell of an actress. Will you marry me?’

‘Jack …’

His handsome face clouded slightly. ‘Yes or no, sugar.’ ‘Maybe,’ Elizabeth said.

Jack looked at her disbelievingly. Then he scrambled to his feet, frowning like thunder. ‘Maybe? You know, I had this scene all figured out.’ He fished in his pocket and drew out a blue velvet box, flicked it open. Inside was a huge solitaire diamond, emerald-cut on a ring of white gold. ‘Real romantic and all. -I have to tell you, girl, maybe wasn’t a part of it. Are we still playing games? Aren’t we done with that?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Elizabeth nodded and blinked back tears. ‘We’re done with that. Which is why I say maybe. I do

love you, Jack, I always have, and I want to marry you.’ ‘Then I don’t see the problem.’

She waved at the busy offices behind them. ‘That’s the

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problem, Jack. Tall Poppies. It’s my thing and I’m not selling up. Not now. We’re on the threshold of something extraordinary … I’ve been waiting for this all my life, to be somebody in my own right. I can’t give it up to go back to … to Soutbfork and play at being Sue Ellen.’

Jack sat down heavily in one of the carved oak chairs. ‘Sweetheart, I don’t have a choice here. I’m an only child. I got hundreds of acres of prime Texas land, two hotels and a stable full of the best studs west of Arabia. I can’t sell it.’

‘You can do whatever you want.’

‘You can come and help out with the business back home. I know how you feel–’

‘No,’ Elizabeth said. ‘No, clearly you don’t. Or you wouldn’t ask.’ Jack scowled at her. ‘Honey, get real! You’re saying

you want me to live over here, like a goddamn househusband? My business has been in my family for six generations.’

‘And mine has been in mine for one generation.’ Elizabeth blinked back a film of tears. ‘Look, thank you for the offer, truly—’

‘No!’ Jack shouted. He caught her hand and pressed it

on to his heart. ‘You can’t say no to me! We were meant

to be together!’

Elizabeth looked at him. He was so beautiful, so perfect, and she loved him so much. She also knew if she gave up Tall Poppies to be with. him, she would wind up resenting him so bitterly that love would turn to hate.

Sorrow clogged her heart so thickly she felt like she

could hardly breathe.

‘God,’ she said, and one big tear trickled out on to her

cheek before she could get a grip on herself. ‘I thought so

tOO.’

Nina left Elizabeth alone for the rest of the day: It was

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strange, seeing Jack Taylor in the flesh; so tanned and Texan, he was Marlboro Man in the flesh. She couldn’t imagine him on a pair of skis. Or ever dating a cool customer like Lady Elizabeth. He was real courteous when Elizabeth introduced them, said something about them being fierce enemies and fiercer friends, but Jack seemed distracted. That way they were matched: Nina was distracted too.

‘Nice to meet you,’ she said. ‘Elizabeth, can you come round to Harry’s house this evening, any time you can make it? We need to check out his new product.’

‘Sure. Sure.’ Elizabeth turned to go. ‘I’m not going to be in this afternoon, is that OK? I’m going to drive Jack to the airport.’

‘Whatever you need,’ Nina said.

It was stl light when she got to Harry’s, the gold and pink streaks of the summer evening silhouetted behind the pretty Georgian houses in his street. London was a beautiful city, when you thought about it. Nina watched a pair of pigeons flurry on to Harry’s roof, strutting around cooing to each other. The tree outside his front door was in full green leaf. She stepped up and rang the doorbell wearily. How nice it would be, just once, to have an evening off. She hoped whatever Namath had dragged her out for wa worth it.

‘Hey, come in, come in.’ Harry led her into the kitchen where he liked to work at night: He had a terminal set up in the far corner, so he could programme and never be too far from the cookie jar. Tonight he was wearing grey sweats and sneakers; he looked relaxed and confident. Nina was wearing the same John Galliano she’d been in all day. She was frazzled from clients, and her neck hurt where the phone had been glued to it.

‘You look tired.’

‘You got it.’ Nina rubbed the back of her neck. ‘Can

we get to it? I’d like to go over what you’re proposing.’

‘Something I’ve been working on,’ Harry said. ‘Proprietary software. I’m calling it Home Office.’

‘Home Office?’ Nina repeated. ‘But we do consultancy—’ ‘And we still will, but this is going to take us to a whole new level. You won’t just sell to big drugs firms, you’ll sell to every small businessman in the country,’ Harry said.

‘OK.’ Nina knew better than to laugh at Harry when

he got that look on his face. ‘Layman’s terms, try and tell

me what you’ve written.’

Over the next couple of hours he explained it to her. Nina tried to follow; she lost him in the jargon, but the concept was simple. Home Office was a software program you could sell in the high street. Disc-drive computers could access the full thing, smaller Spectrums and Amigas could run a mini-version on their tape recorders. It would centralise word processing, spreadsheet and inventory functions in one programme.

‘What are we doing?’ Namath asked enthusiastically, watching his partner with her head bowed and her neck aching, trying to read his graphics designs. ‘We’re reorganising all these giant firms to make them more efficient. Well, that’s something everyone needs. The florist. The guy with the corner store. Didn’t you tell me once you’d run a deli?’