Book of Ma'Chi - 05 - Jenny's toast

Jenny caught sight of Bernard walking through the hallway from her place in the bar, sitting with her colleagues, enjoying a post-dinner “digestif”. The conversation had moved away from Lizzie’s repeated telling of her boyfriend’s version of the story of Bernard the murderer to the more mundane subject of HomeFoods’ advertising agency.

She excused herself and nipped out of the bar door in pursuit of Bernard who she thought she’d heard going into the kitchen.
Knocking gently on the kitchen door in the dining room and not waiting for a reply, she stuck her head around the door to find Bernard at the PC in the corner of the kitchen, lit only by the dim light coming from above the worktops against the wall.

“Ah! There you are!”, she said, “have you got a second?”

“Hello, Jennifer!”, Bernard said, looking up from the screen, “Of course! Come in! Come in, any excuse not to do people planning. How can I help?”

He stood up from the desk in the corner and beckoned Jenny to sit at the big oak table.

“How have you been since the workshop? You said on the phone that things were on the mend?”, asked Jenny.

Bernard looked across the scarred oak table at Jennifer and smiled. They had met a couple of years ago on a systemic training course. It had been quite intense and had dealt with some interesting personal issues. As a result Jenny and Bernard had become quite close. They had continued to stay in contact since that first training and Bernard, who had given up what he called ‘live work’ inside companies, had followed Jenny’s progress with interest, with the merger with Rochdale foods Ltd., and the creation of HomeFoods. He had been quite pleased six weeks ago when she had rung him to see if he had any space this week for their strategy and development session.

“Well”, he mused, “if your question is about the Center for New Equilibrium, then the physical work of renovation is going pretty well, on budget and time, and I’m happy with the results. Bookings are up on last year, so business is good.” Bernard paused and looked away. “If your question is about me, then the Singapore Dragon is breathing fire again, but there’s a lot of water in the Lake District.”

He stood up, went to the fridge by the door and took a bottle of sparkling water.

“Would you like some?” he said, offering her a glass from the shelf with a broad grin on his face.

“What? Sparkling water? You can do better than that…” Jenny teased gently.

“Oh you could have some of my tea”, he said, putting a bottle of Cointreau and two glasses on the table and pouring doubles as he spoke.

“Thank you. Here’s to the water!” she said, raising her glass in a toast.

Bernard raised his glass to her toast and emptied half the glass, challenging her to do the same with his eyes. Her smile acknowledged the challenge but she only sipped her Cointreau.

“Actually, the dragon is bit of an issue”, Jenny continued after a pause.

Bernard looked across at her, his blue eyes neutral in the dim light, waiting for the next part.

“It’s Lizzy”, continued Jenny, “her boyfriend is a freelance journalist who’s been following your case. She hadn’t made the connection before she arrived but when she saw your name as licensee over the door, she rang her boyfriend and now she’s convinced I’ve brought her to a murderer’s lair.”

Bernard’s blue eyes didn’t move as he sat listening.

“She’s calmed down now…”, Jenny confirmed, “She was in quite a panic at first. The others have not picked up on it, but I thought you should know.”

“Thank you”, said Bernard quietly and raising his glass, “To water”, he offered and drained the Cointreau.

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This is the fifth chapter from the Book of Ma'Chi