The Otto Bin Empire Read Free Page A

girlfriend,’ he’d added hastily, ‘but you get where I’m coming from, don’t you? I mean, you can’t just leave your past behind. What say we meet up and talk about this, eh? Just you and me, what do you say?’
    Clive had smiled as he listened to his son: ‘I mean’, ‘hey, man’, ‘what say’ … There were times when Josh sounded distinctly American. It was his job of course. Joshua was an exceptionally bright IT man and had recently been appointed head of marketing at a major publishing house. Given the change from print to electronic media that was still moving at such a pace, he was revolutionising the company’s website and electronic marketing methods, the new whiz-kid on the block – no wonder there was an American sales pitch to his manner. Good for you, mate , Clive had thought fondly.
    â€˜I’m not breaking all ties with you, Josh,’ he’d said, ‘that’s not my intention, I promise. It’s not my intention to break all ties with Jodie either, although I don’t think she realises that. It’s just that I need to be on my own for a while.’
    Do any of them realise I really do mean ‘on my own’ ? he wondered. They all seem to presume I’m living with Barbara. Well, let them , he decided.
    Telling the truth was not an option to Clive. God forbid it might appear a bid for sympathy or a plea for forgiveness, both of which were the last things he wanted. He accepted entire responsibility for his current situation. Besides, Barbara wouldn’t have wanted him to shift into her life. He wouldn’t have wanted to shift into hers either, such an option had not occurred to him once. All ties had been broken with Barbara too. She was another whose calls had gone unanswered, and it didn’t take long before she’d stopped ringing. Their relationship had been a six-month casual affair, pleasant dalliances that suited them both, just like the other affairs he’d had throughout his marriage. A weakness, of course, but he’d rarely been able to resist a woman who made it obvious she found him attractive. There had been no conscious intent on his part, he’d never sought out women for the purpose of seduction; things had seemed simply to happen. In the early days when he and Rosemary had still shared a passion, she’d seen his infidelities as betrayal and threatened to leave him. He’d practised discretion after that, escaping detection for the most part, or so he’d thought, and as they’d drifted into the complacency of middle-age he’d assumed that whenever she suspected a brief affair was afoot she was content to turn a blind eye. He’d been wrong. This latest fling, only recently discovered, had pushed Rosemary over the edge. And who could blame her?
    â€˜How long’s “a while”?’ His son’s voice had jolted Clive from his reverie.
    â€˜I don’t know, Josh. I truly don’t know.’
    A pause. ‘What are you going to do about the business?’
    â€˜Oh, I think your mother’s more than capable of handling things,’ he’d replied. And she was, of course. The business had been Rosemary’s from the start – Rosemary’s idea, Rosemary’s passion, even Rosemary’s money. She’d invested the entire $50,000 left to her by her grandmother in order to get them started. The company’s very name, ‘Barnett Creative Landscape Design & Maintenance’, was of her invention. A bit fancy in his opinion, he would have preferred simply ‘Barnett Landscaping’. They’d worked equally hard to get the business up and going, it was true, and the company was registered in both their names, but Clive had always considered it Rosemary’s. He wanted no part of it now. He wanted to turn his back and walk away from it all.
    â€˜So how long will this go on, Dad? I mean, when do I get to see