Richard
James is not happy with me. Very uncharacteristically, he marches into my office without so much as a knock. Francis follows him in, protesting, retreating a step or two at the look he turns on her, then withdraws to the sanctuary of her own desk as I nod her back out.
He stands over me like the oncoming storm, launching without preamble. “It didn’t occur to you to say something to me first? I learn something like that out of the blue? That you invited Michael, Charlotte’s new husband, to party with Beth.”
I had expected some reaction from James, but I’m taken aback by the scale of his reaction. “James, do you seriously believe I would do anything to upset Charlotte? I simply asked what she thought of the idea. Not even her permission at first. She thought about it for a moment
