This is the penultimate chapter of 'Misunderstood'. Thank you all for your kind reviews, comments and interest in the plot which I really appreciate. It has made writing this story a lot of fun!

Chapter Ten

Phillip Walters had been talking for twenty minutes about the company budgets but Molly, sitting in the corner of the Board Room to observe, had switched off. Kevin had suggested that she attend one of his weekly Senior Team meetings to get a feel for the type of matters under discussion and to meet everyone. There was nothing contentious or confidential on the agenda and he thought she would find it useful experience although she wouldn't be expected to attend on a regular basis. She was glad of the last fact because she was bored. A part of her, however, realised that it wouldn't really have mattered what was on the agenda today; her heart wasn't really in it. If she was honest with herself she was still standing on the dance floor last night watching a beautiful, model-like woman drape herself over Charles and talk about taking him home to bed whilst all her fledgling hopes tumbled through an abyss that had opened up in the floor.

Last night she had been shocked and angered at Charles' duplicity. The anger had stayed with her for a couple of hours and carried her through the taxi ride home with Kevin and conversations about the following day's activities. She had managed to switch off her mind. It was only later when she finally got home and was alone that she had given in to the tears of hurt and disappointment. Just for a few minutes last night, when Charles had told her she was mistaken, that he wasn't married and they had been dancing so closely together, she had dared to hope that this could be the start of something really wonderful and all the feelings of attraction she had suppressed began to fight their way to the surface. At that moment she would have made her excuses to Kevin and gone anywhere to be alone with him. Then the woman had appeared. Molly had seen the startled look of annoyance on Charles' face and all her previous distrust returned. She'd rather be alone that be made a fool of by anyone else.

"Molly?"

Kevin's voice broke into her thoughts. She realised he was looking directly at her and around him the other members of the team were shuffling papers. It looked as if the meeting was over.

"Sorry, Kevin."

He smiled, "Do you think you could get some copies of Philips's report run off?"

She nodded, took the document from him and left the room. When she returned to his office fifteen minutes later and placed the papers on his desk he looked up at her and held her gaze for a few seconds before saying,

"You don't seem quite yourself today."

There was no denying it. She shrugged and said, "Just a bit tired, I suppose from last night."

She hadn't got home until after one o'clock. She and Kevin had been fortunate to miss the rush at the end of the ball and find a taxi directly outside the entrance of the hotel which had whisked them away before others had made it half-way across the lobby. When she had got home she'd been too distracted for at least an hour by thoughts of what had happened and her unhappiness to even go to bed and when she had finally forced herself to turn off the light, sleep had evaded her for at least half an hour. When it did arrive it had been shallow and fitful with dreams that featured Charles and the black-haired woman in the blue dress. She was definitely tired, both physically and emotionally.

Kevin took this reference to tiredness on board but replied, "I wondered if you were having second thoughts about whether to take this job."

"Oh, no, I'm still really interested in working with you, I just..." she trailed off wondering what to say.

"Found Philip's report a bit long-winded?" he supplied with a smile.

"Yeah," she admitted with a grimace.

"That's his style, Molly, but he's a good man and I trust him. My Personal Assistant is going to have to deal with a lot of different personalities. It's no different than dealing with clients and candidates except these people are part of my Senior Team and let's face it we're all different."

He sat back in his chair clearly thinking about something. She had seen him do this a number of times this week and knew that she was only required to remain silent.

"Why don't you go back to the branch this afternoon and work out the rest of the week there. I expect Mike's not too pleased at me requisitioning you this week without so much as a 'by your leave'. It'll give you a bit of contrast and you can think about whether you want to spend so much time working with me." He raised his eyebrows at her. She thought he meant it to be humorous but she didn't feel like laughing and merely smiled.

"I'll talk to you on Friday, Molly, and you can let me know what you think."

She nodded her agreement. She was fairly sure that she would be able to make a decision by Friday.

X-X-X-X

If Charles had thought the train journey back to Bath after his encounter with Molly three months ago was bad, then this was far worse. He couldn't believe how events had turned out last night. To finally have her in his arms and feel that everything had been resolved and then to find himself alone again had been devastating. He'd almost been uncivil to Giselle, such was his annoyance at her unconscious scuppering of his hopes. It wasn't her fault but he'd been quiet on the way home and she'd asked him with genuine concern if he thought he was coming down with a cold. He wished he could sort his problems out with a lemsip.

He shouldn't have been surprised to see Molly react that way last night, with such speed and decisiveness. There was nothing meek, mild or accepting about her. She wasn't going to stand by and let some other woman fawn over him, although, if she could just have curbed her instincts and stood still for a minute longer, he could have explained and introduced Giselle. He clenched his fist in annoyance as he looked out of the train window but shaking his head realised that it was Molly's feisty, passion that appealed to him so much. She was so different to Rebecca. Once or twice he'd wondered if he was just trying to obliterate Rebecca's memory by falling for someone so diametrically opposed to her although he knew it was entirely possible that the reason his marriage to Rebecca had failed was because she was simply wrong for him and he had needed someone like Molly all along.

He hadn't wanted to leave in the morning but he had no option. He had to get back to Bath, collect his car and then drive back to Nant Glyn House as soon as possible. There were delegates arriving for a two day course on Thursday morning and from the look of Ade, white-faced, unshaven and having lost his voice altogether, he wasn't going to be well enough to return which would leave Bing short-handed. Charles knew that they would need to make plans to handle the situation. Bing would probably draft in one of the other staff on site to help supervise but not everyone was qualified for all the activities.

Giselle had promised to return Charles' hire suit for him. He had hoped there would be time to make another excursion into that part of town in the vague hope that he might get to see Molly but time wouldn't permit. There remained nothing more to do than make his way to Paddington and return to Bath. As he stood on the concourse waiting for the platform to be announced he tried making one final call to Molly's branch office. It was worth another try. If he could speak to her and explain what had happened they might be able to resolve the situation, although he didn't hold out a lot of hope that Molly would believe him, certainly not immediately. As much as he had tried to convince himself that Molly would see sense and realise her mistake eventually, he had been forced to finally admit to himself that the sight of a beautiful woman clinging onto him and talking about what her face would look like in the morning was quite damning evidence to someone who believed they were involved. Sasha answered the phone, as she had done the last two days, and once again reported that Molly wasn't in the office today. This time he ventured to ask if she would be returning that week and Sasha gave the vague opinion that she hadn't heard that she wouldn't be there. He thanked her and rang off.

As he sat on the train speeding its way westwards with each mile taking him further away from Molly, Charles knew that his only hope was that she would read the letter and decide to call him.

X-X-X-X-X

Walking back into the office on Wednesday afternoon after an absence of two and a half days, Molly received a chorus of humorous comments from her colleagues such as, 'come to see how the other half live, have we?' and 'are we good enough for you now?'. She had expected no less from them and took it in good part referring to them all as 'riff-raff' before offering to make them a cup of tea.

As Molly handed Kate her mug, Kate whispered to her, "Did you like working with Kevin?"

Molly shrugged and keeping her voice down replied, "There were good and bad points, like all jobs. Kevin's a good bloke. I like him. There's no nonsense about him but some of the stuff is a bit dull. Well, I suppose it's just 'cos I don't understand it all yet. He wants me to think about it and let him know on Friday."

"I'll miss you Molly." Kate's smile was genuine.

"I haven't said yes, yet," Molly replied.

"But you will, won't you?"

Molly didn't answer but she knew there was a strong likelihood that Kate was right.

"Ah, the wanderer returns." Mike strolled over to her and Molly got the impression that he hadn't been enamoured with her absence. She knew that Kevin had called him on Monday but it had been a bit unfair of him to simply drag her out of the office without warning and leave others to pick up her work.

"Sorry about being away, Mike." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I'll get on with my stuff right away." She glanced at her desk there was a pile of opened mail, mostly CV's and correspondence. Her quiet tone of voice and apology won him round. He'd always liked Molly and she'd learned the best way to handle him and take the wind out of his sails.

"OK, good idea. If you need to get up to speed on anything, just let me know," Mike replied

He went back to his desk and Molly moved to sit down behind hers. She looked at the pile of letters sitting squarely in the centre of her desk and shoved them to one side. Instead she logged onto the CSF system and began to work her way through her emails. It was quite disconcerting how many arrived in the course of a few days from candidates, clients and colleagues and it took her a couple of hours to clear the most urgent enquiries as well as take some incoming calls. It was after half past four before she finally turned to the letters and began to sift them. She had almost reached the bottom of the pile when she came across a small, sealed white envelope with the words 'Molly Dawes – Private and Confidential' written in curling handwriting on the outside. She took her letter opener and ripped the top edge open. Inside was a single sheet of paper on which there was a handwritten note. She glanced at the bottom and saw the name 'Charles'. Her heart seemed to be thumping hard in her chest as she read the words he had written.

She finished reading and exhaled loudly, slapping the note down on the desk in front of her in annoyance. There was nothing new in this note. She already knew that he wasn't married. She actually believed him on that score but she had to stop herself exclaiming out loud, "How dare he?" when she saw he had asked her to give him another chance. By the looks of things last night he'd hardly sat around moping and waiting for her. He clearly thought it was alright to pass his time entertaining other women. She saw he had written his phone number at the bottom of the note and for a moment fantasised about calling him and giving him a piece of her mind, dreaming up a few choice expressions she could use but she knew that she wouldn't have the guts to go that far. She read the note one more time. The tone of the letter was polite and respectful, he wasn't trying to impress her but she reasoned that he was well-educated and knew exactly how to word a letter to sound humble. The fact of the matter was that she simply didn't trust him after last night no matter how polite his letter sounded. She took a deep breath and in one final gesture of riddance screwed up the letter and tossed it into the waste paper bin.

X-X-X-X

"Hello, Molly. Usual is it?" Jackie enquired as Molly approached the counter in the coffee shop on Thursday morning. She turned away and started to get the take-out coffee ready for her. "Haven't seen you for a while. Have you been away on holiday?"

"No. Nothing that nice, I'm afraid," Molly called out. "I was away on a course and I've been working at Head Office for a few days this week."

"Well they say a change is as good as a rest, don't they." Jackie handed the coffee to Molly, "Personally, I'd rather have the rest, but that's just me."

Molly reached into her bag and got out her purse to pay.

"Oh, I nearly forgot," Jackie exclaimed. "Did you get your letter?"

Molly looked up in surprise a frown on her face. "What d'you mean?"

"The letter your friend left on Tuesday. Well, I say 'left' he actually asked me to drop it in to your office. Sasha put it on your desk."

Molly realised what Jackie was talking about now and wasn't sure for a moment how to reply. She shrugged in a non-committal gesture and hoped Jackie would let things drop.

"Nice chap, very polite and friendly. Nice looking too. We had a bit of a chat. I think he's keen on you." Molly was trying to imagine Charles and Jackie having a 'chat' and almost snorted with laughter. In the office they called her 'Wacky Jackie' because she did like to go off on a tangent but nonetheless they all liked her. She was always cheerful and friendly whenever they called in and she made a good coffee. Nevertheless, Molly couldn't resist saying something,

"So he was chatty was he?"

"Well he was here for at least two hours on Monday and then he came back on Tuesday when he gave me the note for you. I even had to tell him where to go and hire a dinner suit for some charity thing he had to go to. I don't think he'd planned it as it was all very last minute. He had a call from some girlfriend of a friend of his who needed him to accompany her. I don't think the poor love was very keen but he said his friends were putting him up and he felt he ought to oblige. He was just that sort of chap, if you know what I mean."

"Pardon?" The last part of Jackie's tale had almost caused Molly to drop her change all over the floor. "What did you say about a girlfriend?"

Jackie shook her head with a look of mock exasperation, "Not his girlfriend, love. His friend's girlfriend. She asked him to go with her because she didn't want to go on her own."

Molly was frozen to the spot. Her blood pressure has suddenly dropped with the shock realisation that the gorgeous, black-haired woman at the ball wasn't 'with' Charles at all. She was a friend and he was simply staying with her.

"You alright, Molly? You've gone a bit pale."

She nodded automatically, "I've got to go, Jackie. Thanks."

She turned without another word and left. With only a cursory glance at the traffic she launched herself off the pavement. She heard a car driver brake sharply and a long blast of the car horn directed in anger at her kamikaze attitude to road crossing. She turned and almost shouted 'fuck off' at the driver before realising that he had a point. She waved her hand in a vague gesture of apology and managed to get to the other side of the road without incident.

"Morning Molly, " Sasha called out as Molly pushed open the office door with such force and haste that she caused it to bang against the wall.

"Morning." It was more of a mutter than a greeting. She rushed across to her desk and pulled out the waste paper bin from underneath. It had been emptied and a fresh plastic bag placed inside. She held the bin up close to her face staring into the bottom as if the power of thought could conjure up Charles' letter that she had screwed up and thrown away yesterday.

"What's up, Molly?" Kate appeared from the kitchen at the back of the office with a mug of tea in her hand, "You look like you're going to be sick."

Molly, realising how ridiculous she looked, put down the bin and turned to Kate,

"Where does the cleaner put the rubbish when she empties the bins?"

Kate stared at her nonplussed, "Out the back in the skip, I suppose. Why are you interested?"

Molly ignored her and moved to the back of the office, pushed down the bar and opened the fire exit door at the rear to reveal a small yard containing a rubbish skip and a couple of broken swivel chairs from the office.

The skip was quite large and she couldn't lift the lid or see into it. She looked around and saw a couple of wooden pallets in the corner waiting for collection. She carried them over and piled them precariously on top of each other to make a step. Standing on top she was able to lift up the lid and peer into the bottom. The skip was empty.

Sasha looked out into the yard, curious to see what Molly was doing.

"The refuse lorry came round first thing this morning. That should be empty."

Molly dropped the lid and climbed down from the pallets with a heavy heart. The letter with Charles' phone number was probably half-way to a municipal dump by now. There wasn't a hope in hell of finding it. She went back into the office and shut the door behind her. Kate was standing there with a confused look on her face.

"Why the sudden interest in waste management, Molly?"

"I lost something, that's all," Molly replied wandering back to her desk and sitting down.

"It wasn't anything valuable, I hope?" Kate called out to her.

Molly shook her head, "Probably not."

It was an understatement. She was utterly disconsolate at the knowledge that not only had she been wrong again about Charles and done him a great disservice in thinking so badly of him but she'd messed up the best chance of putting everything right. She heaved a sigh of disappointment placed her hands in her head and wondered what else could go wrong for her.

X-X-X-X

Charles gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and fixed a smile on his face as he turned back to his group. Trying to explain the rudiments of navigation was beginning to feel like wading through treacle. No matter how many times he went through the procedure for calculating the grid reference of features on a map or taking a bearing between two points someone looked blank and failed to understand. It wasn't the first time he'd been in this position either in the army or in this job but it was the first time he'd ever had so little patience with the person struggling to absorb the information and he was fighting his inclinations in order to remain friendly and professional.

Since his return yesterday he had been finding it difficult to maintain his focus. He had hoped that getting stuck-in with another group would help to take his mind off the last few frustrating days but if anything, that brief moment with Molly at the ball had only intensified his feelings. He was sure she felt the same for him but stupid barriers kept appearing between them each more frustrating than the last. It wasn't helping today to be teaching navigation and orienteering in preparation for another surprise night exercise. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of those moments in the woods last week. His mind was really two hundred miles away hoping that she would read his note and call him. He'd been toying with the idea of calling the branch again but he'd been pretty busy from first thing, particularly as he was partly covering for Ade's absence. He was also unsure what to do. He didn't want to make a nuisance of himself particularly if she was still annoyed. As much as he was desperate to straighten things out he wondered whether he should back off for a few days before trying to call her again. She might view everything more favourably when she'd had a few days to consider. He knew he was clutching at straws but he really felt quite helpless stuck here so far from London.

He ran through the procedure for taking a bearing again, trying to speak slowly and break the information down as much as was humanly possible without sounding patronising. This time it seemed to work and the group was able to move forward with some simple navigation outside. After lunch they would be undertaking the orienteering course. He didn't like to think about the problems that was likely to cause.

At lunchtime he found Bing sitting in the office, feet up on the desk, drinking a cup of tea and eating a sandwich.

"Had a good morning?" Bing enquired.

Charles sank into one of the chairs with a heavy thud.

"Shit!"

He uttered the single-worded verdict on the morning's activities with such vehemence that Bing actually laughed.

"Oh my God, Charles, it's a long time since I've felt that bad about a group. What have they done?"

Charles proceeded to outline the difficulties he had faced that morning and Bing could only take pity.

"To be fair to them, Charles, I don't think they're quite the same calibre as the groups we had last week. I mean, even your friend Kate Allen, who let's face it seemed to be more interested in the contents of her designer handbag than a Bergen, could get her head around a map and compass."

Charles was tempted to put Bing right about Kate, feeling that his silence on the truth of the matter was rather ungallant but he was afraid that it would only lead him into other areas he didn't want to discuss. He settled for saying, "Well, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration. She's an intelligent woman and I've always respected her capabilities."

Bing snorted with laughter,

"If I wasn't a happily married man I'm sure I'd be respecting her capabilities too, Charles."

Charles shook his head. "That's all history, now." Hoping he wouldn't be struck down for lying and that would be an end to the matter.

Bing finished his sandwich and took his feet off the desk. He stood up to leave and then said,

"Oh, if I don't ask you this I'll be in serious trouble with the powers that be. Are you free on Sunday? We'd like to invite you for lunch."

Charles had no plans beyond getting to the end of today. At the moment he was simply trying to take one day at a time.

He nodded. "Yes, thank you."

"Jolly good. I'll let Sarah know. She'll be delighted." Bing didn't add that she'd be delighted at having an opportunity to put her matchmaking plans into action.

X-X-X-X

It had been a very long morning. Molly had struggled to keep her thoughts on her job. In fact she felt that it had been a very long week. It seemed like an age had passed since she had left Nant Glyn House last Friday feeling annoyed and angry with Charles and dreading returning to all her problems in London. However, so much had changed in such a short space of time. She was on the verge of making a huge step forward in her career if she took the opportunity Kevin was offering her and thanks to his kindness and intervention her financial worries had been laid to rest. For a very short time she had even thought that her love life was finally turning in her favour until she had managed to mess things up; twice.

The loss of Charles' phone number seemed like an omen to her. Every part of their relationship had been swathed in trouble and misunderstanding from the moment they had met until this last occasion at the ball. She wasn't sure whether she believed in fate but she felt as if something was trying to tell her to simply leave well alone. After losing Charles' number she had thought about calling Nant Glyn House. She had even got as far as dialling the number but the moment she had heard Bing answer the phone she had been thrown into a panic, unable to think of what to say or how to explain why she needed to talk to Charles. If she had got through to him how would she have explained not having his number? She had put the phone down without speaking and felt like smacking herself for being so stupid.

Then she had remembered what Jackie had said about Charles hiring a dinner jacket. Searching on the internet she found that there was only one shop within about a mile of here that hired out formal wear. She had called them and asked if they could give her Charles' contact number but they had predictably refused to disclose confidential information about a customer. She hadn't seriously expected anyone to tell her but wondered if someone might let something slip. She realised she could write just as he had done and try to put her explanation on paper but it would take her time. She didn't have the way with words that he did. She wondered after Tuesday night whether he would even want to hear from her. After all, he hadn't tried to call her.

In addition to this, Kevin was waiting for an answer about the job. He had said he'd contact her today to discuss the matter and although part of her wanted to stay here as part of Mike and Kate's team she knew that it was a chance she might not get offered again. She just didn't know why she felt so down about it. She ought to have been jumping for joy but something was preventing her from enjoying her success.

It was Friday and Mike had decided to take the team out for some lunch. He liked to do that from time to time to say thank you and also to use the occasion for 'team bonding'. Today however, Molly had volunteered to stay in the office and man the phones. She hadn't felt much like socialising and pointed out that the others had been covering for her for half the week and she ought to return the favour. It was quiet in the office. The phone only rang twice and she took a couple of non-urgent messages. She should have been catching up with paperwork but she was lost in thought when she heard the office door open and a familiar voice say,

"Did someone call 'abandon ship' or something?"

She looked up to see Kevin walking into the office. He was wearing a sharp suit, expensive aftershave and a broad smile.

"Well, I'm glad to see you Molly, at least, especially as you're the reason I'm here."

She nodded at the other empty desks. "They're having a team bonding lunch."

"Good. Why didn't you go?"

She shrugged, "I volunteered to man the office, you know. My turn and all that."

Kevin pulled a face, "Nothing to do with not being part of the team any more then."

Molly sighed, "You'd like my decision about the job then."

"Yes, " he replied. "Although, I wanted a chat with Mike, as well. If he's going to be back soon, I'll wait for him."

He looked at her seriously, "So, what's the decision, Molly?"

There was silence for a few moments before she replied, "I'd like to accept, Kevin." He smiled and held out his hand to her. She took it expecting him to shake hands with her in a formal gesture of welcome but he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Welcome to your future, Molly Dawes."

They talked about general matters whilst waiting for the others to return and Kevin outlined the substantial increase in salary she would receive in her new job and a few other associated benefits. She was pleasantly surprised and began to think about finding herself a flat of her own that she could afford once she'd repaid Kevin the money she owed him. She was a little lost in these thoughts when Kevin surprised her by saying in a tentative voice,

"Seeing as you're now my Personal Assistant would it be an imposition for me to ask a personal favour from you?"

Molly wondered what was about to follow but keen to be amenable she said, "No."

"I wondered if you'd be able to accompany me to a little charity dinner tomorrow night. It's a private matter rather than anything to do with CSF and you'd be fully entitled to say 'no'. It's just that it's out of town."

Molly thought of all the favours Kevin had done her this last week and felt it would be completely wrong of her to refuse the first time he asked her to do something for him.

"Of course," she replied.

He told her the name of the hotel and arranged to pick her up from her flat at six thirty saying it would probably take an hour to drive there. He glanced at his watch. It had gone two o'clock and there was still no sign of Mike or the rest of the team.

"I'm parched, Molly. Any chance of a cuppa, d'you think?"

She went out to the kitchen at the back of the office and put the kettle on. It was noisy when it heated water and the volume of sound increased as the water started to heat up towards boiling point. Molly remembered the saying about a watched kettle never boiling and stepped out to ask Kevin how he liked his tea. He had his back to her and was on his phone. His voice was always quite loud and clear even when he was trying to keep the volume down as he was at this moment. With the pitch of the kettle rising he didn't hear Molly moving across the carpet towards him but she very clearly heard him say,

"That's right, one double room, two people for tomorrow night. The name's Kevin Jones."