Chapter 9

Suzanne and Olivia talked most of Saturday and into Sunday. Ara and Andrew left them to it and went to Marshall Street for a longer swim. The previous afternoon they had left a note for Jim and Freya at their flat and they had called to let Andrew know they were going to come to the house after work on the Tuesday.

“When do you hear back from any of these research units or think tanks?”

“I suspect that if I am going to get any answers they will come while we are away. It can’t be helped, but it would be nice to get some answers, even if it was just a rejection. It is the uncertainty that is the stressor. This weekend has been tough with Suze starting to make plans. I see her getting excited about the future, I can see that she and Olivia have a fire. It is silly but I want to get started as well.”

They were strolling back from the pool, just enjoying the sunshine.

“It will be you soon enough. What will life be like? Say you got a job at the International Institute for Strategic Studies or Chatham House?”

“Think tanks are there to influence policy. Most of the think tanks with a political bias, either to the left or right, deal more with domestic matters. It is interesting that the two you named are neither, but they also are dealing with global issues, international issues, or generational strategic issues.”

“Eh, okay but what does that mean?”

“You know that I was interested in the intersection of Russia or the Soviet Union, China and India. China and Russia are both notionally communist but had pretty intense border skirmishes in the late 1960s. India and China fought a short war in 1962 and there are still disputed borders to this day. Russia has invaded Afghanistan and is now on the border of Pakistan. The Americans are arming Afghans to fight back from Pakistan. Pakistan and India have been at war twice over Kashmir since the British left in 1947. How is all of that is interlinked, particularly in light of cold war politics, what is important, what is no longer important, what could flare up? Could anyone have found Afghanistan on a map until the Russians invaded in ‘79? And they haven’t done any better than the British did 150 years ago. So I am just using that as an example. But Chatham House or the IISS produce reports on wide areas and general problems down to specific areas. Does the fact that the Dalai Lama lives in India impact the unsettled border conflict between Tibet, China and India? So if I was able to get a position at either of these places, or any of the others that I applied to, then I would be working with the staff on different reports. Saddam Hussein gassed ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq because they were supposedly supporting Iran in the war between the two of them. What is the impact of this on Turkey? Turkey is in NATO, but also is fighting Kurdish separatists, they call them terrorists. So that could be something I could work on.”

Andrew was a little stunned, and a lot out of his depth.

“That sounds almost as if it is applied history. It is not just when was the Treaty of Sevrés signed but its impact today.”

“A good analogy. Did you study the Treaty of Sevrés?”

“A-level History. Our teacher drilled into us that there was more than Versailles.”

“In a lot of ways, many of the current problems go back to that event, Palestine, Iraq, the French mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Sykes-Picot. You have to understand the history to know where people are coming from. That is why it is great to get three or four papers from the region, so that I can see what the Saudi’s are reporting the Saudi’s are saying and doing, as opposed to what the BBC is reporting.”

Andrew had been guilty of geeky conversations in the past but this was right up there.

“So when we get back from our trip I hope to hear something. I am missing a routine.”

“I know what you mean, the last couple of months has been full of stops and starts, but even just driving around with the two of you for a week will be good.”

“Is it going to calm down, get better?”

“When we get back, Suzanne will have graduated, we will have told all three families and started to tell close friends. I graduate, you get to tell Gwen and we have a trip to Paris for a week. And also when we get back I should know about my job, you should know about your job and if I have passed, then I will need to figure out dates for Sandhurst. All this running around is going to stop.”

“I suppose.”

Ara was frustrated.

“We will have lots of outrageous sex.”

That made her laugh.

“I know that.”

Her smile faded and she looked at him.

“I never told you about Gwen, when I broke the news to her. She was calmer about it than I was. She could tell something was different and she was understanding, too understanding. She was someone I relied on for so long. It is really important to me that I stay in touch and I want her to meet you and Suze.”

“Sure. She is coming over the weekend we get back. Do we tell everyone the truth?”

“About us?”

“No, about the house.”

“How do you mean?”

“Say it is my uncle’s place and we are just renting. Something like that.”

“Do you want to?”

“I think I would like the explanation for the money to be less personal. Skip the degree, skip when exactly I bought it. I made a little money with some business software and bought it.”

“I can see that fits with your personality better. You really are not a self-promoter.”

“I can’t think of anything worse. I debated telling the interviewers at Main Board that I was at the Open University, or I had a degree from there, just not mention Cambridge. I didn’t obviously, but the thought crossed my mind.”

“Are you not proud of going there, doing so well?”

“Hugely proud. But just as I reinvented myself at Cambridge I have been wondering whether I should do it again.”

They had returned to the house but went to the living room, leaving Suzanne and Olivia chatting in the kitchen downstairs.

“I don’t know. I worry about the academic baggage of my life. Fuck, that’s pretentious even for me. If I get a job in the Civil Service.”

The thought dribbled to a pathetic conclusion before Andrew even got to the end of the sentence.

“Ignore me. I am not thinking clearly. Assuming that the starting dates of jobs don’t get in the way where do you want to go for holiday?”

“Somewhere it is just the three of us, after that I don’t really care. Away from the crowds, but I have no preference. You have to watch the sun.”

She shrugged.

“Why don’t the two of you talk about it while I am at Cambridge and then we can talk about it on the drive north?”

It was late afternoon when Olivia and Andrew finally headed back up to Cambridge.

“That was quite the weekend Andrew. I had a shit week of interviews, was feeling sorry for myself and then. Wow. Talk to me about the engineering company, do you think we are doing the right thing? Do you think we have a chance?”

“Suzanne and I had talked about her working out of the office. She was starting to think about what she wanted the business to be. She had an idea but it needed to be thought through, all the details worked out. I know that she was disappointed that I decided not to start my own firm. So in her mind she had this vision of me working with her. Then you called and the person most like me on the course is upset at the world, male engineers especially and I think she just substituted you for me. When the two of you were sitting there it was as if the floodgates opened. All these ideas bursting out of the pair of you. So do I think you are doing the right thing? Yes, absolutely. Will you have a chance, be a success? I have no idea. I think all that will be part of the plan for the business, but ultimately it always comes down to buyers. If you present something that someone wants to buy, wants to pay for then you will successful. If you do not, then you won’t.”

“It seems to easy.”

“Starting a business from scratch? Easy?”

“No, not that part, but the opportunity.”

“You have been my friend for four years, pushed me hard on the course, helped me and been very low maintenance and stable. I have told Suzanne all that, Ara too, but mainly Suzanne. She made the offer to you, not me. She made the offer to you because of who you are, the way you have acted, the fact that you are a brilliant engineer. I am supporting her, but it will be the two of you running the firm. I will help, answer questions, but you are going to do what you want and I am not going to interfere. So the opportunity has landed in your lap, and you think it is easy. So what? This ‘easy’ opportunity is because of four years of behaviour not for any other reason.”

Andrew smiled and goaded her a little.

“Hey, at least you know I am not doing it to try and get you to have sex with me. My bed is full already.”

The whack was expected and in some ways welcomed. Olivia exhaled loudly.

“Idiot.”

But she was smiling.

“Yes, I know that. You are the brother I don’t have in real life. Do you mind telling me about the computer science, the degree, the companies? Does anyone else know?”

“Helena Innes knows about most of it, the fact I had money, not what I had done with that money, and Abigail Wilson knows that I did some of the courses on the computer science degree, but I didn’t tell her I graduated. Nobody else at Cambridge knows anything else. So please don’t share all this.”

The rest of the drive Andrew spent recounting the story of his life before Cambridge, the degree, the different companies, most of the details. As always it was the giving the money away that elicited the most questions. The one thing that did surprise her was that he owned offices already, it had clearly not come up when she and Suzanne were talking.

“Suzanne and I have an office already?”

“Yes, I thought she would have told you. A little street off Regent Street in the centre of the city.”

Andrew thought it was this that made it real for Olivia. There was an office, this was going to happen. Rather than question it she looked surprised then happy. He dropped her off at Newnham and would see her the following evening. It was a warm spring evening so he walked back in from the Caravan Park. He had stopped at the little office on site and let them know that he would be leaving permanently on Tuesday, the convenient little arrangement would be over. To them it was just money for parking a car in a space that would be empty anyway, the classic money for nothing. He thanked them and walked back into town for the last time.

College was buzzing, the whole town was buzzing. Not all the Colleges had a Ball but a lot did, and that night it was Emmanuel College’s May Ball. Andrew saw Pedro and Justin sitting together at Hall and wandered over to join them.

“Houdini returns.”

“I am not that bad.”

“You have vanished for most of the last three weeks Andrew.”

“Lots of job interviews, and I had my Territorial Army selection last week.”

“Oh we know, we’re just giving you shit. Most of the year have been away just as much.”

“I only got back from Brussels on Thursday night, and had been away for more than week.”