A Loving Light
Copyright© 2026 by Marc Nobbs
Chapter 21: Managing Director
It was just after eight when we finally left the Carringtons’ house. I didn’t need to ask for a second piece of apple crumble because Sandra offered me one. And she insisted I take what was left of the pie—about a third of the dish—home with me. I did, even though I knew Mark would eat it before I got a chance.
They walked us out to the car when we left, with Frank declaring my Focus to be “not that flash,” and stood on the footpath to wave us goodbye as we drove away.
“I think he likes the car,” Lana said. “From Dad, that’s a compliment.”
“You mean from Dada?”
She frowned at me.
“Lala?” I smiled.
She smiled back and said softly, “Shut up.” She looked ahead, and a few seconds later, “It’s what he’s always called me. Apparently, I couldn’t say my own name for a long time. It always came out as Lala. Same with Dada. It’s just what I’ve always called him.” She paused again. “He likes you. I could tell.”
I glanced at her.
“I think you remind him of your dad.”
I swallowed and nodded, then focused on the road.
“Paul?” She said, concern in her voice. “Did I say something wrong?”
I shrugged, but didn’t look at her.
“Apparently, I remind a lot of people of my dad.” I glanced at her, then looked back at the road. “I guess it comes with being ‘Ben’s Boy’.” I paused. “It’s just ... It feels like a lot to live up to sometimes.”
She didn’t reply. But she did reach over the centre console to put her hand on my knee and squeeze.
I glanced at her.
“I’m sure he’s very proud of you,” she said. She smiled.
I smiled back and nodded, then focused on the road again.
We didn’t actually talk very much on the drive home. I was having enough trouble keeping my eyes open and concentrating on the road. I think the jet lag was starting to set in. Lana was the same but had the advantage of not having to keep over a ton of complex machinery with a tank full of flammable liquid out of the grass verge. So, the few times when I glanced at her, she had her eyes closed.
“Lana?” I said about halfway along the road between Micester and Westmouth.
“Hmm?” she said.
“Were you really talking about me all over the Christmas holiday?”
She opened her eyes to look at me, but didn’t answer right away. And when she did, she sounded drained.
“Dad was exaggerating. Obviously, I mentioned you. I had to tell them about my knee and why I started playing again. So I had to tell them about you because, well, you were the reason I started playing again. And then when Dad realised who you were, he asked me loads of questions about you.”
“What sort of questions?”
She shrugged. “The usual.” She paused. “He knew your dad. He wanted to know more about you. But you know what parents are like. He was exaggerating.”
I nodded and decided not to press it. I wanted to ask her about what he said when we were alone. Ask her if she really did ‘adore’ me—but how could I do that? I couldn’t just come right out with it. Had he been exaggerating about that, too? Probably—he was her father after all, and fathers are very protective of their daughters, aren’t they? Especially their only daughter. Their only child.
He had to have been exaggerating.
We were quiet again until I pulled off the main road and headed towards the town centre to climb the hill to campus. Her bags were in the boot, so I could take her straight to her flat.
“Have you decided where you’re taking me so I can wear the dress you bought me?” Lana said, sounding very sleepy. “Or when?”
I glanced at her.
“Next weekend?” I said.
“Friday or Saturday?”
“Saturday.”
“Okay. Where are you taking me?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Somewhere nice, right?”
She nodded. “Somewhere really nice.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
Did we just agree to go on a date? Like, an actual date? No, it was just dinner. We had dinner earlier this evening. We had lunch together almost every day. That’s all it was—dinner, but just somewhere a bit nicer. Where she could wear the dress that I’d bought her but hadn’t seen. That she wanted me to see.
What if Frank wasn’t exaggerating? What if...
No, that’s a crazy thought. No, it couldn’t be that.
There was no way on earth that Lana was ‘Love’s Light.’ She was Carly’s friend. Apparently, her best friend—best friend in England, at least. No, that was silly. The song wasn’t about Lana. It couldn’t be.
But what if it was?
No, it couldn’t be. Not Lana.
I sighed.
“You okay?” Lana asked.
I glanced at her and nodded.
“Just exhausted,” I said. “Think I’m going to go straight to bed once I’ve dropped you off.”
“Same,” she said. “If Lily will let me. She’ll probably want to talk about the trip and know everything that happened.” She paused. “She’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. It was back to the real world tomorrow. Back to lectures. But was that really my ‘real world’? I’d need to debrief David and Bobby on the trip at some point. And probably have a follow-up meeting with Ben and Amiee. And if I was serious about helping the people who’d lost their jobs at Liddington-Phipps then I’d have to get Marie to set up a meeting with the ‘welfare chaps’ that Frank mentioned.
And I probably needed to speak to Harry and Ellie—if Harry was back from his holiday in the Lake District with his dog—about my investment in Riverbank Studios. It was supposed to help them set up a record label, but I’d just agreed to set one up with Sam and Chloë. I’d need to tell Harry and Ellie about that. Maybe they’d want to be involved. Maybe my share of True Voice Records could be held by Riverbank Studios.
Which one of those two worlds, the increasingly messy and complicated business world, or the student world, was my ‘real’ world?
I didn’t know.
I really didn’t know.
“Okay,” Bobby said, his image filling the screen as he spoke. All seven of us—me, Marie, David, Bobby, Ollie, Ben, Amiee—were in small boxes at the top of the screen. It was six o’clock on Monday evening. “Let me see if I’ve got this right.”
He looked down at the notes he’d been making after Marie, Ben, and I had given feedback on the Atlanta trip.
“Your parent holding company now has multiple subsidiary investments—or will have in due course. You will own ten percent of Brown, Clapton and Taggart by the end of the month, and all of the commercial property company that owns the office building. That’s two.”
“Correct,” I said.
“All of Wintersmith Media, which in turn now owns a US subsidiary, Wintersmith Entertainment, which itself is going to own one third of a new digital-only recording label—”
“True Voice Records,” I said, nodding.
“And one third of a music festival company in Nashville. That’s another four.”
“It might only be thirty percent,” I said. “I want to talk to Sam about gifting the City of Nashville ten percent of the company.”
“I can’t see that happening,” Ollie said. “It gets very messy when you have government involved in private business. Especially in America.”
“Okay, well, we’ll see,” Bobby said.
“So, you’ve also got the student housing company—”
“Mark, Imogen and I are going to look at two houses tomorrow evening,” I said. “They’ve already seen them, but want me to see them too.”
“Your general investment holding company, for your share portfolio—that’s eight in total—and now you want to set up a company to help people made redundant by Liddington-Phipps set up their own businesses.”
I nodded. “I think that’s everything.”
It was very disconcerting when my own face filled the screen every time I spoke.
“You’ve forgotten Riverbank Studios,” Marie said.
“Yes,” I said. “Sorry. By the way, Marie, can you set up a call with Harry and Ellie for me?”
“I’ll give Ellie a call—I don’t know if Harry is back from the Lakes yet, but if we do a video call, it won’t matter.”
“If he can get internet up there in the wilderness,” David said, grinning.
“Paul, I have to be honest with you,” Bobby said, “I really like the idea of seeding new businesses in Micester and Westmouth, but...” He sucked in a breath. “It’s a hell of a lot of work. You can’t just throw money around. You’ll need to get business plans from every potential partner. Evaluate them and the market potential of each one. Keep track of how they are doing, provide advice and mentorship and ... It’s a hell of a lot of work. Pretty much a full-time job.”
I took a deep breath.
“I know,” I said.
“It’s not something you can do and still study full-time,” Bobby added.
“I know.”
“So what do you plan to do? It’s not even something you can ask Marie to coordinate—she wouldn’t have the time either. She still has a full-time job with David, don’t forget.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know.” I paused. “Look, I know you said we didn’t need to register Wintersmith as an employer, but ... well ... Maybe it’s time to do that and hire someone to actually run this whole thing for me. Kind of like a Managing Director.”
“You’d have to appoint them as a director of the company, too,” David said. “You wouldn’t get someone at that level without doing that. And remember, one more director, and you risk losing control of the company—you could potentially be outvoted three votes to two.”
I nodded again. “Yeah. I know. That’s why the person we appoint would have to be fully on board with the mission and completely loyal to me.”
“And where would you find that person?” Ben said.
“Aye,” said Ollie. “People like that don’t grow on trees.”
“They don’t,” I said. “But there is one on this call right now.” I paused again. “David, how would you feel if your trainee quit to take up another role? One with much more responsibility and a much higher salary?”
“What?” said Marie. “Paul?”
“If she felt it was the right career move for her, then, I’ll admit, I’d be disappointed to lose her because she has all the potential in the world, but I’d wish her luck and give her all the help and advice I could.”
“In which case,” I said, “Marie, would you please come and work for Wintersmith full-time? Please.”
“Paul ... You can’t ... I can’t ... But I mean, who...? Paul!”
Five of the seven faces at the top of the screen were grinning. I kept my face impassive. Marie ... Marie’s face was a mix of shock, fear, confusion and a hundred other emotions.
“Congratulations, Marie,” David said.
“Yes, congratulations, young lady,” Bobby echoed.
“Congr ... But...”
“Marie,” Amiee said. “Marie, listen to me.”
Marie took a deep breath, trying to get control of herself. Then she nodded.
“You absolutely deserve this, do you hear? Ben told me all about the Atlanta trip. It was a huge success, and that’s down to you. You did brilliantly to organise it all and make sure that Paul and the others had everything they needed to make it the success it was. Without you, it could have gone badly wrong.”
“She’s right,” said Ben. “You were completely in control of the whole trip. It was a pleasure to watch you work. You’ll make an excellent MD.”
Marie was still trying to control her breathing.
“But ... I ... I’m not ready for something like that. It’s a huge role. You heard what Bobby said!”
“Honestly, Marie, it’s not much different from what you’re already doing for me now. I just need you to do it full-time, that’s all,” I said. “Who else can I trust to coordinate all this? You’re already going to be the main point of contact for the American side of things. You’re already doing the job. I just need you to concentrate on it above everything else.”
“But ... I’m not qualified yet.”
“I’m sure that Paul will allow you to continue your studies and take your exams,” David said. “Right, Paul?”
“Absolutely. And any other training you think you need, you’ll get.”
“But ... I mean, I’m your assistant...”
“I’ll have to find someone else to be my assistant. Actually, someone to assist both of us. Take the pressure of organising me off you so you can focus on the real work. Do we need to discuss salary before you make a decision?”
“Sal ... Salary.”
“I’m thinking, say, fifty to start with? And if it works out, then rising to ... I don’t know ... Seventy-five after, say, six months?”
“Fifty ... Seventy ... Paul?”
“Marie, will you just accept the offer already?” David said. “If you don’t, then I’ll have to fire you.”
“Hey, Marie!” I said. “Marie, look at me.”
Marie’s face became stoic. Serious. She stared at the screen.
“Look, you can do this. You are already doing it. And you will have all the support you need. Everyone on this call right now, and more besides, will be here to help in any way you need. Right, everyone?”
There was a chorus of agreement.
“Marie. I hear you. I see you. You’ve earned this.”
She smiled.
“I ... Thank you, Paul. For believing in me. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t. So ... First things first, David, what’s her notice period?”
“One month. But I’m happy to shorten it as soon as we’ve gone through the process of registering the company as an employer. I’ll have to charge Wintersmith for letting her go, though. Two months’ salary.” He grinned.
“Deal. Marie, do whatever you need to do to register Wintersmith as an employer and set up payroll and whatever else you need to do.” I grinned. “Hey, I can actually put Imogen on the payroll for making the tea now. What’s a fair salary for a tea lady?”
“I heard that!” Imogen called from the hallway, where she was just bringing me a cup of tea. “And I think twenty thousand a year is fair.”
“Fifteen,” I said.
“Eighteen.”
“Seventeen five hundred.”
“Done.” She grinned, put my tea on the table and left the room.
“So, how do we do this, Paul?” Marie asked. Everyone else had left the call, so now it was just the two of us.
“Lana’s dad said there are some people left over from the factory’s Workers’ Trust whose job is just to look after the people made redundant—help them find jobs and stuff. I think we need to talk to them. They’ll have the details of the people we could help with this. They might even help them write their business plans.”
“Okay, I’ll see if I can get in contact with them tomorrow. What sort of timescale are we looking at?”
“You tell me. You’re in charge of this project.”
“But, Paul—”
“No, buts. Marie. I wasn’t messing about. You heard Bobby, Wintersmith is getting out of hand, and I need someone to run it. It’s a full-time job. Or it will be.”
“But why me? I ... I’ve got like six months exp—”
“Because I trust you. And I’ve seen you in action. Pulling that trip to Atlanta off was brilliant. If you can do that, you can do this.”
“But I had so much help and—”
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