Chapter 31: Taking Lucy Out

It was some minutes to six p.m., and Sarah had just finished signing the payment documents sent to her by her accountant at Ethic Textiles, which was in England. Since the month was already coming to an end, the salaries of the employees needed to be paid to them, but before the payment could be initiated by the accountant, Sarah's signature was needed. Since she wasn't around, she contacted her accountant to send her the numeric format of the payment documents, which she signed and sent back to her so that she could initiate the payments of the employees. Despite how rude she was to the employees sometimes, one thing she never did was deprive them of their salaries or not pay them on time; sometimes she even paid them before the agreed time. After signing the documents and resending them to her accountant in England and also signing those of the company where she was, she took her phone and started playing the temple run game with it, a game she always played whenever she was bored or had finished with the work she had to do. As she was still playing the game, she checked the time on her phone and realized that it was almost some minutes to six p.m. With that, she sighed heavily before standing up, switching off her phone, and dropping it on her desk. As she was about to start arranging her things inside her bag, she immediately remembered that she had promised Lucy the previous day to take her out after work. Without hesitating, she took her phone and placed a call across Lucy; after some minutes of ringing, she picked up. "Hello, ma'am, good evening," Lucy greeted her. "Yes, Lucy, good evening. How are you?" Sarah asked her. "I'm fine; what about you?" Lucy asked her. "I'm good too; are you done working on the documents I asked you to work on?" Sarah asked her. "Yes, ma'am, I'm done working with them; should I bring it to your office?" Lucy asked Sarah over the phone. "Yes, bring it to my office," Sarah said to her before hanging up. After some minutes, Sarah heard a knock on her door. Knowing that it was Lucy, she asked her to come, and without hesitating, she went inside and dropped the documents on Sarah's table. "Do you have any plans for this evening?" Sarah asked her after she had kept the documents on her table. "No, I don't have any," Lucy said to her. "OK, remember yesterday? I told you that I would take you out after work; if you don't have any plans, we can go immediately," Sarah said to her, and immediately she started beaming with smiles. "No problems, let me arrange my stuff in my office before joining you," Lucy said to her before returning to her office and arranging her belongings, and afterward she joined Sarah, who was already heading towards the garage. "So where are we heading?" Sarah asked Lucy once they got inside the car. "I don't know; it's you that is taking me out; normally, it's you that is supposed to decide," Lucy said to her. "Yes, you are right, but the problem is that I don't know the restaurants around here, except one, and I don't want to go there tonight; I was there last night," Sarah said to Lucy, who furrowed her brows, knowing that it was impossible for Sarah not to know all the big restaurants and nightclubs in the area. When they were still schooling together, Sarah was known throughout the whole university due to the way she lavished money on herself. Every day after school, Sarah always took her out, and she never visited any less expensive restaurants; it was always big restaurants and nights frequented by very rich people. How Sarah managed to discover those restaurants was something she never knew; it was in one of those restaurants she met Xavier. "Why are you looking at me like that?' Sarah asked Lucy, who was staring at her strangely. "Well, I'm still surprised because you said that you don't know many restaurants around here; if not, the Sarah I know was the one who always found out about newly opened and expensive restaurants that someone like me would never think of stepping foot inside talk less of buying something from them," Lucy said to Sarah, who smiled lightly before heaving a sigh. "Many things have happened, I mean, many things. There are some that even if I try explaining them to you, you won't understand. We all do crazy stuff until we get married and have a child. You will see that you will no longer find interest in many things you enjoyed doing in the past," Sarah said to Lucy. "Well, happily, I'm not yet married. But tell me, do you have a child?" Lucy asked Sarah. "Yes, of course I have a child," Lucy said to Sarah, and immediately she widened her eyes in surprise. "Really? But I have never heard of him or seen him before," Lucy said to Sarah. "Yes, that's because he's living with his father, Xavier; he doesn't even know who I am," Sarah said to Lucy, and immediately she widened her eyes in surprise. "What!!! How is that even possible? Don't tell me you abandoned him with your ex-husband," Lucy said to Sarah. "That's actually what he will think about me—that I abandoned him, but in reality, he was taken away from me," Sarah said to Lucy. "You mean Xavier took him away from you?" Lucy asked Sarah, and she nodded. "But I'm sure that it's been up to five years since that happened, so why haven't you claimed him back since you returned? You have the money and the power; meanwhile, Xavier and his company are drowning every passing day, so recovering your child is going to be a very easy task," Lucy said to Sarah. "Well, you are right, but believe me, I'm afraid. I don't know the lie that has fed him about me; I can't bear to see my own son telling me right in my face that he hates me because they had already told him that I abandoned him," Sarah said to Lucy, who sighed heavily. "I understand perfectly what you are saying. It's true that I don't have a child, but every woman has that mother instinct in her; get the child first, and afterwards you will worry about that." Lucy said, and she nodded in reply. "Let's get going then; I know a perfect restaurant where we can celebrate our retrouvailles," Lucy said to Sarah, who nodded in reply before igniting the car and zooming off. To be continued...