Given Time Read online

  She went on to describe the perils of telling friends and family. Even though I had opted for no publicity, once I started giving out gifts, word would spread very quickly, and I would find I had distant cousins and friends I had never heard of. While most would be happy with whatever I gave them, she explained, there would be some whose demands would be quite unreasonable, and others whose jealousy would lead to outright hostility.

  She apologised if she was upsetting me, but reassured me that she would always be available if I needed any advice about my winnings. By now, my mouth was getting dry, and as it had been about an hour since they arrived, this time they both accepted when I offered coffee.

  With refreshments in place, Matt began his part of the process. He started by telling me about the bank he worked for and how they were set up to deal with lottery winners. Having checked that I was happy with the details and still wanted to go ahead with opening an account, he produced another set of forms.

  The whole process took about another hour, and then he told me that the account would be up and running within forty-eight hours. In the meantime, my winnings would be placed in a holding account so they started earning interest straight away. I asked what sort of amount that would be, and he explained that even with the current low interest rates, he confidently expected me to earn something in excess of five thousand pounds per day. Once I’d had time to get used to having that amount, he would be happy to discuss investment opportunities, which could greatly boost the returns, if I wanted.

  My mind reeled at the numbers. I tried to imagine how I could begin to spend that sort of money, and I realised with amazement that everything I’d splashed out on at the hotel would be paid for in a couple of days, just out of the interest.

  Matt told me they would get a credit card out to me as quickly as possible, and without thinking, I asked him what the limit would be.

  He looked me squarely in the face, and without a hint of irony he said, ‘About ninety-five million pounds.’

  Finally, he asked if I needed any cash to tide me over until the account was operative. The taxi ride home had been expensive, and after I’d tipped the driver my wallet was a lot lighter, so I asked Matt for five hundred, not that I needed so much, but I wanted to see his reaction. Without a glimmer of surprise, he asked if fifties were okay, and when I agreed he took a folder from his briefcase and counted out ten notes from it. As I signed his receipt, I wondered how much he was carrying and what was the largest amount anyone had wanted, but I didn’t ask, assuming he wouldn’t tell me anyway.

  With everything concluded, they both congratulated me again. Gail told me about events they held for jackpot winners, which I would be welcome to attend. I couldn’t think of anything I would be less likely to go to, but I didn’t tell her that. They both handed me their business cards, and I showed them to the door with cheerful goodbyes.

  Alone in the flat, I let out a yelp of joy and finally did the little jig that had been building up inside me since the previous night. I danced back into the living room and collapsed in a chair. I felt exhausted, so I stared into space and let my mind drift.

  After a few minutes, I decided this was a ridiculous way for a multi-millionaire to be behaving; I should be celebrating, not sitting alone in my flat. With the decision made, I went to grab my jacket from the bedroom. The time turner was on the bed, where I had left it next to the suitcase, but I couldn’t think why I’d need it for now and left it where it was. I got as far as the door before I turned back and put it in my pocket anyway.

  I knew several of the regulars would be in the local pub, so I would buy them a drink or two and tell them I was celebrating having landed a lucrative new contract. I walked down the stairs and into the street just in time to see my brother pulling up in his car.

  Drew’s little red sports car was noisy, and he always made a point of revving the engine before he switched it off, as if he was announcing his arrival. It was a practice that usually annoyed me, but this time I didn’t care; I was happy to see him, and to have someone to share my news. I didn’t even give him time to open his door. I jumped in beside him before he’d removed his seat belt.

  ‘Hey, how’re you doing?’ I asked, and I could see him picking up on my excitement.

  ‘Hey. What’s up with you?’

  ‘Brace yourself. I’ve got some really big news.’ I told him, ‘I just won the lottery.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ he said, his voice laden with sarcasm. ‘You don’t do the lottery.’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right, I don’t usually, but I did last night and I won it.’

  He gave me a long, puzzled look. ‘What’s the joke? I don’t get it.’

  ‘It’s not a joke. I’ll show you.’ I pulled my phone and wallet out. I showed him the results posted online and then the ticket. Gail had allowed me to keep it as a souvenir after she had filled in the box to void it so I couldn’t claim again. I’d laughed when she did so, and asked her if anyone had ever tried to claim twice. She’d replied that I’d be surprised what some people tried, which was why they had so many checks in place.

  Drew looked back and forth between the mobile and the ticket a couple of times, and then without saying anything, he pulled out his own phone and checked the results for himself.

  ‘It’s a fake ticket,’ he said. ‘You don’t expect me to believe you’ve never done the lottery before, and then the first time you do, you win the jackpot?’

  ‘I’m not joking, Drew. This is real.’

  He still didn’t believe me. ‘You’re always lecturing me about how stupid it is to do the lottery, so how come you suddenly do it?’

  I’d been going to tell him about the time device anyway, and now I could see that explaining how I did it was the only way I could convince him about the lottery.

  I’d barely opened my mouth when he asked, ‘How much?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘How much did you win?’

  ‘Ninety-five million.’

  He let out a long whistle before finding his voice. ‘Oh, wow. You’re going to give me half, right?’

  I was completely astounded. I hadn’t expected that. I thought he might congratulate me or at least think about it before asking if he could have a share, but I didn’t think he’d demand fifty per cent.

  ‘Hell, no. I’m not giving you half,’ I said. ‘I’m going to give you a lot, but I’m not splitting it with you.’

  ‘Why not? I’m your brother. How much are you giving me then?’ His tone was getting belligerent, and it started to annoy me.

  ‘I was going to give you ten million,’ I said, in a way that suggested I was starting to think better of it. I’d hoped that he’d catch the implication, but he didn’t pick up on it.

  ‘That’s not fair,’ he whined. ‘I need more than ten.’

  ‘What do you need more than ten million for?’ I snapped. ‘You don’t need any of it, but I’m still giving you more than you could dream of.’

  ‘What do you need eighty-five million for? You couldn’t even begin to know what to do with that much.’

  His words hurt because I could see the truth in them. I could live very comfortably for the rest of my life on just a couple of million, and I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest, but that wasn’t the point. I’d only just won the money, and it seemed completely wrong to lose half of it straight away.

  ‘It’s my money,’ I yelled. ‘I don’t have to—’

  ‘It’s not your money,’ he interrupted, his voice raising to match mine. ‘It’s not like you earned it. Why wouldn’t you share it fairly with me?’

  I couldn’t believe it. Apart from being my brother, he’d been my best friend for years, and I’d never seen Drew like this. He was always as easy going as I was, which is why we got along so well. Now I was beginning to wonder if I really knew him at all.

  I sat and listened to him ranting and remembered what Gail had told me about people making unreasonable demands. I began to wish I hadn’t told
him about the lottery, and as soon as the thought entered my head, I knew I had the power to correct the mistake. I reached into my pocket and turned the device.

  I went back about fifteen minutes, and fell on my backside in the road.

  Seven

  The space where Drew had pulled up had been empty before he arrived, so for an instant I was sitting in thin air. It wasn’t a long drop to the road, but it was still painful. I got up, rubbing my sore buttocks. Luckily, there was no one about to see me appear from nowhere and make a fool of myself.

  It was only a short wait before Drew arrived again, but this time I stood on the footpath while he got out. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked if I was waiting for someone. I lied that I’d seen his car approaching when he was further up the road and had stopped to see if he was coming to the pub.

  ‘Yeah, great,’ he said with enthusiasm. ‘I’ll just put my bag up in my room.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll be getting the first round in,’ I told him.

  While Drew slept in late, as he invariably did when he stayed at the flat, I got on with the job of closing down my business. The evening before hadn’t been quite what I’d imagined as a celebration, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The regulars at the local had missed out, as Drew and I took our drinks onto the pub’s terrace overlooking the Thames. Despite the earlier argument, which he remained unaware of, it had been good to have a long chat with my brother. Our separate lives meant it happened far too irregularly, and it had been nice to catch up properly.

  Several times during the evening I’d thought about telling him about the win again, but I hadn’t wanted to get into another fight, so I’d decided to leave it until I could work out a way to give him my idea of a fair share. We’d finished the night at a nearby curry house before we wandered home late, and Drew had gone to bed still in the dark about what had happened to me.

  I sat at my computer sending emails to all of my clients, apologising for any inconvenience and letting them know that, due to unforeseen circumstances, it was necessary for me to close the business with immediate effect. I’d come up with the phrase just before I went to sleep the previous night, and I was satisfied it told the truth without the necessity of going into further detail.

  I didn’t expect any responses at this time on a Sunday morning, but one or two replied quickly, saying they were sorry to lose me and they wished me well for the future. My ‘favourite’ customer was the quickest off the mark, making me wonder if he’d been waiting up all weekend for me to get in touch. Typically, his email showed no concern for why I might be going out of business; with his customary arrogance, he ranted about lack of notice and insisted I complete the work he had demanded, threatening me with legal action if I didn’t comply. I laughed at the aggressive tone of his message and started to compose an equally unpleasant reply, telling him that as his latest request came in after office hours and as we had no other outstanding work, he knew exactly what he could do with his business and his lawsuit.

  I felt better for having typed it out, but after further consideration, I deleted the draft, deciding it was just as easy to ignore his email as it was to ignore the nineteen missed calls and texts he had sent since Friday night.

  Having completed as much as I could, I turned my attention to travel websites. A number of exotic locations came readily to mind, but trying to book them for two days ahead turned out to be more difficult than I’d imagined. There were plenty of last-minute deals available, but they were very much at the budget end of the market; the sort of holidays I would have chosen just a few days ago. Now I had money, I was determined to fly first class and stay in the best hotels.

  I decided it was going to be easier to see which destinations I could reach with a first-class flight in the next day or two, and settled on Hawaii. I'd begun looking for high-end hotels with suites available when a hand landed on my arm and a mug of coffee appeared from over my shoulder.

  I thanked Drew as he placed the mug on my desk. ‘You’re up early for a Sunday!’

  He started to say that he needed to get away by lunchtime, his voice trailing off as he noticed the information on my computer screen.

  ‘Are you going on holiday?’ he asked, but before I could answer he saw the airline window. ‘First class! Have you come up on the lottery?’

  I laughed. ‘I wish. You know I don’t do the lottery. The chances of—’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, I don’t need the lecture. So, what’s all this?’

  ‘It’s research for one of my clients,’ I lied. ‘Something he wants for his website.’ I started to make up some more details, but he had already hit the snooze button, as he always did when I mentioned my work. Drew was happy to use technology, but he couldn’t have cared less about how it worked.

  ‘Have you got anything to eat?’ he asked.

  ‘Sure. There’s stuff in the fridge, and bread in the cupboard…’

  ‘No, I already looked. Your cupboards are bare, bro.’

  I jumped up and started for the kitchen, saying that I’d been shopping on Friday evening, so there should be plenty of stuff, but halfway along the hall I remembered about the time jump.

  I turned back to Drew. ‘No, you’re right. I meant to go shopping, but I got a rush job in and I forgot all about it. I’ll go and get some things from down the road. What do you want?’

  ‘I don’t mind, whatever,’ he said. ‘Shall I come with you?’

  ‘No, it’s okay, I’ll only be a few minutes,’ I began, but I changed my mind. ‘Tell you what, why don’t we walk down to East Sheen and I’ll buy you breakfast at the café on the high street. They do a wicked full English.’

  His face brightened. ‘Okay, great! But we can take my car if you want.’

  ‘You’ll never get it parked. Come on, it’s only a ten-minute walk.’

  Despite the café being busy, it wasn’t long before the waitress brought us mugs of tea and a huge plate of food each. It was every bit as good as I’d suggested, but as we chomped our way through, I noticed Drew had gone very quiet and was looking thoughtful.

  Eventually, he spoke. ‘Kee, I’ve got something to ask you, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.’

  ‘Try me,’ I said, wondering what was coming next and how worried I should be.

  He swallowed hard. ‘Amy and I are getting quite serious, and we’re thinking about buying a place together.’

  He had been with his girlfriend for nearly three years and I liked her very much – they made a great couple. ‘That’s nice. Are you planning to marry her?’

  ‘We haven’t got that far,’ he said, ‘but I might think about it.’

  I started to ask why she wasn’t with him this time, but I realised it was because he needed me alone to ask whatever it was that he wanted. He must have been steeling himself to do so since he arrived, and I prepared myself for the worst.

  He hesitated, and in that time I worked it out, but I let him ask anyway. When he did, he started at breakneck speed: ‘It’s about the flat. I want to sell my share of it to put towards our house. We’ve got some money saved, but it’s only enough for a deposit on a rabbit hutch. And I was thinking I don’t need a flat in London. I mean, it’s nice to come and stay with you, but if I had the money for my half, we could get a decent place. Is there any chance you could buy me out? I know that would probably mean you having to get a mortgage, and I’m really sorry to do that to you. Are you in a position to do that? I don’t know if this is a good time for you. Maybe you could get someone in, to share with you. They could have my room…’

  I wondered if he was ever going to draw breath, and I held my hands up to stop the torrent of words. He’d obviously thought about everything he needed to say and was blurting it all out before I had a chance to challenge him. I tried to imagine how I would have felt if he’d dropped his bombshell a couple of days earlier, and I thought about telling him about the win again, but I didn’t want to revisit that argument. Once I’d worked out how to give
him some of my money without splitting it in half, this conversation would be irrelevant, but for now I played it as if I hadn’t just hit the jackpot.

  ‘Listen, I’ve always known this day would come. It’s been pretty obvious for a long time that you weren’t going to move in, so I’ve been putting money aside in case you wanted to sell up.’

  ‘Really? Oh God, thanks, Kee. I thought you were going to be pissed off at me.’

  ‘No, we’re not going to die in a ditch over this,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to get a mortgage, though, if I can avoid it, but I’ve got a couple of business investments I can realise. It just depends on how much your share is worth.’

  ‘We’ll have to get a proper valuation done, I suppose,’ he said, but his tone implied he wasn’t enthusiastic about the prospect.

  ‘Yeah, we need to get two or three estate agents in and go for the average value, I guess. That’ll take time and cost money if you need them in writing.’

  His nodded response was indifferent, and he gave the impression of struggling for a better solution.

  ‘Unless we can agree a figure between us, that we’re both happy with,’ I suggested.

  I could see the doubt creeping over his face, so I took out my mobile and pulled up a property website. I soon found three flats for sale in the area, one of which was in the same road as ours, and showed them to Drew.

  He looked at the details. ‘None of these has a roof garden.’

  I laughed at the idea that a table and a couple of chairs constituted a garden, but I knew what he meant. The prices of the three ranged from seven hundred and twenty to seven hundred and sixty thousand, so I proposed we add an extra twenty thousand for the roof access and asked him what he thought.

  He pulled a pained expression. ‘The average is seven hundred and forty, plus the extra twenty is seven hundred and sixty, so that would make my share three-eighty. I don’t suppose you could go to three-ninety, could you?’

  I didn’t want to make it sound too easy for me, but neither did I want to short change him on the deal, even though I planned to give him a lot more at some stage, so I said, ‘I’m going to need to juggle a few things around, but I should be able to do that. How soon do you want it?’