Page 44 of Cover Story

‘I’m sorry,’ Bel said, ‘I improvised.’

‘No shit. Mydead sister?’

A late-arriving thought, one that should’ve arrived earlier for Bel: what if Connor actually did have a dead sister? Her skin prickled.

‘I didn’t know what else to say. She’d seen your girlfriend’s picture. It was either that or it looked like incest.’

‘What do I do next time my girlfriend visits? What with her now not only supposed to be someone else, but also not alive?’

‘I have no idea,’ Bel said. ‘Fuck. Sorry. Could you visit her in London instead?’

Connor ruffled his hair and cynic-laughed. ‘Why did I have a premonition that it’d be up to me to fix this through sacrifice?’

‘I’m not telling you what to do.’

‘What else do I do?’

‘I don’t know! You’re assuming I just said what I said with some sort of nefarious plan, as opposed to just blurting the first thing that came into my head?’

‘And if I decline to murder my girlfriend, you’ll go to Toby and say the story is sunk because the intern is both an idiot and a wanker?’

Bel was bewildered by this interpretation of what had happened. Why would she run him down to their boss? Connor Adams had, above all, a terrible victimhood complex.

‘Why are you behaving like I inflicted this on you? I wasn’t trying to paint you into any corner, I was reacting in the moment. You left the photo there. This is not a single parent fuck-up, we both had a hand.’

‘Yes, except the entire “lying about who we are in the first place” situation is borne of you.’

‘You knew the deal!I notice you’ve not explained what I should’ve said? Who were you going to say your girlfriend was?’

Bel put her YSL Niki bag down on the kitchen island, metal hardware straps clattering like a bicycle chain. She opened the cupboard and picked up a water glass, proffering it to Connor. He shook his head.

‘I don’t know what you should’ve said,’ Connor said. ‘I know I’m not putting Jennifer into witness protection to service a story to benefit you, that probably won’t even come off.’

‘Great. Thanks. It’s your decision to walk away– but stop acting like I’ve suddenly persecuted you.’

‘You genuinely don’t think I have any right to be upset, do you? You don’t care what goes back to Toby. Ineedthis job. I don’t have loaded parents to fall back on, and I can’t treat it all as a jape.’

Bel’s heart leapt into her throat.

‘Loaded parents? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?’

Connor glanced at their surrounds. ‘It doesn’t seem to me like you’d be in huge trouble without your salary.’

This was sufficiently personal that Bel decided unless he disclosed a deceased loved one, she was going to assume he was simply a massive arsehole.

‘You know absolutely nothing about me. You’ve disliked me since the first second you set eyes on me. You’re not exactly hard to read, I’m sorry to break it to you, if you thought this was an elegant facade,’ Bel waved a hand in front of his face, knowing she was losing control, and not caring. ‘You’ve been practicing kicking off about petty stuff, now you’ve finally found a mistake you think you can attack me with. It’s so perfect that it was only me covering for YOUR error. But hey, why let logic affect things when you’re massaging the chip on your shoulder?’

‘I don’t dislike you. That’s a total invention on your part simply because I haven’t fawned over you, like Aaron, or Toby.’

Oh please! She might’ve guessed: the problem was her expectation of special treatment.

‘How would you describe your attitude towards me?’

‘Neutral,’ Connor said. ‘Completely indifferent.’

‘If this is neutral, I’d hate to see actual animosity.’

‘You know what? This is main character syndrome,’ Connor said. ‘You have to invent this… grandiose antipathyon my part, because someone simply not caring either way about Bel Macauley is too much for you to process.’

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