Page 13 of The Last Saturday In July
‘I completely understand.’ What kind of moron did he think she was? And why was he being so obnoxious? There was absolutely no way she was going to let anything slip about her own wedding now. ‘It’s my job to market the Irish hotels.’
He lifted an eyebrow. ‘We need something special for Linford.’
Crap, she’d been right, Frank wasn’t sure she could pull this off by herself. It was a depressing thought.
‘Fine, we’ll go together.’
Adam smiled, and her tummy did a treacherous flip.
He stood up. ‘Catch you later.’
Jess slumped in the chair after he left. One night! What were the chances? And now he was here to spy. At least she hadn’t told Frank she was getting married, especially with both weddings on the same day. She hoped Kate didn’t let anything slip. She had a sudden, horrible thought: what if Adam had a girlfriend too? He could be just as attached as she was.
God, what was she thinking? Why would it matter? They’d both had too much to drink and made a stupid mistake. Luckily, he seemed willing to forget about it. She just had to pretend it never happened.
Chapter 7
JESS put the phone down and stretched, trying to ease the tension out of her neck and shoulders the following morning. She’d organised everything for the upcoming photo shoot at Linford Castle and put one of their regular photo-stylists in touch with Zoe. Her office phone rang, and she braced herself for problems with the arrangements. But it was her mother.
‘Hi, Mam! Why didn’t you ring my mobile?’
Carmel tutted. ‘I’m having to phone from the landline because my mobile’s out of battery and we’ve got this new bundle package, and your dad nearly hit the roof when he saw the first bill. Do you know how much it costs to phone a mobile from a landline? Let me see, I have the bill here.’
Jess could hear her mother rummaging about and muttering to herself. ‘Mam, it’s fine, just tell me why you rang.’
‘It’s Úna.’ Carmel sounded a bit huffy. ‘She’s pushing me to tell her about the final numbers from our side because, according to herself, there’s more people she needs to invite. Now, I know she and Edward have been very fair about splitting the cost, not that we needed it, but I won’t be pushed around. We agreed to split the guest list exactly in half. She’s breaking her side of the agreement.’
Her mother made it sound like peacekeeping attempts in the Middle East. Jess wondered if Úna was talking about the Feely-Martins or if she’d suddenly discovered more people she wanted to invite.
‘I’ll mention it to Simon, Mam.’
‘Oh Jess, what’s poor Simon going to do? I love the boy but, honestly, he’s devoted to his mother. I’d do it myself but Úna never answers her mobile, so I have to phone the landline and half the time I get stuck talking to Edward. God bless him, I’m sure he’s a good man, but he’s hopeless on the phone, and he never passes on messages.’
Jess could see this going from bad to worse. ‘Leave it with me, I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Good girl.’ Carmel sounded relieved. ‘And will you ever have a quiet word with Zoe? I don’t know what’s got into her, but I can’t look at her these days only she’s snapping the head off me. It’s worse than having a teenager around the house again.’
‘That’s the problem, Mam. She’s been living at home too long.’ Jess flicked open a fresh page in the notebook on her desk and started to doodle a little figure lying on a couch.
‘Oh, will you stop, Jess. You know what your Auntie Anne says about twenty-five being the new eighteen. And she should know, being a teacher.’
Jess had no idea how her Auntie Anne would know this. She was a secondary school teacher, and she and Uncle Paddy had never had children. Despite this, her mother always asked her for advice.
‘I’ll talk to her on Saturday, Mam. We’re coming for dinner, remember?’
‘I know. Just don’t mention anything about Úna in front of poor Simon. I don’t want to upset him.’
Jess suppressed a sigh. ‘I won’t. I have to go. Love you.’ She hung up and exhaled slowly, wondering why her mother always referred to him as ‘poor Simon’.
Immediately, her phone rang again immediately, and she snatched it up without checking the caller ID. ‘Mam, I really have to work now.’
‘Hello, Jess? It’s Ian Finnegan.’
Jess winced. ‘Sorry, Ian, how can I help?’
‘Bit of a change of plan, Jess. Our celebrity couple are flying in now on Saturday morning, so they’ll be with us around midday. Does that suit?’
‘No problem, I’ll be down before they arrive.’
