Page 86 of The Last Saturday In July
JESS brought a change of clothes with her to work the following day, for the awards ceremony that evening. She’d sent Kate a quick text, to ask if Luke had enjoyed the newStar Warsmovie. Kate had texted ayin response. Jess had stared at the single letter text. It was very un-Kate-like. But now she thought about it, she hadn’t even heard from her since Tuesday.
She plugged her phone into her laptop port to charge. All this radio silence from Kate radiated disapproval. But she couldn’t tackle her about it, partly because Kate’s judgement was based on what she knew. Only Jess knew the full truth: her awful betrayal of Simon, the reason she needed time to think.
The problem was, it was difficult to think about Simon when she couldn’t stop thinking about Adam. Spending all that time with him and his family on their farm had almost felt more intimate than their kiss.
As if on cue, Adam appeared at the open door of her office.
‘Hi.’ He smiled and Jess felt her defences weaken further. Why was the man being so nice to her? ‘I thought you might be missing this.’ He crossed the room and placed a small item on her desk.
‘My watch!’
‘You left it on the shelf in my parents’ guest bathroom. I found it last night before we left and meant to give it to you.’
‘Thanks.’ She swallowed. ‘I missed it earlier. I was terrified I’d lost it.’
‘It’s beautiful. Is it old?’
‘It was my gran’s.’ Jess hesitated, wondering if she should she say anything else about the evening before. But it felt strange now that things were back to normal.
She almost laughed. As if things had ever been normal between them.
‘Glad it wasn’t lost.’ Adam pushed his hand through his hair. ‘Anyway, I won’t delay you.’
After he left, Jess tried to shake off a feeling of unease. It was clear Adam also thought they’d overstepped a line.
With an effort, she turned back to her work. Speculation about Chelsea and Leo’s relationship had settled a bit, and the celebrity wedding was getting tons of international interest. Linford was getting plenty of small bookings, just no wedding bookings. With a bit of luck, they would happen.
She couldn’t put her personal problems off any longer. She needed to make things right with Simon. She dismissed the idea of messaging him to meet for a drink: it was time to break his no-calls-in-work rule. Picking up the office phone, she rang his direct line.
‘Simon Donohue.’
‘It’s me.’
‘Kate?’ He sounded delighted.
‘It’s Jess.’ She almost stumbled over the words.
‘Sorry, Jess, I wasn’t ...’ He hesitated. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m fine.’ The phone felt sticky in her hand. ‘Were you expecting Kate?’
‘I thought she might have been calling about the cinema the other night.’
‘Oh, right.’ This felt a bit strange. ‘Did Kate go too?’
‘No, she wasn’t feeling well, I was a bit worried about her.’
An unsettling thought slid into her head but disappeared before she could examine it. There was a brief silence before Simon spoke again.
‘So, I was just about to meet a client, Jess … was there anything you …’
‘No, nothing.’ Jess’s mouth dried, making it harder to speak. ‘I just rang to say hi.’
‘Look, I’m sorry to rush you.’
‘No,um, I’d better go too. Take care.’ She stabbed the off-button and stared at the phone. She’d no idea what was going on between Simon and Kate, but she hoped he hadn’t dragged Kate further into the mess she had made.
She worked fitfully for another hour, before finally accepting she wouldn’t be able to concentrate until she found out what was wrong. She texted Kate.Going to get a coffee, can I get you one?She added a coffee cup emoji, a cake emoji, and a pink heart emoji. A moment later Kate replied, Meet you in the foyer. Jess gave a small sigh of relief. Maybe things were okay.
