Page 11 of The Last Saturday In July
She wavered, then snatched it up.
‘Hi, Jess, Emily here.’
‘Hi, Emily.’ Jess waited. She’d learned it wasn’t a good idea to rush Emily.
Emily lowered her voice dramatically. ‘There’s the cutest guy down here to see you.’
Emily thought every man under forty was cute. Had Simon finished early and decided to drop by? Simon was cute: in a sort of overgrown, floppy, schoolboy kind of way. It was also highly unlikely he’d dropped by out of the blue.
‘Did you get a name?’
‘Adam Rourke.Omigod, Jess, he’s so fit!’
Adam Rourke ... Adam Rourke ...shit!She’d completely forgotten about Frank’s nephew. Jess smothered a sigh. ‘I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.’
Emily seemed engrossed in her phone when Jess arrived at Reception. Jess glanced quickly around the foyer and spotted a tall, dark-haired man, sitting with his back to the reception desk.
‘Emily,’ Jess whispered, leaning over the desk.
Emily jumped guiltily and pulled out some air pods.
‘Sorry, just looking at Chelsea’s latest TikTok. Have you seen it?’
Jess shook her head. ‘I’m not on TikTok.’
Emily looked a bit confused. ‘You should really follow Chelsea and Brandi. They’re, like, so inspirational.’
‘Um, yeah, I’ll have a look. Hang on, who’s Brandi?’
‘Brandi Oliver? I told you – she’s Chelsea’s younger half-sister? Like, they’re basically the only reason why everyone’s watchingCalifornia Girlfriendsat the moment, because they had this, like, massive fight about two months ago, and now they’re both trying to get each other kicked off the show.’ Before Jess could say anything, Emily went on, ‘So, Chelsea’s made a TikTok about her wedding and the Linford Curse. Did you know that Helen Linford ran away with her maid on the morning of her wedding? Mad, right?’
‘Did she actually use the words “Linford Curse”?’ Jess kept her voice low. ‘Never mind. Listen, tell Adam Rourke I’m in a meeting and I’ll see him in a few minutes. I need a coffee before I deal with him.’
Emily’s eyes drifted past Jess and colour rushed to her face. ‘Er, incoming!’ she muttered.
‘If you don’t mind, I’ll join you for that coffee and we can have a chat.’
Jess spun around to see the man in question behind her. He was clean-shaven, and immaculately dressed in a dark-grey suit and crisp, white shirt.
She felt faint.
That face, and every other part of him, were etched in her memory. It was the guy she’d slept with on the Isle of Man.
Chapter 6
ADAM Rourke’s dark-blue eyes met hers. Jess watched his expression change rapidly from confusion and disbelief to amusement. At least one of them thought it was funny.
He extended his hand. ‘Lovely to meet you, Jess.’
Jess wiped her sweaty hand quickly on her skirt and reluctantly placed it in his. ‘You’re Adam Rourke?’ The words came out as a squeak. Why was he staring at her like that? Shit, now she was having a problem breathing. She pulled back from his grasp and did a deep into-the-tummy yoga breath, before realising it made her skirt tighter. This was a bad dream.
And why had he lied about his name?Say something, Jess.‘Your uncle said you’d be coming to work with us, but I thought you were just out of college.’ Oh great, if that was the best she had, she might as well chuck it all in now.
He smirked. ‘When did you think that?’
Ha-bloody-ha.
Emily was staring at them.
