Page 124 of The Last Saturday In July
‘Yeah, I just felt like a hug.’
Kate blinked back tears before wrapping her arms around her oldest friend. ‘Actually, me too.’
Chapter 52
JESS went straight to Accounts on Monday. Kate looked startled to see her and abandoned her work to march her back out the door.
‘Where are we going?’ Jess said.
‘Out. Anywhere.’ Kate hit the button on the lift. ‘What are you doing in work? I thought you were taking a few days off.’
‘I told you yesterday I’d be in.’
‘Yes, but I didn’t believe you.’
‘I couldn’t take time off. The next few days might be busy.’
Kate rolled her eyes. ‘I think things might quieten down a bit with that celebrity wedding out of the way.’
Jess had serious doubts that things were about to quieten down any time soon, but she allowed Kate to hurry her out of the building, and across the road to Butlers, where they ordered coffees and took a table near the counter. Jess blew gently across her latté to cool it down. ‘Have you talked to Simon?’
Kate met Jess’s gaze evenly. ‘He dropped by yesterday. He wanted to know how Luke was, and if I knew how you were.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I told him I’d seen you.’
‘What did he say?’ Jess winced. ‘Actually, scratch that, I don’t have the right to know anymore. Whatever he said is between you guys.’ She noticed colour creeping into Kate’s face. ‘Look, I admit it’s still a bit weird, but I’m not falling apart or anything.’
Kate’s expression softened. ‘I don’t think Simon is either. But maybe you should talk to him yourself.’
‘I know, I will.’ It was a relief to have everything out in the open, Jess realised. She hadn’t felt this relaxed with Kate in a long time, although she knew things would be very different if she and Simon had gone ahead with the wedding. But that didn’t matter anymore: they’d done the right thing.
Kate gave a quick glance around the café. ‘You know that everyone’s talking about that chase on World News.’
Jess swore quietly. ‘Still?’
Kate sighed. ‘I know you think I wasn’t interested in the celebrity wedding, but even I know that a decoy bride being chased half-way across Mayo, is going to be news for a while.’
‘Well, it won’t make any difference to me.’ Jess tried to sound calm. ‘Not if I’m fired.’
‘They’re not going to fire you for that,’ Kate said fiercely.
Eventually she’d tell Kate about how she’d helped Chelsea, but right now, Jess couldn’t face a million questions. Instead, she said, ‘It wasn’t exactly the image we were going for on Saturday.’
‘You weren’t going for the whole celebrity bride-swap either,’ said Kate, ‘but if it hadn’t been for you, there wouldn’t have been a stupid wedding.’
‘And let’s face it, it was a really stupid wedding.’ Jess gave a reluctant smile.
‘Why don’t you talk to Adam? I’m sure if he knew exactly...’
‘If he knew exactly what happened, he’d make things all right?’ Jess pressed her lips tightly together. ‘I’d rather quit than ask Adam for help. Anyway, he’s gone, he went back to Switzerland.’
Kate tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘Well, now he’s back. I saw him first thing this morning.’
Adam was back? Jess felt nauseas as she walked back through reception. The only possible reason for his return was that Frank was about to fire her, and he needed Adam to hold the fort until he found a new marketing manager. Maybe she shouldn’t have come to work. Although she’d only be putting off the inevitable. Just thinking about it sent another wave of nausea surging through her.
As she got out of the lift, she spotted a TikTok notification: Chelsea had posted a new video. Jess slipped into her office and opened it. Linford Castle’s newest runaway bride beamed into the camera.‘Hi everyone.’Chelsea gave a little wave.‘Firstly, I wanna thank you all for your kind messages, I’m just so overwhelmed by them all.’She paused. ‘So, I wanna say that even though I didn’t go through with the wedding, I’m leaving the past in the past. Because what I’ve learned is that it’s super important not to hold grudges. The people I thought I could trust betrayed me badly, but that’s also made me stronger.’
