Page 24 of The Last Saturday In July
‘Love you too.’
Jess heard the front door close just before she threw up again.
Sipping as much fizzy water as she dared, she found her phone and headed to the bedroom. She should probably sleep but she felt a lot better than she had ten minutes ago. She propped herself up against the pillows and checked her emails. There was one new one from Ian, confirming that all the hot-air-balloon operators had been vetted.Wow, the man worked late!
Jess opened Google Maps, popped Linford Castle in the search bar and zoomed in. They planned to set up the balloons in the far east field, where the river was. She made some quick calculations: it was about a mile from the hotel, too long for most guests to walk. Linford had about half a dozen Victorian-style coaches, but they could definitely do with more. She opened her emails and hit compose.
Hi Ian,
With the hot-air-ballooning happening a mile from the hotel, would it be possible to hire more horses and buggies? In general, it might be an idea to have more for the wedding. What do you think?
Jess
As an afterthought, she looped Adam in and sent it off.
To her surprise, Adam replied almost immediately.That sounds great, if you think it’s possible, Ian?
Maybe he felt bad about earlier, she thought, as another wave of nausea sent her running back to the loo. Sitting against the white-tiled wall, she hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head on top of her knees. Adam was clearly keen to work as a team. And she had to admit that it was strangely comforting to work with him, even if he was her one-night stand.
She sat for a while until the nausea subsided, before cleaning her teeth.
Back in the bedroom, she peeled off her clothes, pulled on an old T-shirt and climbed back into bed, grateful for the blackout curtains at the window. She had to remember to thank Kate for tonight. But as she drifted into sleep, her last thoughts were of Adam.
Chapter 12
‘YOU’RE sure you should be at work?’ Kate frowned at Jess over her coffee the following morning.
Butlers was buzzing, and they were perched on stools at one end of the high counters that ran along the windows.
Jess slouched as she sipped her second cup of black tea. ‘Yeah, it was just a dodgy chicken sandwich I had for lunch yesterday.’
Kate looked appalled. ‘Where did you buy it? Because you need to tell them they’re poisoning their customers.’
‘Yeah, no, definitely.’
‘So, do you think you’re up to Finn’s performance tonight?’
‘Yeah, I should be fine. You’ll be there, right?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Why? What’s up?’
‘Nothing.’ Kate tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Maybe it’d be better for you and Simon to just go together, without me tagging along.’
Jess stared at her. ‘It’s not a date night, Kate: it’s Finn’s gig. There’ll be loads of people there – of course you should come.’ She drank some more tea. ‘Thanks for coming to the rescue last night, by the way. I’d say three hours of German opera was grim.’
‘Actually, it was lovely.’ Kate shrugged.
‘If you say so.’
‘Were you talking to Simon this morning?’
‘Nope, he’s always up and gone before me. Why?’
Kate gave her a strange look. ‘I think you should try to like opera, that’s all. I mean, Simon loves it.’
An unexpected wave of nausea curled through Jess’s stomach. She’d never eat chicken again: maybe she’d become vegetarian.
