Claudia Carroll 3 Book Bundle. Claudia Carroll

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      Jake doesn’t answer, just shoots me an inquiring look, so I try to flummox my way out of it.

      ‘You know, I don’t actually think that’s going to be possible.’ I half stammer. ‘Jake is teaching, you see and his hours are a bit …’

      ‘Nonsense, of course you’ll have to be there,’ says Seth, clearly sensing my discomfort and revelling in it. ‘Won’t he, Sir Gavin?’

      ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Sir Gavin chimes in. ‘You must come Jake,’ he nods politely, ‘as a guest of Madam Editrix, you’d be more than welcome. I absolutely insist. Everyone will be delighted to meet you.’

      ‘Wonderful!’ I say in a strangulated high-pitched voice I hardly recognise as my own.

      ‘So that’s settled then,’ is Seth’s last, triumphant word. ‘See you next weekend Jake. And by the way, I’m very much looking forward to playing a round or two of golf with you.’

      Jake, I notice, says nothing to this, just stares back at him, arms folded, giving absolutely nothing away.

      And finally, they’re gone to the upstairs section of the restaurant, mercifully leaving us alone.

      Oh bugger this to hell. It’s as good as decreed now. If Sir Gavin himself has invited Jake, then short of the Post going into receivership before next weekend, that’s it. He’s got to come with me and that’s final.

      As soon as they’re well out of sight and safely upstairs, Jake’s sprung to his feet, gripping my arms as he gently eases me back into my chair. Then he sits me back down, as ever, making me feel tiny beside the sheer hulking size of him.

      ‘You okay?’ he asks me, looking straight into my eyes, all concerned. ‘Jeez, you were tense enough before they came in, but look at the state of you now …’

      ‘I’m so far from okay, I can’t tell you.’

       You just don’t know why, that’s all …

      ‘Sir Gavin seems alright,’ he says thoughtfully, ‘but if you ever want me to sort out that Seth git for you, believe me, it would be my absolute pleasure. I feel very protective over you, and God help anyone who tries to have a go at you when I’m around, that’s all I can say.’

      ‘One day I’d like to have that man vaporised, but for the moment …’

      ‘Now you’re beginning to sound a bit more like yourself,’ he smiles, the old twinkle coming back into his eyes. ‘That’s a lot more like the strange and troubled woman I know. So just listen carefully to what I’m telling you. Let. It. Go.’

      I give him a wobbly smile, all while thinking, how do I get our conversation back on track? He sits back down and now we’re back to pin-drop silence, which, for once, Jake misreads.

      ‘Eloise,’ he says softly, ‘don’t get stressed about why Sir Gavin is meeting with git-face Seth. It’s not worth it. Whatever’s going on, I’m sure it’s nothing for you to worry about.’

       No, nothing compared to what I’m about to land on you.

      ‘Besides, if it had been anything concerning you, don’t you think they’d have told you?’

      I nod, though for the minute, I’m not even thinking about Seth and Gavin. Yeah, sure something’s up between the two of them alright, I can practically smell it. Don’t know what, but it’ll only a matter of time before it all filters back to me. Sooner or later everything does. And I’ll deal with it then, and only then.

      I take a sip of the wine that’s finally arrived and look over to him, worry now etched all over his fair, freckled face. Though he’s not half as fecking worried as I am.

      ‘Jake, just to get back to …’

      ‘Please,’ he says, leaning against the window now and looking intently back at me, ‘I know what you’re thinking and I don’t want you to get all stressed about it. You don’t have to. Because I won’t go unless you want me to. I mean come on, me? At some corporate weekend do? Playing golf with gits like that Coleman wanker? Are you kidding me? I’d end up punching him in his smug self-satisfied gob if he as much as looked crossways at you.’

      ‘It’s not that, Jake,’ I shift around uncomfortably in my chair.

      ‘Wish you could tell him the only use we have for golf clubs where I come from …’

      ‘You don’t understand.’

      ‘What? Tell me.’

      Just then, the bill arrives, which Jake very generously insists on paying, then starts getting ready to leave.

      ‘You have to go already?’ I say, stunned. He can’t go, not now, not yet.

      ‘Yeah, sorry I have to rush, but remember I told you I was teaching an English class tonight? In fact I gotta run or I’m going to be late. So what was it you wanted to say to me anyway, before we were so rudely interrupted?’

      Oh God, not now, not when he’s running out the door.

       Shit, shit, shit.

      ‘It was … emm … nothing that can’t wait.’

      ‘You’re stressed out of your mind about this whole corporate weekend, aren’t you? Isn’t that why you’ve been so jumpy all night?’

      ‘Well, partly …’

      ‘What, is it like some kind of partners’ thing, or something?’

      ‘It is, actually …’ But that’s the least of my worries.

      ‘I see,’ he says, thoughtfully. Then after another pause and a good long look at me he adds, ‘and for what it’s worth, I think I do understand what you were trying to tell me. Or rather, what you weren’t.’

      More bloody silence, and for once I can’t think of a single thing to prise out of my mouth that might fill it.

      Next thing, he’s on his feet, pulling his jacket on.

      ‘Jake? You’ve got to leave right this minute?’

      ‘Yeah, or I’ll be late.’

      ‘Oh,’ I say, deflated. ‘So maybe I’ll talk to you afterwards?’

      ‘Listen, Eloise,’ he smiles down at me, ‘if you need company at the corporate piss up, count me in. I’ll be there for you and I won’t let you down. Sure, I’d do anything for you, you know that, don’t you?’

      I give a weak, automatic smile, not wanting him to go, not yet.

      ‘But as for the partners side of it …’ He went on, not quite able to look me in the eye now. ‘Eloise, you’ve been so good to me and I’ll never forget you for that. You were a true pal when I needed one most. But …’

      ‘Yeah?’ Not sure where that ‘but’ could be headed.

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