NINETEEN
Reilly
Iswear there isn’t a better stress reliever than hand-beating egg whites for Swiss meringue buttercream. Sure, I could use the KitchenAid but I wouldn’t be able to repent this overwhelming surge of anxiety in me.
Thea and Sarah sit on the stools on the opposite side of the counter, both clutching their mugs to their chests.
Thea sits upright, her eyes tracking my movements, whereas Sarah leans slightly forward, eager to hear why I have summoned them.
Mum is out taking Dorothy food shopping, so I called the girls round for coffee and pancakes.
Though, in my attempt to avoid the inevitable conversation I needed to have with them, I ended up baking while they sat at the kitchen table, sipping on chai oat milk lattes I had made especially.
“I slept with Elton,” I admit. Thea gleams as Sarah rolls her eyes.
“This is your big emergency?” Sarah would never see sex as a problem, but it is a problem.
“It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have. It’s too complicated.” My feelings about the situation have not changed, but my feelings for Elton are growing. And I don’t think I can allow them to.
Thea stands beside me, halting my aggressive egg-white beating, “Sweetie. What is so terrible about Elton? Why can’t you let yourself have this?”
“He has the power to hurt me. He could break my heart.” That’s what it all comes down to.
Yes, he’s a distraction from my goals. Yes, I don’t want Neive in the middle of it.
Yes, he has a lot going on in his own life.
But ultimately, my main concern is that he will break me.
He will love me, then leave me. I’ll be humiliated and heartbroken.
The girl who got above her station and fell in love with the man way out of her league.
It would never work between us. I shouldn’t even be considering going there.
“Well, I think you’re doing that to yourself.” That statement shockingly came from Sarah. She never fights for love. Only for sex. “You’re not wrong. He has the power to break your heart. Because you’ve fallen for him. You are in love with him.”
“I’m not in love with him. I barely know him.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince more, but the words taste bitter on my tongue, and I turn my back on the girls so they can’t see the lies in my eyes.
“Well, either way, he won’t be giving up easily.
” Sarah gestures to the bunch of flowers that turned up yesterday afternoon, with a note – Have a lovely day, Elton.
Simple, yet effective. He’s not asked me out or pushed to see me.
Just a small reminder that he’s thinking of me.
It melts me a little. Maybe the girls are right.
“Thea, how’s the family manhunt going?” I divert the attention off me, feeling analysed out.
“Awful! I swear, I can’t go on another date with another pompous mama’s boy.
Half of them don’t even live down here. They come from London and immediately start telling me how if we got married, I would need to move back home.
” She sneers. Thea’s family are desperate for her to settle down and move back to London with them.
Her mum has been bombarding her with potential matches for three months.
Though none are ticking her extensive list.
“Why not just give your requirements to your mum? If you won’t stop her from sending men down to you, you could at least let her know what you’re looking for,” I suggest. I can’t get to grips with Thea going along with this archaic version of dating.
“My mother wouldn’t agree. Or even listen to me.
No, it’s best I carry on as I am.” She sounds resigned to her fate.
Coming from an aristocratic line, Thea’s family expects her to meet a certain calibre of gentleman.
Unfortunately (or not, depending on if you’re her friend or her mother) Thea doesn’t put the attributes at the top of her list that her family expects her to.
But being the little people-pleaser she is, she is trying her hardest to find a compromise.
“Just because I’m distracted by Thea’s disastrous dating life, don’t think I can’t see your grubby hands in my icing bowl,” I scold Sarah. She licks her finger and winks at me before scurrying over to the window as a car pulls up outside. Such a curtain twitcher, she’s worse than Dorothy.
“Ohhh, Elton’s hot butler is here,” she says, clapping her hands together like an excited child who’s been told there’s ice cream after dinner.
“He’s not a butler. He’s his … person.” I don’t really know what Jeeves is or what he does for Elton.
Thea joins us at the window. “He might not be a butler, but he’s definitely hot.” A slight blush creeps up her face when she realises he has caught us spying.
I open the door as he makes his way up the front steps.
“Reilly, good morning. I have a package for you from Elton,” Jeeves says, as formal as ever, which is a slight contrast to the tattoos that peak underneath his always sharp suit.
Or the slightly haunted look in his eyes that creeps out sometimes.
“Want to come in? I’m icing cupcakes. You’re welcome to one,” I say, cheerfully, always trying to counteract his reserved nature.
“I’ll pass, thank you,” he declines politely. He may come across as aloof, but he is never rude.
“Maybe you could take one back for Neive?” I offer.
“Or even Elton,” he responds stoically, even as his lips twitch at the corner of his mouth. I roll my eyes at his performance, knowing I’m starting to sneak inside the shell of the elusive Jeeves.
“Come on, the girls are with me. They can be ferocious, so don’t sit too close to them.” I let him in and lead him through to the kitchen. “Thea, Sarah this is Jeeves. Jeeves, these are my friends.”
He nods at them in greeting. Sarah’s the first to jump. “Is Jeeves your real name?”
“No.” He sets the package on the table by the door, hands clasped in front of him. I don’t think he wants to be here but I guess the idea of taking something back to Elton from me was too good to pass up.
“Will you tell us your real name?” Thea asks. His eyes flick to hers and I swear his pupils darken.
He holds her attention a beat before replying, “No, ma’am,” ever so slightly softer.
Thea and Sarah pepper him with more intrusive questions about himself and Elton, which he skilfully avoids answering. I ice a couple of cupcakes and pop them in a container for him to take back, releasing him from my friends’ claws.
“Have a good day, ladies.” He lifts a hand in goodbye and shuts the door behind him, carefully balancing the container in his other hand.
“I call dibs,” Sarah declares, throwing her hand in the air.
“You can’t call dibs on him. We both saw him at the same time. Plus, you’ve already had Charles. You don’t get both friends.”
“When did you have Charles?” I ask, astonished at this new information.
“I haven’t had Charles. I kissed him. No biggie.” She shrugs it off, not a hint of disappointment. “Thea, what are you going to do with Jeeves anyway? He definitely doesn’t fit your mother’s requirements or yours. It would be a waste of a fuck.”
“No one is calling dibs on Jeeves. I’ve got enough to work through with Elton without one of you fucking his friend/employee or whatever he is.
” I shut this debate down. “That includes Charles,” I add, pointing my finger at Sarah.
She holds her hands up at me in defence, shocked I would even need to point it out.
“Oh, so you will be working through things with him?” Thea squeals.
Yes, I will. And I’ll be starting by putting a stop to extravagant gifts. I have to force myself to close the lid on the sparkly bracelet he’s sent over, I’m half tempted to keep this one.
~
Elton
“Well, was she pleased?” I ask, holding the cupcake in front of my face. I had sent a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet around to Reilly’s. It’s just the start of my wooing process, showing her the things she could have and how her life could be.
“She didn’t open it. She had friends there.” Jeeves sits in front of my desk, his arms crossed and leaning back in his chair. He runs a finger along his lip. There’s something unnerving about Jeeves in a relaxed state, it’s a paradox.
“Go on then. What is it?” I ask. I take a small bite of the icing on top of the cake. Something floral and vanilla fill my mouth. God, she’s good, and she’s wasting away in someone else’s bakery.
“I know this would be the usual route to go down, but Reilly isn’t like the women you’ve dated before.
Diamonds aren’t going to impress her. Based on her house and surroundings, I would say they may make her feel uncomfortable.
” He adjusts his sleeves slightly awkwardly.
We both grew up lacking material and emotional basics, but he took a little longer to come around and accept the help I offered him.
“Mmm maybe.” I forget how exceptionally perceptive Jeeves is and I value his opinions on all things. He definitely has a point. What am I thinking, trying the same old rubbish with Reilly? She’s not like the women I’ve previously dated.
I take another bite of cupcake, ignoring Jeeves’s loud tapping as he writes an excessively long email.
“Reilly holds no value over material objects,” he says without looking up from his phone.
He’s right, she doesn’t. Unless it’s top-of-the-line baking equipment.
But even then, she wouldn’t accept it from me.
I roll the sleeves of my shirt up, finding myself agitated at my lack of imagination.
We are still negotiating about how much I’m paying her for the lessons.
She’s got a bakery business to start, and I can help her.
Jeeves stands, pockets his phone and does the button up on his jacket. I open a tab on my desktop to find ideal commercial space in the area.
“Do not buy her a bakery!” Jeeves says as he saunters out of the room off to do whatever he does that keeps my life spinning. He either has a direct line into my brain or he’s a psychic.
Okay, so bakery out. Diamonds out. How do I spend more time with her?
“Ask Reilly out on a date!!” Neive shouts from the other room, before making her way into my office.
Another member of my family who has an inside line into my thought process.
“Jesus, Uncle Elton, you run this huge company and have all the staff and business stuff you do but you can’t work out how to make Reilly like you.
I’m concerned for my future if these are my genetics.
” Getting schooled by my niece is a new low.
“Stop eavesdropping, it’s rude,” I chastise her. Which she ignores and flops herself onto my office sofa, making herself comfortable as she pulls out her phone and scrolls.
“Also, you do it in person. Obviously,” she adds. This one is getting way too sassy. It was not obvious to me. Thank god I have sensible people around me. I’m losing my mind over Reilly.