CHAPTER 36
Jess walked from the village up to the hotel, hoping the exercise would help settle her nerves.
How was she supposed to face Adam again today?
After the initial shock yesterday, they’d mainly managed to stay out of each other’s way.
Adam had gone off to watch the filming for a while and when he’d returned he’d stuck on some headphones and ignored her for the rest of the day.
Even so, every last nerve in her body had been on hyper-alert and she’d barely risked glancing in his direction, in case he caught her looking.
She’d tried to tell herself that she didn’t want him attempting any more conversation but, in a rare moment of honesty, she was forced to admit to herself that she was terrified that somehow he’d know what she was really thinking – and how she was feeling.
Whenever the tension had become too much, she’d escaped for a while. She wondered if he guessed why. Mostly she wished she didn’t care what he thought.
The sun had reappeared today, and the sky was almost cloudless, the air fresher after the rain of the previous day.
By the time she got to the front door of the hotel she had mentally braced herself for another day working in close quarters with Adam.
As she crossed the foyer, she saw him coming towards her
“Good morning, Adam.” The words tasted like paper in her mouth.
“Jess.” He gave her an inscrutable look. “You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve found somewhere else to work so the office is all yours again.”
“Oh, right.” This was good. Better than good. So why did she feel … a bit deflated? Because you need your head examined, Jess. “Thank you.”
“Glad to see you’ve moved on, by the way.”
There was an edge to his voice and Jess forced herself to keep her chin high as she met his eyes again. She didn’t care, she reminded herself. Adam had no right to judge her.
“Excuse me.” She walked past him, slipped quickly into her office and closed the door firmly behind her. For several long minutes, she leaned against the door and stared up at the ceiling, breathing deeply as her heart thumped so fast she was afraid she was going to throw up.
Behind her, she felt the handle of the door turn as somebody tried to come in and she jumped away.
Okay, get a grip, Jess.
“Jess? Are you there? Um, I can come back if you’re busy.”
She sagged and flung open the door. “Sorry, Emily, come in.”
“You okay?” Emily said carefully as she walked in.
“Never better.” Jess suppressed a sigh. “Are you filming today?”
Emily shook out her hair. “Nope, not working either. But I just thought I’d drop by and you know, wander around – see who I might bump into.” She beamed. “And, awesome news! Dermot and I are going out for a drink.”
“Oh, that’s great, Em.” Jess managed a distracted smile. “Did he just ask you out this morning?”
“Um, so he didn’t exactly ask me …” Emily fiddled with her hair.
“Right. So you asked him out?”
“Hm.” Emily sighed. “I might have mentioned that a bunch of us are meeting for a drink next Tuesday and that he was welcome to come along.”
“Good idea.” Jess nodded encouragingly. “Don’t the staff usually go out on a Friday night, though?”
“They do, yeah, but Dermot’s going home for the weekend to visit his family.”
“Right, so there’s a gang going out again next Tuesday?”
“No.” Emily chewed on her lip. “I just told Dermot that.”
“That’s different,” Jess said carefully. “So you’re just going to act surprised when nobody else shows up?”
“Not exactly.” Emily crossed the room and plonked down in the chair opposite Jess’s desk. “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”
“Okaaay.”
“I always seem to mess up first dates, Jess. Especially with older guys. Like, I either come on too strong and end up just hooking up for one night, because they don’t bother calling again.
Or, I get so nervous that I start babbling.
” Emily pulled at the ends of her hair. “So will you and Robert come along? It’ll be way more chill, and if I start making a complete eejit of myself, you can jump in and change the subject, or something. ”
“What?” Jess started to laugh but stopped quickly when she saw how serious Emily was. “You don’t think Dermot’s going to get a bit suspicious?”
“No.” Emily shrugged. “He doesn’t know how many people will turn up.”
“Fair enough.” Jess thought for a moment. “Look, how about Robert and I stay for an hour, and then let you guys be by yourselves?”
“Yeah, that’d work. Thanks, Jess.” She got to her feet. “Um, I saw Adam a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah.” Jess did her best to sound unbothered. “He arrived down early yesterday morning. He’s doing a bit of work here.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Are you alright? I mean, I guess it’s easier now you’re seeing someone else.”
“Much easier.” Jess ignored the golf-ball-size lump in her throat.
“Anyway, thanks for having my back. I owe you!”
Jess smiled brightly. “My pleasure.”