Chapter Twenty-Seven
T hat evening, the last bags from my room in my hands, I walked towards the front door of Gables Manor for the last time.
My heart leapt into my throat as I found Rob standing on the porch, deep in conversation with Jimi.
Rob and Jimi, face to face, this wasn’t the plan.
The two were chatting easily and something had obviously tickled them, because Jimi threw his head back and was laughing heartily at something Rob had said.
Were they laughing at my expense?
Cautiously, I approached them.
‘Oh man, you picked a funny guy,’ Jimi said as I stood side-by-side with him in front of Rob. ‘Rob was just telling me about what happened when you two worked at the Angel Wear show. An incident with a glitter cannon?’ He giggled again. ‘I would have loved to witness that.’
‘I think it was one of the most stressful nights of my entire life,’ I said, deadpan.
‘Oh baby, that story never gets old.’ Rob was chuckling.
There he was, my boyfriend, handsome as ever in a white T-shirt and jeans. He looked really good. And that warm smile which engaged his twinkly green eyes made me want to rush into his arms and nuzzle his neck.
‘It sounds like Rob, your boyfriend , has done some amazing work,’ Jimi said coyly. ‘We’ve had a great chat.’
I looked between them nervously, trying to read both of their faces at the same time. ‘There might be some filming Rob can help me out with, especially if some of the TV pitches we’re working on get commissioned,’ he added.
I shifted my weight between my feet uncomfortably. I hadn’t realised Rob had arrived, he was meant to call me when he did. I felt bad for putting him in this position.
‘Well, this is it, I guess.’ I nudged Rob in the arm, hard. A clear signal that I was keen to get going as quickly as possible.
‘I guess it is,’ Jimi said, turning to me. ‘I hope I’ll work with you again, Amber. You’re brilliant at what you do.’ Then he added to Rob, ‘Let’s go for that beer sometime.’
It had started raining outside and, assessing the luggage I had piled up by the door, Rob said, ‘I’ll go and bring the car closer.’
‘I’ll come with you!’ I announced.
‘No, you wait here.’ He was already moving. ‘I’ll be back in a sec.’
Then it was just Jimi and me. He gave me a churlish look.
I thought back to the night of the kiss on the lips.
‘So, were you going to pretend Rob isn’t your boyfriend?’ he asked, when Rob was out of earshot.
‘I wasn’t,’ I protested weakly.
‘You so were.’ He smiled. ‘And you’re blushing, so that confirms it.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Did you forget you showed me a photo of him? When you were telling me about how you accused him of being unfaithful?’
I shrugged.
‘I’ll forgive your amnesia because you were drunk,’ he continued. My mind flipped back to the night of the party at the house.
‘I forgot about that,’ I mumbled.
‘Don’t worry – I raised it with him, and you have no reason at all to be worried.’
‘You what ?’ I felt a hot fear spread through my body.
‘I asked him about it. As a friend. You wanted to know, didn’t you?’
‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’
‘I’m not joking. But there’s no need to panic—’
‘Jimi! You broke my confidentiality.’ I collected myself, not wanting to draw any attention to us. ‘Well, what did Rob say then?’ I whispered.
‘I can’t tell you. But you have absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact, the opposite.’
‘Well, this is weird,’ I said.
‘What’s weird?’
‘You. Knowing something about my boyfriend that I don’t.’
He looked straight at me. ‘Relax, Amber. He seems like a great guy. I’m happy for you. You don’t want to let that one go.’
‘I don’t intend to. What else did you talk about?’
I kicked a loose pebble on the stone beneath us and it just missed hitting him on the shin.
‘He told me about his job, and I think I can give him some work. We had a chat about what he does – he’s got great experience and is available to start straight away.’
‘What do you mean, his job?’ A new wave of fear rose inside me.
‘The fact he doesn’t have one. You didn’t know?’
I was floored. And especially hearing this news from Jimi. How long have they been standing here chatting for? He’s learnt more about my boyfriend in five minutes than I have in eight weeks.
Jimi looked awkward. ‘I’m heading back to Miami for DJ gigs, and I’ll need someone to take on more of the content over here whenever Mandy comes back. Rob could be perfect. How would you feel about that?’
I tried to act cool, not wishing Jimi to know how confused I was.
‘Rob knows what it’s like working with talent. If he’s up for it, that sounds good.’ I smiled weakly.
‘Rob had some cool ideas too – he suggested making a documentary about Mandy’s surrogacy journey, it will make a refreshing change from the same bullshit celebrity shows.
Netflix is looking for exactly that kind of content at the moment.
So, we can be work friends then?’ He smiled at me with those amazing lips, but this time I didn’t want to jump right into them and get acquainted.
Instead, I felt affection towards him in a platonic way.
‘I always said we were friends,’ I replied dryly.
Right on cue, Rob shut the door of our Mini Countryman.
Philippa, Blair, Coco, and Jose had come to the front door, and now stood in the sunshine outside the house, to join Jimi in waving us off.
As we drove past the privet orbs and reached the outer gates, I looked back at the manor house, now partially covered by a cascading wall of lush lilac wisteria, its heavy blossoms hanging like miniature chandeliers.
Parts of the facade were highlighted by the sun’s rays, beaming down like spotlights through blossom-heavy trees.
The house looked so much more alive than it had when I first arrived here on a freezing March morning, with no idea what to expect.
A top window flung open just as the gates glided apart and I heard Mandy call out, ‘Bye, Amber, thank you!’
I looked up at her and waved.
As we turned onto the road, my parting image was of Jimi, his back turned as he walked into the house behind the others. If I wasn’t mistaken, he looked around at the last moment to where our car had been, just as the gates closed. And then he was gone.
You see, sometimes, you can be just friends, even with a really, really hot single guy from Miami.
When Rob and I left the house, we didn’t drive straight home, but stopped off at a country pub Rob had booked for my release; where I ordered a dinner of fish and chips and devoured it as though I hadn’t eaten anything so tasty in a long time – because I hadn’t.
Over a pint of shandy, I found myself laughing with Rob and talking with ease about the whole crazy experience.
It felt just like our Saturdays on Portobello Road.
Only there was a nagging voice in my mind – there was something I needed to ask him.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about your job?’ I asked. ‘It was a bit of a shock to hear that earlier.’ My eyes searched his face for a reaction.
He looked resigned. ‘I didn’t want to bring you down.’ Rob sighed. ‘You had enough going on with Mandy and it was the day you had the party in the evening. I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.’
‘I knew it,’ I whispered. ‘I had a feeling something was up with you that day, it was weird.’
He hung his head. ‘I didn’t think you needed any extra worry.’
‘But it’s you ,’ I stated. ‘I always want to know your news, and I’ll always support you. You know that, don’t you?’
He nodded.
‘So how do you feel about it?’ I asked.
‘Okay now, I guess.’ He sighed. ‘You know how much I was hating it recently. In some ways, being made redundant was for the best. I’ve got enough money to keep us going for the next few months while I find new work. I’ve got my head around it, and I’m okay.’
‘As long as you understand it’s no reflection on your skills, because it really isn’t,’ I assured him. ‘It’s just a shitty time with the market. It’s the same in retail and across loads of industries.’
‘I know. I just hope I get as lucky as you with a shiny new opportunity sooner rather than later.’
‘You will,’ I said encouragingly. ‘You’ll get snapped up.’
‘If you haven’t used up all of our good luck quota that is.’ He chuckled. ‘You’ve done so well getting the bonus. I’m proud of you, Am. Really.’
‘And I didn’t even have to do the full term,’ I said, beaming.
He took my hand in his and looked at me intently.
‘There is something else I wanted to talk to you about,’ he said.
My eyes widened.
‘It’s about that photo, the one from Christmas. I was—’
‘Shhh.’ I put my index finger to his lips. ‘You don’t need to say anything. Honestly, it was silly of me. I’m over it.’
‘But I do,’ he replied. ‘I want to. I was in touch with Emily. We exchanged a few messages just before Christmas.’ I gulped.
‘I wasn’t going to tell you why, but I thought you should know.
I asked her for the engagement ring back.
So I can pawn it.’ The little hairs on my arm stood on end.
‘I didn’t like the thought of her still having it.
And,’ he looked at me shyly, ‘I might need a new one, one day.’
‘So, did you get it?’ I asked, trying to sound calmer than I felt inside.
‘Yes, after a very awkward conversation on Facebook Messenger, I got it back.’ His dimple appeared when he smiled.
When Rob said this, a tense feeling I didn’t even realise I had been holding in my body seemed to melt away.
‘That’s good,’ I said, trying to make light of it, whilst wondering where the ring was right now. I bit my lip. As I took this news in, I noticed a strange, visceral reaction in my body, it was as though butterflies were emerging from cocoons inside my tummy.
I pictured Rob on bended knee, asking me to marry him.