CHAPTER EIGHT #3
‘Actually, it’s a place I haven’t tried before, in the Second Arrondissement.’
Realizing this meant he was in Paris the bubble burst so fast she almost hit the brakes. ‘OK, well, hope it’s good,’ she said airily, and unable to think of anything else, she ended the call, hoping he might think the line had dropped again, while not really caring what he thought.
*
By the following morning Cristy had decided that there was little point in calling David.
She didn’t want an argument, or to come across as petty or jealous, or, God forbid, clingy.
He had every right to be in Paris, presumably with Juliette.
In fact, for all she knew they slept together regularly while still pursuing other relationships and, if that was the case, it wasn’t for her.
Best to let it go now before she got in any deeper.
He rang as she was passing the M Shed Museum on Prince’s Wharf, while walking into work. It was a bitterly cold morning, with icy patches glittering on the water and bright sunlight dazzling the puddled walkways.
‘Too early?’ he asked when she answered.
‘No, it’s fine,’ she replied, slipping the phone inside her hat. ‘How are you? Good dinner last night?’
‘Not bad. We’d probably go again.’
Tensing at the ‘we’ she decided to come right to the point and said, abruptly, ‘Are you and Juliette …? Are you sleeping with her?’ Not exactly how she’d meant it to come out, but it was there now and he wasn’t bloody well saying anything.
‘OK, not answering is answer enough,’ she said, ready to ring off.
‘Hang on, hang on,’ he cut in angrily. ‘Before you start making assumptions, or rushing to judgements, tell me this, have you slept with Matthew since you … since he left you?’
Taking that as an admission on his part, and since she was in no position to deny anything after the night Aiden had cooked for her and Matthew – unless she wanted to get into an explanation of how nothing had actually happened, and she didn’t – she said, tartly, ‘You’re just digging yourself in deeper with that question, but it’s OK.
I’m not your keeper. You are free to do whatever you please with whoever you please.
I just wish you’d been a bit more honest about it and not made me drag it out of you … ’
‘For God’s sake, Cristy! I don’t know what’s got into you. I thought everything was good between us …’
‘As did I until you …’
‘… then Matthew gets himself into trouble, and suddenly you change. It became all about him …’
‘That’s not true!’
‘It is. You barely spoke to me after his arrest … OK, I understand you were worried, but …’
‘Please stop! You’re using this as an excuse to blame me …’
‘I’m not blaming you for anything. I’m just telling you how I saw things, and it wasn’t great. You wouldn’t even let me come into the airport with you when you left …’
‘You said you had a meeting …’
‘I told myself you just needed time to work things out and I should give you space …’
‘I never said that and the way I saw things was you coming out of the gazebo at midnight on New Year’s Eve, followed by Juliette. You disappearing with her and a bottle of wine on New Year’s Day. And now you’re in Paris, presumably with her?’
‘Yes, as it happens, I am staying with her. Or I was, I’m at the airport now on my way home, but as for what you saw …’
‘It’s OK, you don’t need to explain yourself to me. She’s the mother of your son, extremely beautiful and you clearly have a great rapport …’
‘It’s true, we do, and you can’t tell me you don’t have feelings for Matthew …’
‘What I feel for Matthew isn’t the same.’
‘And yet I noticed you didn’t answer when I asked if you’d slept with him.’
Still unwilling to explain, she said, ‘It’s clear to me that what we had, what we’ve shared over the past weeks …
It was wonderful, I won’t deny that. I loved being with you and I adore your family, but maybe our lives …
I just don’t see how we can go forward together with you there, and me here, and certainly not when you’re still sleeping with your ex. ’
When he fell silent again her heart twisted with the longing to hear him argue, to persuade her she was wrong, and say they could work things out.
‘I don’t want there to be any hard feelings between us,’ she said, turning towards the studios and needing to end the call before she went in. ‘So can we say goodbye in a friendly way and just think about all the good things we brought to one another?’
‘If that’s what you want,’ he said tightly, ‘then that’s how it’ll be. You know where I am if you need anything,’ and a moment later he’d gone.
Feeling almost as if she’d been struck, she decided she was too wound up to go into the office right away, so clicking off her phone she started to walk on past Quinns’ and Aardman towards the Cumberland Road. She didn’t get far before she ran into Iz who she was supposed to be meeting … right now.
‘Hi, good morning,’ Iz sang out in an annoyingly, overfriendly way. She was dressed as though she’d just come from the ski slopes, even her sunglasses were goggles. ‘You seem to have missed your turn,’ she chuckled, tugging off her beanie complete with ear flaps, headlamp and WiFi.
‘Sorry, miles away,’ Cristy tried to smile. ‘How are you?’
‘Excited to get the promos in the can,’ Iz beamed, tucking the beanie under one arm so she could rub her gloved hands together. ‘Have you and Connor had time to look at the scripts yet?’ she asked, trying and failing to link Cristy’s arm as they started back down the cobbled lane.
‘Only briefly,’ Cristy admitted, and stood aside for Iz to go ahead into the building. ‘We’re not actors, you do understand that, don’t you?’ she added, as they entered the production office to find they were the first to arrive.
Iz laughed. ‘You’re just being modest,’ she said teasingly. ‘You’ll pull these little scenarios off brilliantly, I know you will, and the sponsors will be so happy you’ll probably secure yourselves more backing for years to come.’
Having no choice but to look thrilled by the prospect, Cristy unzipped her coat and went to put on some coffee. ‘Connor should be here any minute,’ she said, willing it to be right now, this second, so he could take over dealing with Iz.
‘I was thinking,’ Iz said pensively. ‘Would it be possible for me to have a little desk in here? Somewhere in the corner, you know, so I won’t get in the way.’
Cristy kept her back turned and filled the machine with fresh beans.
‘I’d just love to watch you guys working, pulling it all together. Not that I’d be here all the time, of course, just now and again, and it might be helpful for you to have me at hand.’ She laughed. ‘I’m not sure how, right now, but you never know.’
Knowing she wasn’t in the right head space to deal with this, Cristy was still struggling for a response when Connor came in. Never having felt so glad to see him, she said, ‘Good morning. Iz’s here already, and she’s just had an … amazing idea.’
‘Oh?’ Connor asked, looking from one to the other and, being a bloke, clearly not sensing trouble yet. ‘So let’s have it, Iz. We’re all up for good ideas.’
As Iz repeated her suggestion, Cristy almost wanted to laugh as he failed to hide his horror. ‘Well, we don’t normally …’ he began, glancing at Cristy in panic. ‘I mean, some things have to be confidential … Not that we need to hide anything from you …’
‘Of course you don’t, and I’ve already assured Cristy I won’t get in the way. I’m just delighted to be overseeing this project and I want to do my best for you – and the sponsors, of course.’
Having to give her credit for not actually mentioning the considerable investment she’d brought to the table that, like it or not, actually gave her some clout, Cristy said, ‘Well, I’m sure we can work something out. Now, how do you like your coffee?’
‘Black, two sugars, please. Shall we take it to the studio? We’re booked in from nine so we ought not to waste any more time. I’m sure the techies will be waiting.’
Knowing that time was money to Iz, while to the techies it was a made-to-measure concept, Cristy said, ‘Why don’t you go on ahead while Connor and I download our scripts? We’ll be right behind you.’
Iz beamed in the way only she could, and taking her coffee she got as far as the door before turning back.
‘I probably ought to bring this up sooner, rather than later,’ she said, ‘but we – that’s the Sponsorship Liaison Group and I – think you should delay uploading – or is it downloading – the first episode for another week. ’
Having already decided they should, Cristy waited for her to explain her thinking.
‘We want these promos to gain as much traction as possible before Hindsight’s initial airing,’ Iz explained. ‘As we haven’t been able to record them until today, it’s not leaving us much time to let your millions of followers know that you’re about to hit them with a brand-new series.’
‘But even if they miss the opening episode,’ Connor pointed out, ‘it’ll always be there for them to download. It’s kind of the point of a podcast.’
Iz coloured slightly, as if she’d actually forgotten that. ‘Of course,’ she mumbled. ‘I … I’m just … sharing our thoughts, and we feel that building momentum through a series of promotions on all platforms during the week before the first episode drops will get us – you – off to a flying start.’
Before Connor could argue further, Cristy said, ‘Thank you for considering the dynamics of how to reach our listeners, Iz, and you’re not wrong, we could probably benefit from delaying by a week.’
Iz grinned happily, and saluted them with her coffee before taking off for their designated studio.
Connor was regarding Cristy in confusion.
‘We’re not really ready yet,’ she told him, ‘so this suits us perfectly.’
‘But we have the first episode in the can,’ he reminded her. ‘And a lot of press releases have already gone out, not to mention our own, unsponsored, promos.’
‘I know, but we can use the delay to our advantage, let people think that something … relevant and even shocking has cropped up to push back the start date. Meantime, an interview with Mia Winters could change things quite considerably …’
‘If it happens.’
‘We’ll exert some pressure if need be. In the meantime, letting Iz and her sponsors call the shots over this could be the start of choosing our battles.
They only need to be fought if there’s an issue of real importance at stake.
And whether we start the uploads this week or next doesn’t make much difference, especially when we’re not at all sure yet how this series is going to shape up. ’
‘It has the potential of being a great story …’
‘Potential, yes, but the deeper into it we go – and we’re still in shallow waters right now – the more I’m feeling that something’s not quite right with it.
I mean, there’s obviously a lot wrong if we look at it from the perspective of a two-year-old child being spirited away by a couple of middle-aged women, but getting to the bottom of it all and thinking of how long that could take …
Frankly, I’m already feeling nervous about turning up enough material to meet our weekly commitments.
If we don’t there’s no knowing what the sponsors might do.
’ She thrust a coffee into his hand. ‘So now, on that happy note, let’s get these promos in the can, then we can get back to what we do best.’