Chapter Thirty-six
Thirty-six
We stepped out into the fresh air grinning like idiots.
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Heidi said, giving me a high five. ‘Well done, Kat, you did an amazing job.’
‘So did you.’ I couldn’t help the tears of relief and exhaustion as I pulled Heidi into a hug.
‘What a journey, eh?’ I couldn’t believe it was over and we were finally on the other side of it.
I felt physically and mentally spent. The non-stop adrenaline rushes had left me weak and tired, and I couldn’t wait to get home and crawl into bed.
I hadn’t realised how much angst I’d been holding on to inside and now it was all finally done, I felt like I might collapse.
I wanted to scream into the sky and then sleep for a week.
This whole process had thrown my inner peace off kilter in so many ways, but it was worth it to eventually win.
It had been a sharp lesson in staying vigilant and protecting what you’ve got.
There was no room for complacency in PR.
‘I need a large… something to celebrate.’
I nodded at the pub over the road. ‘Bucket of rosé?’
‘Vodka.’
‘Sounds good,’ I said, picking the pitch boards up off the floor.
‘Two large vodkas, hold the tonic,’ a voice called behind us. Leo was stood on the corner of the street with his arms folded. ‘Celebration or commiseration?’
‘Celebration,’ I said, archly. ‘They came to their senses in the end.’
‘Thanks to you,’ Heidi gushed. ‘Resigning the account was a truly honourable move. Not many people would have done that.’
‘I can’t abide cheats,’ Leo said. ‘Without trust, what is there, really?’
The audacity of this guy. My goodwill towards him was dissolving now we’d taken back what was rightfully ours. I was so hurt and angry I could barely look at him.
‘How come you’re here, anyway?’ I asked. ‘Lunch date with Brooke?’
‘I wanted to buy you both a drink or two, or five,’ Leo said, tentatively. ‘As many as it’ll take to show there are no hard feelings – and to congratulate you on your win, of course.’
‘There’s really no need…’ I started, feeling ambushed.
‘Absolutely you can,’ Heidi cut in, talking over me. ‘It’s a small world in PR and always better to stay friends.’
I dragged my feet behind the two of them, trying to think of a good reason to go home.
Leo looked heartbreakingly handsome in a charcoal suit and tie, his hair combed into his trademark quiff.
I couldn’t sit opposite those silvery-grey eyes and play nice knowing he’d slept with Brooke – and God knows who else – while I’d fallen headfirst for his seduction technique.
Heidi stopped to answer her phone while Leo and I walked into the empty pub. Crammed with antique tables and chairs, the afternoon sun shone through the dust in the air and there was a whiff of freshly sprayed furniture polish.
‘A Guinness and two large vodka tonics please, mate.’
‘Sure. Take a seat and I’ll bring them over,’ the barman said with a nod.
‘Crisps and nuts?’ Leo asked. We were alone, together, for the first time since we’d parted ways at Dover.
I shrugged. ‘Why not?’
He waved a bag of smoky bacon and some honey-roasted cashews at the barman then handed them to me.
Which was annoying because that was exactly what I wanted – it was like he’d read my mind.
We sat in the bay window, with the sun in our faces, making it difficult to see, and I felt a deep tiredness in my brain and in my bones. I’d given everything to this process.
‘You must be relieved it’s all over,’ Leo said.
‘Relieved to still have a job,’ I said, busying myself with opening out the crisp packet and then the nuts and popping one of each in my mouth.
‘Even though it’s the same job I had before this whole palaver started, so nothing much changes in the grand scheme of things.
’ My thumbnail had a small chip in the corner, and I checked the others as I ate my nuts. They needed a fresh coat of polish.
‘You can stop the dismissive “I’m too important to bother with you” act now, Kat. You’ve won. It’s over.’
I smarted at his change in tone. He wasn’t usually the snarky type. That was my job.
‘The what?’ He silently raised his eyebrows in answer. ‘That’s rich coming from the best showman in history. How dare you accuse me of putting on an act.’
Heidi came rushing in. ‘Guys, I’m so sorry but that was Sam on the phone and Penfold has been in a street fight. I’ve got to go and meet them at the vet’s.’
‘Oh no! Poor old Penny in the wars again. He’s making good use of his nine lives,’ I said, standing up to leave. ‘I’ll come with you.’
‘Yeah, we can do this another time,’ Leo said as the barman slid our drinks onto the table.
‘No, no. Absolutely not. You’ll have to celebrate for me,’ Heidi said, gathering the pitch boards. ‘I’ll take these in case of any prying eyes. We don’t want to give the game away twice.’
She waved her phone at us in goodbye and dashed off, leaving me exactly where I didn’t want to be – on a pseudo-date with the enemy.
‘You look worried,’ Leo said archly, clearly amused. ‘I won’t bite… unless you ask nicely. But feel free to get a takeaway cup if you can’t bear to sit with me.’
‘I’m worried about Heidi, not you,’ I said, snootily. ‘And… Penfold.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Leo took a long drink of his Guinness and was left with a white moustache. ‘Can we address the elephant in the room here?’
‘If you must,’ I shot back, feeling very self-righteous.
‘What is your problem?’ he said, wide-eyed.
‘You heartlessly led me on, slept with me, waited until I started to catch feelings, then dropped me like a hot potato. No explanation, no communication, barely even any eye contact since we left the cruise. Don’t you think I deserve some kind of apology? Or an explanation at least?’
I drank down the first vodka tonic in a rage. I was almost too angry to speak. ‘How you’ve managed to spin the narrative like that is beyond me,’ I hissed. ‘The scary thing is you seem so genuine. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were telling the truth. That I was the baddie in all this.’
‘Neither of us are baddies, Kat. But you’ve got to admit –
your behaviour has been totally uncalled for.’ His eyes searched mine, seemingly bewildered.
‘You’re a fascinating study, you know. Is this compulsive lying or is it pure schadenfreude? I can’t work out if it’s deliberate or not. You don’t even seem to know you’re doing it.’
‘Doing what?’
‘I saw you, Leo.’ I paused to let him hear the words. To let it sink in that Mr silver-eyed, silver-tongued charm school himself had been caught out. ‘I saw you with my own eyes.’
‘Is that the end of your big reveal or are you going to tell me what you’re talking about?’
‘The day we left. The morning after the night you went missing and I was waiting for you in my cabin. I saw you leaving Brooke’s suite as I walked down for breakfast.’
He frowned. ‘And…?’
‘And what? You’re complaining that I dropped you with no explanation – well this is the explanation. I know you were knocking off Brooke while we were also… knocking… ourselves… off.’
Leo’s mouth dropped open. ‘I think this is what they call putting two and two together and coming up with three hundred and twelve. I have not been “knocking anyone off”, thank you very much! Certainly not Brooke, and definitely not you.’ He scoffed.
‘Where do you get this stuff from? Believe it or not, I actually like you, Kat. Like, really. And stupidly, I thought you liked me too.’
He liked me. He actually really liked me. I knew I hadn’t been imagining it. I felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought, but I squashed them down. It was too late for all that now. I had to stick to my guns.
‘I did! Before I realised I was one of many. That I was queuing up for you like the old dears queued up for the Chinese banquet on the ship.’
Leo laughed. ‘I am not an all-you-can-eat buffet. And if you’d just asked me, I’d have told you why I was coming out of Brooke’s suite.’
‘In your tuxedo from the night before.’
‘In my tuxedo from the night before.’
‘After blowing off our last night together.’
He turned to face me and my heart wobbled. He’d taken his jacket off and his chest was straining against his shirt, reaching for me.
‘In fact – I already did tell you this,’ he said, looking confused.
‘I was playing cards. Dahlia put a poker night on for some of the crew and Brooke insisted Zach and I join in. We used Brooke’s suite since it’s so big.
It was a sort of wrap party once the guests had all gone to bed and I tried to get out of it, but she insisted.
Obviously we wanted to keep her happy, and I didn’t want to make her and Zach suspicious by saying no, so I thought I’d just go along for an hour or two and then call it a night.
I’d planned to come back to your room but I kept winning, and I lost track of time.
Suddenly it was five in the morning, and I didn’t want to disturb you. ’
I eyed him suspiciously.
‘It’s the truth. Ask Barbie Queue if you don’t believe me. She was there.’
The second double vodka was softening my resolve, and I did start to wonder if maybe that made some sense. More sense than him sleeping with her.
‘Did you win money?’ I mumbled.
‘No. I was winning big, then lost a couple, then started chasing the losses and Thiago won the lot. It cost me three hundred euros.’
‘Oof.’
‘I’ll claim it on expenses. All part of the client immersion – am I right?’
I half-smiled. ‘Why didn’t you tell me all this at the time?’
‘Because I had no idea that was what you were thinking and we haven’t been alone together for a second since!
You’ve ignored my calls and messages – exactly like you did all those years ago when we were interns.
’ His face was full of hurt and confusion.
‘I didn’t want to look like an idiot again, so I decided to face facts…
and the obvious explanation was you’d used me to get ahead in the pitch. ’
‘I’d used you?!’ That he could even think that about me was galling.
He shrugged. ‘None of it made sense so I chalked it up to a weird sales tactic on your side.’
‘OK well it seems we might have both jumped to conclusions then,’ I said in a small voice.
‘I’ll say,’ Leo replied. ‘You’ve always thought the worst of me, and I’ve no idea why. Give a guy a chance, eh?’
I tipped the nuts in with the crisps and faffed about, mixing them all together. My cheeks were burning, and I wasn’t sure if it was shame or because I’d had four shots of vodka in under twenty minutes.
‘Sorry,’ I said, offering him one of his own nuts. ‘Although, in my defence, it did look dodgy. What was I supposed to think? It looked like the walk of shame to the untrained eye. Anyone else would have thought the exact same thing.’
‘Anyone else wouldn’t be you though, would they?’ Leo said, taking my hands. ‘I was starting to hope you might see the good in me.’
‘I did! I do,’ I tried, earnestly. ‘But you fooled me once and I walked straight into it with a trusting heart. I couldn’t bear to think it had happened again. I didn’t ask for an explanation as it seemed obvious there could only be one.’
‘Well now you know the truth.’ He took the nuts gently from me and placed them on the table before taking my hands in his. He stroked his thumb over mine, and I felt the butterflies spring back to life.
‘Maybe I’ve been looking for reasons to say no, instead of reasons to say yes,’ I said, suddenly shy.
Leo kissed both my hands, then held them to his heart. ‘There are so many reasons to say yes,’ he said. ‘It’s always been a yes for me.’