25 #5
“It’s the same thing. It takes months to get venues booked for such a big show. It’ll be a long time before its rescheduled and they may not want me then.”
Jerome rubbed her back while her hands fidgeted with the tissue.
“I’m sure that won’t be the case.”
Liz shrugged.
“Do you want me to talk to Graham? See what he thinks.”
She shook her head, “I know he’ll do what he can to get me in again, it’s just I’m so disappointed.”
“I know darling but try and on focus on yesterday. I mean, that went so well, it’s huge for you. And there’s your Spain shoot you’re flying out for tomorrow. You’ve so much going well for you at the moment, don’t focus on this one blip. And who’s to say it won’t happen anyway, eh?”
He bobbed down to catch her gaze and smiled at her. She nodded weakly.
“You’re right. I’m just stressed out.” She straightened up and blew a sharp breath out of her mouth.
Jerome squeezed her shoulders. His behaviour probably wasn’t helping either. He knew she’d been trying to get closer to him, last night was her way of showing him and he hadn’t handled it that well. He was going to have to push himself more for both their sakes.
“You look tired, you should try and get some sleep now the kids are at school. You’re flying out tomorrow and we’ve the dinner tonight. I don’t want you wearing yourself out.”
“I just can’t sleep at the moment.” Liz leaned back against the sofa and rolled her head back, closing her eyes.
“Shall I make something to eat? Some fruit salad maybe or some eggs?”
“Sure, eggs sound good.”
Jerome smiled and headed to the kitchen.
By twelve o’clock Liz had managed to eat some scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and some fruit salad.
It wasn’t much but Jerome was pleased she’d eaten something.
He’d found some relaxants Liz once had when she’d been stressed and made her take one so she’d sleep.
She was so agitated, she was happy to take anything.
To Jerome’s relief she fell asleep within an hour on the sofa.
He ran upstairs to her room to get her a quilt, so that then she wouldn’t get cold.
The room was in a total mess. She’d obviously been trying to pack for her trip tomorrow.
There were clothes strewn across the bed where the suitcase was open and her shoes were scattered over the floor.
She’d managed to put some items in but it was clear she was nowhere near done.
There was no way he could take the quilt off the bed with everything piled on top of it, so he paced over to her walk-in wardrobe to fetch a comforter she had stored in there.
Once he’d found it he headed towards her door.
He was distracted by a very faint buzzing sound that went on for a few seconds.
It sounded like a phone vibrating on silent.
Jerome scanned the room to find what was making the noise.
It stopped before he could locate it. His eyes fell on Liz’s bag and moved towards it.
The phone was probably in her bag, he thought.
Jerome reached in and pulled out her smart phone.
He swiped the screen to open it and looked at it puzzled.
There was no missed call or message. Strange?
Oh well, whoever it was would ring back.
He put Liz’s phone back in her bag and headed downstairs.
DANI STARTED UP HER car and turned the heating on full.
She really hoped Ollie was feeling better.
He’d looked pretty awful this morning and Chloe was wrecked after his restless night.
With any luck she’d have had a nap today so at least she could enjoy her evening out.
Dani looked at the time. Four thirty. Jerome hadn’t been in at all today and she hadn’t seen him yesterday either.
She sighed to herself; she was going to have to get over it.
Dani turned on her MP3 player and started to listen to the Italian woman’s gentle voice spout off today’s lesson.
“I’M NOT GOING, JEROME. I just don’t feel up to it.”
“Liz, come on. It’s just a dinner. It’ll take your mind of everything. Give you a chance to relax a bit.” Jerome was pacing in her room while she tried to pack. He was keeping his tone low so that Kara and Alessandro wouldn’t hear. “We don’t need to stay long just until ten thirty.”
Liz straightened up from bending over her case. She’d managed to sleep for four hours and was feeling decidedly better but the last thing she wanted was to go to some stuffy Christmas charity dinner. Making small talk with dull people was not something she was good at, that was Jerome’s domain.
“Jerome I need to pack. I’m leaving tomorrow and I really don’t need to be going out when I’m already so stressed out. I just want a quiet night.”
“We can’t let Seni down.” Jerome rubbed his forehead. He didn’t want to stress her out more but it was hardly a big deal. In fact a change of scenery would do her good. Keep her mind off whatever was causing her so much anxiety.
“You go on your own. I’ll finish packing, then have a soak in the bath and get to bed early.”
Jerome furrowed his brow as she stood with her arms crossed in front of her, staring at him. He knew that look, she wasn’t going to change her mind.