1 #4
“Well, say goodbye to her for me, please. I hope to see you both down at the restaurant soon.” His voice had lost its rawness becoming confident and smooth, his professional persona taking over.
Dani furrowed her brow a little in awe at how well he disguised his previous emotions.
She was sure her face betrayed exactly how she was feeling, heartbroken.
“Sure.”
“I’ll see him out.” Dani blinked at Adam and he nodded, then stepped into the sitting room.
Dani followed Jerome to the door and he opened it.
Stepping out of the door, he turned and gently stroked Dani’s flushed cheek with the back of his knuckles, his eyes blinked dreamily, scanning her face.
“I’ll see you later.” Before she could answer, he walked quickly down the drive to where his car was parked.
He slipped into the driver’s seat and sped off, leaving Dani staring after him in the cold.
She closed the door and headed to the lounge and opened up the bar. She pulled out the brandy and splashed some into a glass.
“Want to tell me what that was all about?” Adam leaned against the doorframe, eyeing Dani. She took a huge gulp from her drink and slumped into the armchair.
“He was just checking I was alright after this asshole embarrassed me last night.” Dani looked into her glass as she spoke, not daring to look up at Adam.
He walked into the room and took the seat opposite her on the couch, then rested his feet on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankle. “Right.” He sniffed, then waited for her to elaborate. Dani rested uncomfortably back into the chair still under Adam’s scrutiny.
“What?”
“Dani. I’m a fucking lawyer and I’ve known you for over twelve years. You can’t lie for shit!”
Dani swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. She didn’t know what was going on, so how was she going to explain it to Adam?
“Okay, here’s what I think. Something happened last night. Apart from the asshole, I mean, and he came over to apologise? Or see if you were going to squeal to his wife? Or –”
“It wasn’t like that, Adam,” whispered Dani, interrupting him.
He stopped, seeing tears flood into her eyes, jumping up from the couch he came over to her. “Christ, Dani, I’m sorry.” She sobbed into his shoulder as he held her, mortified at his insensitivity. “Hey, hush now. It’ll work out. Come on, tell me what happened.”
“Nothing really… It was just a kiss… Nothing else,” she sobbed in between words. “I was upset and… he was just being…”
“Dani, he’s your boss and he’s married,” Adam sighed. “Not a very good combination.”
“I know Adam, I know. He was just concerned for me, that’s all.”
“Dani, he drove out here. That’s fifteen miles out, to see if you were okay, on New Year’s Day. There’s a lot more going on than him being concerned.” Dani wiped her eyes on her hands. Adam got up and reached for a tissue by the bookshelf and handed it to her.
“Well there can’t be, can there? He’s married.”
Adam sighed. “Just be careful, Dani. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“I know.”
“Are you okay now?”
Dani nodded, though she was anything but.
PETER PULLED OUT HIS chair and draped his jacket over the back.
He quickly started up the surveillance from last night, to see if everything was alright.
He looked at the clock. It was almost ten.
His momentary distraction had caused him to go too far back.
The surveillance clock showed ten forty-five on New Year’s Eve.
He moved it forward until something caught his eye.
He stopped forwarding it and took it back, then played it at normal speed.
Peter focused on the new camera they had at the back of the restaurant overlooking the back entrance.
He watched Dani run out in her white dress, then remove her wig and cover her face, clearly upset.
Then within a minute, he saw Jerome join her.
He watched while they spoke and how distraught Dani was as Jerome held her in an attempt to comfort her.
Then he watched on wide-eyed as he saw Jerome lift up her face and bend down to kiss her.
Peter stared at the screen, seeing Jerome guide her up against the wall and Dani respond willingly to him.
At this point Peter couldn’t see what happened as the camera angle just missed the section of the wall.
But within a minute, Jerome was back in view, wiping his mouth just seconds before Peter saw himself enter the screen.
Peter sat back in his chair. Crap! That was all he needed.
Whatever was Jerome thinking? He took a deep breath and then erased it, not sure if he should say anything to Jerome about it.
Peter rubbed his face. Maybe it was just a one-off thing.
He really didn’t want to get into the middle of it.
He knew Jerome was in a bad place within his marriage and that often lead to mistakes.
Peter knew first-hand how vulnerable a rocky marriage made a person feel.
He sighed to himself. The best thing he could do right now was to keep a close eye on both of them and be there when things got difficult, because he instinctively knew that they would.