Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
‘Sure, Okan,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry. It’s all under control. The event planner’s on the case with the flower arch for the top of the Shard, the room’s booked, we’ve got alcohol-free champagne and caviar ordered for you.’
It was Wednesday. So far, my week had been almost entirely occupied by the elaborate choreography of Okan’s proposal.
All the pieces of the puzzle were falling neatly into place, but he was still as twitchy as hell.
I sensed that what he was actually worried about wasn’t whether the flower arch would be present and correct, the private room ready for their dinner afterwards, or even whether the fickle London skies might decide to piss it down for the occasion.
He was worried about whether she was going to say yes.
But I was less concerned about that. In the few weeks I’d been working with him, I’d become fond of Okan. He was always polite, grateful for the work myself and the army of drivers, florists and hotel concierges had done to make his trip a success.
Never mind his father’s billions, I thought – whoever the (hopefully) future Mrs Okan was, she’d caught herself a catch.
‘Can you be there, Georgia?’ he asked. ‘Just in case anything goes wrong?’
I gripped my phone handset harder. However much I liked him and wished him well, being in attendance at a romantic proposal was the last thing I wanted. It would be too painful – awaken too many regrets about what I once might have had with Sam.
He and I hadn’t spoken since our meeting on Saturday – four whole days ago. I’d have to message him sometime soon and talk about all the grim practicalities that lay in our future – the sale of the flat, the dividing up of our shared belongings and, worst of all, who would have custody of Milton.
I’d have to do it – I just couldn’t face doing it yet.
Jamie, too, had been absent – off in Scotland at a grouse shoot with a Texan oil millionaire and his entourage.
As much as I longed to see Sam, I dreaded seeing Jamie – but it was a hurdle I would simply have to clear.
Like it or not, we worked together, and somehow we were going to have to restore some kind of relationship, as colleagues even if no longer as friends.
Worse, I couldn’t let go of the hope that Jamie held the key to my happiness – if only I could persuade him to use it.
‘Of course, Okan,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you at the Shard, then. I’ll get there early and meet the event planner to make sure everything’s in place for you. Then I’ll just fade into the background and let you get on with it. How does that sound?’
‘Great.’ I could hear the relieved smile in his voice. ‘Thanks, Georgia. I really appreciate it.’
‘It’s no bother at all.’ Jasper would be delighted, at any rate, at the addition of yet another hefty extra charge to Okan’s final invoice. ‘Now, shall we just run through the arrangements for your Thames river cruise tomorrow?’
Five minutes later, I ended the call and returned to my computer screen. But before I could fire off messages to the florist, event planner and limo company to confirm for the umpteenth time that they were all up to speed with the arrangements, I heard footsteps approaching behind me.
A second later, the limp corpses of two birds landed on my desk. Their plumage was reddish brown and speckled, with paler feathers covering their legs. Their heads hung slackly, and their feet were lifeless claws. My stomach churned.
I recoiled. ‘What the hell?’
‘Peace offering,’ Jamie said. ‘Hang them for a few days in a cool place and they’ll be delicious roasted with bread sauce and chips. Just look out for lead shot in the flesh.’
‘But I don’t—’
‘What? You eat meat, right? Plucking them isn’t hard – you can singe off any stubborn feathers.’
I fought back a wave of nausea. Of course I ate meat.
When I worked in yachting, I’d even helped the chef dispatch some lobsters for the guests’ dinner.
But this was different. These birds looked so lifeless, so forlorn, so out of place on the shiny veneer of my desk.
They belonged alive on a Highland moor, not dead in a Mayfair office.
And Jamie had killed them. The same hands that had held me while he’d kissed me had fired the shotgun that ended their lives. I shuddered.
I’d tried to make myself believe that kiss had been insignificant. But it hadn’t been.
He propped a hip on the edge of my desk, and I forced myself to look up at him. There was a carefree grin on his familiar face. If he remembered what had happened between us – and he must do, hence his words, peace offering – he didn’t care.
He expected us to go right back to how we had been before. But I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that.
‘I don’t have a cool place, though,’ I protested. ‘I can’t age them in the fridge, can I? And it’s twenty degrees out there.’
He looked at me, then down at the birds. ‘Fine. I’ll give them to Jasper. He can hang them in his wine cellar, and I could do with some brownie points.’
To my relief, he removed the grouse and strode off in the direction of Jasper’s office. I heard them talking as Jamie presumably gave an update on the shooting party, then laughing jovially.
All the trouble Jamie had been in over Trent’s stag weekend appeared to have been forgotten. He’d got away with it like he got away with everything else.
‘So what’s up?’ he asked, returning to our desks and, to my relief, sitting down in his own chair. ‘What have I missed?’
‘Jamie.’ I flicked a rogue feather off my desk and scooted sideways so his face wasn’t obscured by our computer screens. ‘I need to ask you something. A favour.’
‘What’s that then? Need a plus-one for a wedding? Someone to hang your pictures? Normally, I’d be happy to help, but my favours don’t seem to be going down so well with you right now.’
My heart sank. He’d seemed in a good mood, but now he was cold – almost hostile. Maybe I should have thanked him for the bloody grouse instead of revealing my disgust.
‘Not that. It’s about Friday – what happened outside the Tube station.’
His eyes flickered, then his face went still. ‘You after a repeat performance?’
I blushed. ‘No, I’m not. Really not. But I wanted to ask if you’d talk to Sam. You see, he… he thinks there’s something happening between us. I need you to tell him what actually happened. Tell him there’s nothing going on and it was – it was a mistake. That I didn’t want you to kiss me.’
When the idea had occurred to me, it had seemed desperate – a last roll of the dice. But I had felt like it might just work.
Now I wasn’t so sure – I wasn’t sure at all.
‘You want me to what?’ Jamie laughed. ‘You want me to fess up to some kind of – what – inappropriate behaviour? Are you trying to tell me you didn’t enjoy it? Do you think I’m some kind of mug?’
‘I’m not accusing you of anything!’ I protested. ‘I promise. It would just be for Sam. Just so he knows what he thinks isn’t true.’
Jamie’s smile vanished like it had never been there. ‘No fucking chance,’ he said. ‘I’m all done trying to rescue you and your precious Sam. You’re on your own now, Georgia.’
He turned back to his screen and, biting my lip to stop myself from crying, I turned back to mine. It had gone worse than I could have anticipated – way worse. Not only was Jamie not my friend any more – not my work husband who’d always have my back – he was my enemy.
And far from having my back, I knew he’d stab me in it the first chance he got.