‘Not really.’ She thought about the previous night, and Jake opening up just a little; it was rare. He’d done so before, just a little too, mentioning his wife, and touching on his reasons for changing his life, his career, so drastically.
‘He should. He needs to talk to someone.’
It sounded to Faye like Marcus was ready to make that apology. She got up.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To tell Jake you’re ready to talk.’
‘No – don’t!’ Marcus sprang out of his seat and grabbed her arm.
Faye turned slowly towards Marcus. ‘Let go.’ She might only be a slender five foot two, but as her martial arts instructor had drummed into them at the karate lessons she had enrolled in when she was in her early twenties, you should never underestimate your opponent. It was the golden rule.
Marcus did the right thing. He let go.
Faye didn’t have time for those lessons anymore. They had been a bit of a phase. At the time, she’d been dating a guy who was into martial arts. He had persuaded her to go along to some classes. She had enjoyed it.
Natty had enrolled too, intrigued when she’d found a photoof her mum at a dojo, taking lessons. Those lessons had been as short lived as that relationship, but she had walked away with a few self-defence moves, which had actually come in handy in the place she’d least expected – not out on the streets, being accosted by a stranger, but in the classroom with teenagers.
Faye didn’t want to think about the poor behaviour of some of the students, and what some of her teachers had to put up with on a daily basis. So far, Jake had been lucky with his classes. She was aware that some never made it through Initial Teacher Training, put off by the stresses of the job. She hoped Jake wasn’t one of them. She did not want to lose a talented teacher.
Faye looked at Marcus. She decided that whatever was going on between him and Jake, it was best to leave well alone and not get involved. Besides, she had no way of knowing whether she would be helping Jake or making matters worse. If Jake had wanted her to know about Marcus, he would have enlightened her.
Faye backed off. She reluctantly sat back down in the other seat at the small wooden table deciding she’d give Jake a few more minutes to finish his drink and gather his thoughts. Then she was leaving – with or without him.
Satisfied that she wasn’t going anywhere, Marcus re-took his seat and looked at his watch. ‘Where is that damn taxi?’ He continued to study his watch, avoiding Faye’s gaze, although he did ask, ‘Haven’t you got somewhere to be?’
She stared at him for a long moment before speaking. ‘We were meant to be stopping off at the police station.’ Although that wasn’t the primary reason for her offering to drive Jake, she still thought they might as well report the stolen bike in person. It wouldn’t hurt.
‘The police station?’
‘His bike was stolen from right under our noses in the school car park this morning.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes – seriously,’ Faye said in a deadpan voice. ‘I don’t think some of the other teachers are particularly sympathetic, to be honest.’
Marcus didn’t have to ask why. ‘Well, I guess that’s one less souped-up incarnation of his previous gilded life that those teachers don’t have to be reminded of every time he goes into work.’
‘But he’s still got that car.’ Faye had seen the rather nice car parked outside his house. She thought that it was little wonder he didn’t drive it to school. If the bike worth several thousand pounds was out of place, the flashy car would certainly raise some envious hackles at work.
Marcus leaned forward in his seat and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. ‘I think it’s a wake-up call, if you ask me. He doesn’t belong there, you know, working in that school, with those kids.’
‘What are you saying?’ Faye hoped Marcus wasn’t implying that Jake’s new career was beneath him.
‘I’m just preparing you. All this … it’s just killing time. He’ll wake up and come to his senses.’
‘What does that mean?’ Was he suggesting that this was some sort of breakdown, and when Jake got over the loss of his wife, he’d leave his teaching position and return to the Ross Corporation?
‘Just don’t get attached, that’s all I’m saying.’
‘Attached?’
Marcus made a show of rolling his eyes. ‘I see the way you look at him.’
‘I don’t know what you mean. We’re just colleagues.’
Marcus put his elbow on the table and his chin in the palm of his hand. His dark eyes studied her. ‘If you say so.’
