“Look, it’s fine,” I told Jack. “Really, fine. You don’t have to . . .” I trailed off. How do you politely let someone know that they don’t have to talk to you out of guilt over something that wasn’t even their fault? There must have been a thousand other places swanky company-owner Jack needed to be, with other rich and beautiful people.
“Don’t have to what?” he asked.
I sighed. “Don’t have to talk to me because, well . . . look you’re busy. Please consider us cool and go . . . er . . . advertise stuff.”
He stared at me for a moment. “I’m not talking to you because I have to. I want to talk to you. You know that.” His face was so open, so earnest that in that moment Iknewhe felt it to: our connection. It hadn’t just been me and my wild imagination. I smiled.
“Oh . . . right. Well, good.”
He smiled back and I held back a sigh at how beautiful he was. “Good.”
We grinned at each other like idiots for a few seconds.
“I’ve got next week off,” I blurted out of nowhere and then felt heat rise to my cheeks. Why had I felt the need to tell him that? Maybe it was because I knew that after this week I wouldn’t have an evening free for a long while, and I was kind of hoping that . . .
“Oh, really?”
“Er . . . yeah. It’s half term and I thought a break from the bar might be a good chance to sort, er . . . sort some stuff out.” We might have a connection, but I wasn’t ready to tell him that I had a significant health problem that needed my full concentration, if only for a short while.
He gazed at me for a moment then cleared his throat.
“There’s this conference thing next week in Saint-Tropez. I have to entertain clients there . . . on a boat. It’s fully catered – there’s a whole staff on board. God, that makes it sound boring. It’s notalladvertising. This might seem a little crazy but I’ve decided I’m not doing enoughseizing. . . of the day I mean. So could you . . . er . . . might you consider coming? I mean, I’d fly you out there. Wow, that sounds a bit weird and possibly seedy, but its just that – ”
“Jack?” the blonde was back again, this time holding out a phone in Jack’s direction. “I’m sorry, darling, but youreallyneed to take this. It’s about the Sanderson account.” She dipped her voice to a whisper. “It’sMr Sanderson.” Jack’s jaw clenched tight as he snatched the phone out of her hand. “One minute, okay?” he said and I nodded as he put the phone to his ear and moved towards the back of the coffee shop where it was quieter.
Glamorous Blonde, aka Stella, slid into his vacated seat and her intense gaze fixed on me. She gave an unsettling impression of snake preparing to strike. “So, can you make it to Saint-Tropez?” she asked, her voice saccharine sweet but edged with a subtle menace. I started in my chair, not realizing she had overheard the conversation.
“Er . . . I’m not really sure that – ”
“It would be a huge relief if you could.” She collapsed back in her chair, managing to do that elegantly too, the bitch. “We don’t havenearlyenough staff between the bar duties, waitressing and the chambermaid work for the cabins. Travel expenses will be covered and it pays very well - over a grand for five days.”
I felt the blood run straight out of my cheeks and my heart seemed to slow in my chest. OfcourseJack wasn’t asking me to Saint-Tropez as adate. How stupidwasI? To him I was a bartender, a waitress and a maid: just staff. My throat felt thick but I swallowed away the sensation. This wasniceof him, I told myself. He probably thought he was making up for his client the other night.
“Oh,” Stella said with a note of concern in her voice. “You didn’t think that he was asking you to gowithhim, did you?”
“Go with him as in,withhim?” I forced out a laugh, which sounded fake even to me. “Why on earth would I think that? I barely know him.”
She bit her lip. “Oh God. You did, didn’t you? This is awkward. Well, better you realize with me and not by putting your foot in it with him though, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t – “
She leaned across the table and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Probably better you don’t come at all if you have feelings for him. I’ll let him know you’re busy.” She patted my arm in conspiratorial sympathy and started to push up from the table. I felt humiliated. This stuck-up bitch saw right through me. She’d probably go off with Jack and have a right laugh at my expense.
“No,” I blurted, halting her in her tracks. “Of course, I’m interested in the job. Ineverwould have thought he was asking me there in any other capacity. I’m not an idiot, but I do need the money. I’ve even got a friend who’d be interested too.” Kira and I both had half term off college next week, and she would love the idea of Saint-Tropez and a grand for five days work. Whether or not she’d be any useservingpeople was another matter.
“So, you don’t like him in that way?” she asked, toying with a paper napkin in front of her.
I shook my head firmly. “It’s not even a consideration. I’d never think of him that way in a million years. What would be the point? My type iswaymore average-looking, hopeless, failed musician than gorgeous, successful business-owner. And swanning around the South of France is not my bag at all.” I didn’t mention that the only time I’d actually been to the South of France had been on a budget EuroCamp holiday with my family where I’d been ill with diarrhoea and vomiting, spending half the week in the communal toilets. That kind of experience wasn’tanyone’sbag.
“Well that was a close one - the old man’s getting cold feet,” Jack said, handing back Blondie’s phone. “Thanks Stella, I owe you one.” Stella smiled up at him and then rose gracefully out of the chair before brushing off her jacket, just in case a speck of dust threatened to ruin her perfection.
“Look I’ve got to go, but can I have your number?” Jack asked, smiling down at me. I tucked my hair behind my ears and managed a small smile in return.
“Sure,” I said then cleared my throat as my voice broke on the word. He frowned at me and opened his mouth to speak, but I started rattling off my digits and he got distracted typing them into his phone.
“Urvi, it was good to see you,” he told me once he was done. It was only after they’d left that I let a one small tear of humiliation and disappointment make its way down my cheek.
Chapter 3
