We pull off the gravel path in the DB9 and I pull down the passenger mirror to apply a pink blush lipstick. I ran out of time to blow-dry my hair after Gregory joined me in the shower. Consequently, I’ve ended up styling my wet hair in two tight French plaits brought together at the nape of my neck.
‘You look pretty,’ Gregory says, considering my cobalt, high-neck dress.
‘Thank you, but I feel like I look like I ran out of time to get dressed after having sex in the shower.’
‘Maybe that’s why I like how you look.’
I watch his hand moving across the steering wheel, the diamond bezel of his Rolex – one of multiple extortionate watches – gleaming. There’s something strangely erotic about that hand.
‘Who will be at lunch?’
‘My mother and Lawrence. Charles and Camilla, their friends. Wi?—’
‘Charles and Camilla?’ I giggle.
‘Is that really funny to you?’
I giggle some more. ‘It sounds like we’re having lunch with the king and queen.’
His steely eyes stay on the road ahead but there’s a cute crease at the side of his mouth. ‘I don’t understand what’s funny about that.’
‘Your self-importance really knows no bounds.’
He guffaws so loudly, I’m left rolling my eyes but smirking out of my window.
‘Williams will probably be there too. He usually turns up regardless of whether he’s invited. He can’t resist my mother’s honey-glazed ham.’
‘Your mum cooks?’ I ask, returning to real time.
‘Well, the honey-glazed ham she pays for.’ He laughs. ‘There’s someone else going you might like to see.’
I ponder the very small list of people we both know. ‘Who?’
‘Jackson. And he’s bringing Sandy.’
‘Sandy?’ Of course, Jackson and Sandy. I still can’t get my head around that. ‘Does Jackson usually go?’
‘He’d usually be there in one capacity or another. Driver, security. But my mother invited him to dine, and to bring Sandy today.’
‘Is that strange?’
He shrugs.
Does it matter? Everything in life has been strange since I met this man.
We travel out of the countryside and back towards civilization, the evergreen trees replaced by tarmac and streetlamps.
‘Are you and Jackson friends?’
‘It would be unfortunate if we weren’t. I spend more time with Jackson than anyone else I know. We go most places together, he lives with me, we work out together. He’s definitely not just an employee, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Kind of like Sandy and me. It’s quite cute actually, Jackson and Sandy, isn’t it?’
He scoffs and raises his shoulders again. ‘I guess.’
‘What’s he like? Objectively. Will he be around a lot to see her, if things get serious? What about their living arrangements – I mean, where would they live? With you? Will you give him more time off so he can take her out on dates?’
‘Scarlett, I?—’
