“I’m sure it’s nothing too bad. He’s prone to overreacting.” She takes another bite of her burger.
I hope she’s right, but from the way he’s moving, I get the sense that something bad has happened. I turning back to face the window, watching as he hangs up the phone and steps back out onto the deck, Corona in hand. He takes a swig and lets out a deep sigh as he sits back down next to me.
“Everything okay?” I ask, passing him his plate.
“Not really. My boss just went to town on me. I missed an important meeting with one of our clients earlier.”
“But you’re on holiday?” Kelly’s forehead crinkles as she lowers her burger back onto her plate.
“I know, but Pietro insisted on putting in a meeting today. He wanted to lock in this campaign and I agreed to make myself available. But then Alex fell at the skate park, and I completely forgot.” He reaches for the burger and takes a bite.
An elixir of guilt and shame swirls in my chest.
I feel awful. If I hadn’t fallen, hadn’t needed to go to hospital, Christopher wouldn’t have been distracted. He would have made that call. Wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
I’m such a fuckup.
The sight of his Corona as he reaches for it and takes a swig is so tempting.
“I’m sure it will all work out.”
“Easy for you to say,” he snaps back. “If I lose this job, I need to find a new job within six weeks, or I can kiss goodbye to my visa and to Los Angeles.” Christopher chucks the paper plate down on the brick wall, gets up and heads back inside through the window.
I start to speak, but Kelly shakes her head and raises her hand to stop me.
“He just needs a few minutes to cool off. You couldn’t have known this would happen. It’ll all sort itself out.” She grabs Daniel’s empty plate and slides it under hers.
But what if it doesn’t?
What if he does lose his job because of me?
My chest tightens with every subsequent thought.
“Surely there’s something I can do to fix it. Ring his boss maybe? Tell him it was all my fault?”
I’m desperate to right this wrong.
To make it all okay.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to let things fix themselves,” Kelly says. Her gaze drifts to my wrist.
Christopher eventually comes back out to join me, his energy calmer, as the stars twinkle above us. Kelly and Daniel cleared away the food and brought out a blanket and some pillows, and then tactfully gave us some space, closing the window.
“I bet Tony’s sitting there smug as can be right now. Coming in on his horse, the knight in shining armor who saves the day.” Christopher shuffles around, getting set up with a pillow under his head.
“Tony sounds like a right dick,” I say. I turn on my side, using my elbow and hand to prop up my head, to watch Christopher’s chest rise and fall.
“He is. He’s a smug little prick who thinks he knows everything. Clarissa from the New York team even filed a complaint about him after he tried to take one of her clients behind her back.” His nostrils flare as his mouth fights against the bitterness of his words.
“I can set Rob on him. Have him taken out.” This prompts a smile, followed by a laugh from Christopher.
His laugh is like music to my ears. And that smile is everything I’ve longed for all evening.
“In-laws,” he says, lifting himself up, before matching my posture on the blanket.
“Between fun fling and future therapy session,” I counter.
The silence continues for three beats, matching the avoidance of what we’re both not saying.
