I turned it over in my head, every which way. Was there a way to –
Sudden blinding light. I was broken out of my bubble, and the person sitting beside me turned to me. ‘So, what did you think of the film?’
‘Film?’ I repeated vaguely.Right. The premiere.‘Uh, I thought it was great. Really good … uh … cinematography.’
I didn’t wait around to hear their thoughts.
I needed to see Jessy.
What felt like only seconds later, I had made it past the waiting press – whom I’d ignored, even as they snapped photos they’d surely spin into some new story – and reached my driver.
‘Ah, Mr Tetlow, did you enjoy the –’
‘We need to get going,’ I said, wrenching open the door and giving him the address.
It took a lot longer than I thought to get there, and I should have spent that time figuring out what I wanted to say, but as I staggered out of the car and ran up the stairs to Jessy’s hotel door, I still didn’t have a plan. I knocked and waited for someone to answer. The door opened and, suddenly, Jessy was standing right in front of me.
She was wearing that favourite sundress of mine, her eyes bright but fading in brilliance as she saw me.
‘Hi,’ I said, unsure of how to start. ‘Jessy, I need to talk to you. Can I –’
But Jessy was already shaking her head. Not a good sign.
‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ Her tone brooked no room for argument.
‘Please,’ I tried again. ‘I really want to –’
‘No,’ Jessy said resolutely.
Fuck. I had to convince her to hear me out. ‘Can I just come in? There’s a lot I have to say –’
‘Anything you want to say to me, you can say right here,’ said Jessy, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed in front of her.
I swallowed. This would have been a whole lot easier if I could think clearly while in her presence, but then that had been the problem all along. I hadn’t thought clearly.
And now I had to put this right.
‘I met Dillon tonight,’ I said simply.
Jessy raised an eyebrow. ‘OK. And what has that got to do with me?’
Shit. Was she honestly going to make it this hard? ‘He told me –’
‘Wait, let me guess.’ She held her hand up, a look of fake contemplation on her face. ‘I’m guessing he told you what I tried to tell you myself,’ Jessy said, and her voice was level, quiet, as though she’d already cried all the tears she was going to over me.
I was scared to think about what that meant.
‘I … it didn’t … I mean, I should have –’ God, I was doing a terrible job of trying to explain myself to her.
‘I tried to tell you I was meeting him for work,’ Jessy interrupted me, as though she had been preparing for this moment and wasn’t going to be shaken from her script. ‘Karun asked me to meet a bunch of rich clients to talk to them about GSR and protentional investment opportunities. I was talking to Dillon and Tim about portfolios and long-term investments. It’s a huge deal for me – and for Laura. I used the opportunity to talk to them both about Butterflies, trying to convince them to invest in it.’
I swallowed hard, thoroughly chastised. ‘I’m sorry –’ I could barely look at her.
‘This was big for me. For my career,’ added Jessy, her voice matter-of-fact. ‘I met with – oh, I don’t know, five high net-worth clients. Two of them were guys. I notice that the meetings I had with women didn’t make it into the headlines.’
Heat seared across my chest. ‘I know. I know I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.’ And I’d be kicking myself for a long time afterwards for it. ‘But you were meeting them at restaurants and pubs. You can see why I thought –’
‘Yeah, that’s how loads of business is done,’ Jessy said with a shrug, like she was unfazed. By me, by this conversation, by the excuses that clearly had no effect on her. ‘If you’d just asked me – if you’d just listened, Patrick, you would have gotit. I wasn’t dating anyone else, I would never – the idea that I would betray you like that, it’s just …’
