And here was the Phoenix Hotel.
‘There can’t be that many Phoenix Hotels,’ Laura said with a shrug as she gazed up at the building, her coffee from our breakfast run still in her hands. ‘And he said he was meeting you here?’
I nodded. The hotel looked like something out of a Jane Austen novel – all pillars and marble. There was evena doorman dressed in some sort of livery. I pulled out my phone and reread Patrick’s message. I was definitely in the right place.
Paddy
I’ve got a work thing at the Phoenix Hotel until eleven. Meet me there before we go to lunch?
I swallowed. This was … not the sort of place I would tend to hang out – but we weren’t staying, were we? It was just somewhere to meet.
‘So … a hotel room?’ My sister asked with a twinkle in her eye. ‘You don’t think he –’
‘No,’ I said automatically.
Laura raised an eyebrow above her frames. ‘You didn’t know what I was going to –’
‘I knew exactly what you were going to say,’ I said with a wry smile. ‘And the answer is still no. He said he had a work thing here.’
‘OK, but still, you should really get on that man. He makes Ross look like an absolute loser, not that he needed much help there.’
I looked at her, unimpressed.
‘I’m just saying: blocking Ross’s calls is one of the best things you’ve ever done.’ Laura paused. ‘Or the best thing Anna’s done, anyway. He hasn’t been bothering you lately, right?’
Nope. ‘Ross is ancient history, I haven’t even –’
‘Did Derek mention that he’s been trying to get into your hotel?’
I stopped in my tracks. ‘What?’ This was the first I’d heard of it, and cold gripped my heart.
‘Yeah, he rang me to ask if Ross Bradley should be an approved person,’ my sister said, something like guilt sweeping across her face. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t tempted to go back there. I wanted to protect you from –’
‘You don’t have to keep protecting me,’ I said, vaguely annoyed she’d kept something so big from me. What if I had run into him in the lobby? Or outside the hotel?
Why the thought of my ex trying to worm his way back into my life made me so uncomfortable, I didn’t know. I’d just got truly free of him, and it had taken work. And now, big surprise, he wanted back into my life.
No thank you.
‘I know. I really am sorry – but anyway, forget him. You’ve got Patrick now. And doesn’t Karun have you meeting with some famous clients for work?’
He did. We’d agreed I would take time during my sabbatical to meet and network with some of GSR’s high-net-worth clients, and I hadn’t argued. He hadn’t given me much of a choice – and it wasn’t like I’d had much else to do recently. In the lead-up to the Songwriter Awards, my chances to see Patrick were growing fewer and fewer.
‘My little sister, on to bigger and better things!’ Laura wiggled her eyebrows. ‘Did you really meet –’
‘You know I’m just meeting these people for work,’ I shot back, trying not to notice a woman stare at us as we walked down the street. Her face felt familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.Please, don’t be a journalist, or, worse, a superfan …
‘You have to admit, you’re moving in higher circles now.’My sister grinned. ‘Anyone would think that being wined and dined by the very –’
‘You’re Jessica Donovan, aren’t you?’
My twin and I turned to see the woman I’d noticed earlier approach us. She wore the most delicate heels and looked likely to fall at any moment, her gaze fixed on me.
Oh God.
Patrick had warned me this might happen – that, eventually, people would begin to recognize me and might approach me in the street.
I’d laughed.
