"Harsh, brother, harsh. Anyway, when did you speak to Vanessa?"
"I tried ringing her this morning but there was no answer. She texted back to say she had an early morning meeting," I said, breaking a croissant into pieces.
"And when did you speak to her before that?"
"Last night before I went to sleep."
Claire looked accusingly at me, adjusting the iPad so at least her face blurred slightly.
"I'm not discussing what we were talking about with you. Besides, you don't want details."
"Damn right I don't want to know about your freaky phone sex. She's in the office at the moment and she's so busy. Kirsty's being a shit with her and not helping things at our end. I'm going to speak with Hilary in HR about her as I think we might need to look at a verbal warning. Anyway..."
"If she's not supporting Vanessa get rid of Kirsty!" I said, "She's been dragging her feet in that department for months. Can you imagine asking her to organize Dad's retirement?"
"As someone who has studied employment law, you will know that it's not that straightforward. Back to Vanessa. And you. Are you sure she doesn't feel that she has to speak with you all the time to ensure you keep her company involved with the marketing rebrand? It's just you seem very... consumed by her. I don't want her to feel pressured. Her relationship with her ex-was shit, Jacks. He was awful to her," Claire eyeballed me, a technique she'd learned from our step-mum.
"I don't think I'm pressuring her. She's too direct and upfront with me," I sighed. My conversations with Vanessa had been the getting to know you ones that hadn't involved work or exes or her business. We'd talked about what was going on in the news, what we'd done at the gym, the random shit people discuss and it was easy. I could see she was tired and she could see I was stressed as mediation was not going well at this point and I had a shit ton of other stuff to do. But I was being difficult with everyone else. "Yeah, you're right, I'm being shitty with everyone because I want to be in London at this moment in time sorting the office out. I'm going to appoint a new office manager, I've decided, and potentially another commercial litigator to help Seph."
"And you want to see Vanessa," Claire said, biting a nail.
"I want to have the option. I'm not sure her schedule would've allowed us to get together before Friday. And I don't want to rush things. I'm not great with relationships, Claire," I said, feeling vulnerable which I didn't like and would result in me lifting a stupidly heavyweight later.
"I know. You've had two long-term girlfriends who were really convenient fuck buddies who could schmooze a social situation. No arguments, no pressure, no real connection except you found them physically attractive and they were well-behaved," Claire summed it up perfectly. "You've not reacted to someone like this before. Sunday surprised all of us."
"The whole weekend surprised me." I hadn't spent so much time with one person unless it was one of my family members. I should be running a mile from Vanessa but I wanted to do entirely the opposite. "I'll try to wind in my irritation. I don't want to scare her off."
Claire smoothed down her bobbed hair. "I don't think you will. I think she likes you quite a bit but she's nervous after what happened with Richard the dick."
I wanted to preen at my sister's words:I think she likes you quite a bit. This was good.
"Jackson," Claire started. I recognized her tone: she was about to tell me what to do in a way that I would think I wasn't being told. "I'm uncomfortable with having this security shit for the Katie Worthington case."
"Tough. Shit." There was no room for maneuver.
"Look, I get hiring the PI to do some background on them both, but I don't need my apartment being swept for bugs and cameras. And I don't need someone keeping an eye on me in the evenings and mornings until the case is well underway, which will be months," Claire said, looking tense.
"They've been told not to cockblock you," I confirmed. "If they get too in the way let me know."
"What firm did you use?"
I didn't want to answer; I knew what her reaction would be.
"A reputable one."
"You used Killian's didn't you?"
"Claire..." I huffed loudly. "I need you to have someone we trust and although you and Killian don't get along – and I have no idea why you don't – he will ensure everything will be as safe as it can be. He's not going to be in your apartment or anything like that, he's just overseeing it. From a distance."
She didn't respond. I waited some more for the fireworks to start. None calm. This was strange.
"Okay. I get that you trust him. But I'm uncomfortable with him knowing what I get up to." She blinked slowly which meant she was really anxious about something. "I'm not going to tell you why so don't ask. Just pull security in the evenings when I'm out. Or let me do it. I don't mind having someone there when I'm walking home from work, but not when I go out after. And let's face it, Jacks, once this case starts I'm not having a social life."
"Okay. I'll email Killian and copy you in. I know you're not stupid. And thanks for the kind of advice about Vanessa," I said, feeling slightly more grounded.
"You're welcome. She likes peonies, by the way."
I looked at her blankly, wondering whether she had started speaking a foreign language.
