His knee was dangerously close to mine again, but there was no point in us touching each other now, was there, with nobody here to see it?
‘That’s not something that concerns me,’ I said, even though maybe Ididwant Charlie to find out. I wanted him to know what he was missing. That somebody else wanted me. And for him to know that he wasn’t the only one who’d moved on.
My phone pinged. Marcus watched me with interest as I scrolled through a message from Zoe, wincing as I realised what she and other people I knew might have seen.
Um, Ava? Why are you splashed all over theOk! magazine website watching Marcus Taylor play with the caption: Racquet Man in Love??! Call me!
Thankfully, the taxi chose that precise moment to stop outside the front entrance to my hotel. I needed to work out how the hell I was going to explain any of this to Zoe and I definitely couldn’t do that with Marcus watching me out of the corner of his eye. She was going to think I’d gone mad – we told each other everything, so if I suddenly started being all cagey, she’d know something was up.
‘Right. See you tomorrow afternoon at your match,’ I said to Marcus, unclipping my seat belt and opening the door at record speed. I was sure I could see the driver checking us out in the rear-view mirror – surely he didn’t read the UK gossip mags?
‘I take it you’ve forgotten that Dean has arranged for me to give you a tennis lesson in the morning?’ said Marcus.
‘Oh yes,’ I said. Shit – Ihadforgotten. ‘Tennis really isn’t my thing.’
‘I bet you’ve never even played it properly. With someone who knows what they’re doing?’ said Marcus.
‘No, but I’ve got the basics down – hit balls over the net, watch them repeatedly fly over the fence, spend half your time running after them. Rinse and repeat.’
Marcus tutted. ‘Your respect for my sport is truly dazzling, Ava. Why did they pick you to write this profile again?’
‘No idea,’ I admitted.
My phone beeped again – Zoe wasn’t the most patient person and she’d be dying to find out what was going on.
‘Good to know,’ said Marcus.
‘Look, sorry, I’m just being grumpy because I know I’m going to make a total fool of myself and also I’m possibly the least fit person you’ll ever meet.’
‘It’s fine, Ava, it’s not like I’m dying to play with you either. I’ll have Dean ping you the details.’
‘Great. Can’t wait.’
I flung myself out on to the pavement, slamming the door behind me. Marcus wound down his window.
‘Me either,’ he called after me.
Up in my room, I debated whether or not to call Zoe right away and get it over with, deciding there was no point in putting it off. She wasn’t one to give up and her messages would only get more and more insistent if I didn’t respond. I changed into my pyjamas (no, not the mushroom ones, not even I would pack those for a trip to Monaco), put my hair up, took off my make-up and basically made myself look and feel like a normal person again. The woman who had been photographed getting out of that car earlier this evening had not felt like a version of myself I recognised.
I lay on my bed, propped myself up with pillows and dialled Zoe’s number. She snatched it up before it even rang my end.
‘What is happening?’ she shrieked. ‘I’ve got everyone at work messaging me, although apparently Amanda knows about it already, and I’ve told them there’s no way it could be true because you would have told me. Right?’
Of course I would have told her, if any of it was actually real.
‘It just all happened so quickly ...’ I said enigmatically.
‘What did?’
I held my clenched fist against my mouth – this was so hard! If I didn’t want her picking up on what was really going on, I was going to have to go to town with the pretending.
‘We’ve sort of ... made a connection?’ I said, knowing immediately that this was not the way I talked about men I liked, and certainly not to Zoe.
‘What sort of connection? And Ava, why are you talking like a character from a Jane Austen novel?’
‘Perhaps I’m tired?’ I suggested, wondering why everything I said was coming out like a question. A question posed by Elizabeth Bennet.
I grabbed a glass of water from my bedside table and glugged at it, loosening my throat.
