I frowned. Why was that such a bad thing? I mean, I was surprised he’d been able to decipher my handwriting at all.
‘Right. And I’m guessing you read something you didn’t like? Because it’s just a rough draft at this stage, Marcus – if you don’t like the direction I’m going in with the piece, then you can just say and we’ll have a discussion about it.’
‘Is that really what you think of me?’ he asked, looking confused and, if I didn’t know better, I’d say a little hurt.
‘Um, yes? I don’t understand what’s so wrong? Is there a specific bit you don’t like?’
‘How about the entire opener?’ he said, shaking his head in frustration. ‘Ignorant? An absolute tool?Toddlertantrums?’
‘Oh my God ...’ I said quietly, the words I’d written all those weeks ago coming flooding back to me in a horrifying wave.Shit. Why the hell had I left that stupid page in my book? And for him, of all people, to find?
‘Why, Ava? I know we didn’t get off to the best of starts, but I honestly thought you had a higher opinion of me than that. Perhaps you’ve been faking that, too?’ he said.
‘I haven’t been faking anything except the thing that we both agreed to fake,’ I insisted, mortified. I didn’t blame him for being upset – what a horrible thing to read about yourself.
‘I can’t work out why you’d even agree to any of that when you clearly despise me,’ he said.
‘I don’t, of course I don’t. That was just me venting,’ I said. ‘That first day of training in Monte Carlo. You’d told me off for my timekeeping and other than our conversation on the plane, if you can call it that, I only had what I’d seen on TV to go by. Toddler tantrums probably was a bit harsh ...’
‘You think?’ he said.
‘I don’t feel that way about you now, obviously. I get how hard it is for you out there. Most people would lose it in that situation. Idefinitelywould.’
‘I just ... it was disappointing to read, that was all. I don’t open up to just anyone like that, you know.’
‘I know. And I’m sorry,’ I said, lowering my voice, not allowing myself to dwell on why Marcus thinking I didn’t like him was such a big deal and had affected him this much. ‘I never meant for anyone to read it, I should really have ripped the page out and shredded it into a hundred pieces. Let me show you my actual opener. The one I wrote when I got back from Paris. It’s very different.’
‘Do I get to read the whole article, then? Before it goes to press?’
‘If you want,’ I said.
This wasn’t usual practice, because if interviewees started wanting to take things out and put things in it could all become very difficult, and your entire piece could be skewed. But somehow I trusted him not to do that. And I hoped more than anything that he would love the finished piece, that he would feel seen and understood, and that I would be able to showLuxemagazine’s readers the Marcus Taylor I had started to get to know, and not just the racquet-smashing side of him, whichwas just one tiny little bit of his personality. Everything else was surprisingly great. I winced. Damn. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking good things about him tonight.
‘Shall we go to our room, or just stand out here talking in the corridor all evening?’ said Marcus.
‘I’m totally fine out here, if you are,’ I replied.
Ah, there it was. The smile was back.
‘You look lovely, by the way,’ he said, his eyes skimming my body.
I looked down at my dress self-consciously – it was nothing special, a cream satin midi dress with a side split and button detail from (you’ve guessed it) Zara.
‘You too,’ I said.
‘Shall we?’ he said, flicking his head in the direction of our room.
I nodded. We were here now, weren’t we, with the room all paid up. It seemed a shame not to use it.
The room wasn’t as big as I’d anticipated. It seemed £1,200 per night didn’t get you much more space than a double room in a Travelodge, but it did get you a beautiful colour scheme, high thread-count sheets and a marble bathroom to die for.
‘Hmmm,’ I said, putting down my suitcase and looking around nervously.
It was all bed, bed, bed and not much else, which quite frankly was the very last thing I wanted to see right now with Marcus shimmering next to me in his suit.
‘You seem worried,’ said Marcus.
‘Maybe there’s a sofa hiding somewhere?’ I mumbled.
