It’s the last thing he says before he takes off.
“What time doyou call this?” Jackson asks with a grin as I walk into the office.
He looks weird. Everything looks weird today.
“I’m only fifteen minutes late.”
“Late night? You look shattered.”
“Thanks.” I sound sarcastic. “Ididhave a late night and Iamshattered.” I get out my laptop and turn to face the desk, opening it up.
“Did you have fun though?”
“Yeah. Lots of fun,” I reply evenly.
“Did you get the contract back from him?” he asks over my shoulder.
“No. I’ll need to go by and pick it up.”
“We really need to make sure that’s watertight,” he says with concern. “With the way we’re pressing ahead—”
“I know, I know.” I cut him off impatiently.
He takes the hint and lets me get on.
We present everything to Sandrine and Albert that afternoon. Albert is already up to speed, but I’m glad when he decides to sit in, hoping that his enthusiasm will rub off on his daughter.
“I like it,” she says with a nod when we’ve finished talking her through our plans.
She hasn’t said much, so I’m relieved to hear her say this, although I’m bracing for a potentialbut.
It doesn’t come. As I say, everything is weird today.
“Are you all right?” Jackson asks as we’re winding down for the weekend. “You’ve been a little jumpy.”
“I was just nervous about showing your mum our plans.”
“She loves them though.”
“Likes.”
“Loves,” he corrects me. “It’s all good. You want a drink or something?”
“I could do with some more water. I didn’t have enough yesterday.”
He passes me a plastic bottle of Eau de Sainte Églantine fromthe small fridge beside his desk. I can’t wait to see the glass bottles when they come in—we’re expecting samples next week.
“Thanks,” I reply gratefully, pouring some into a glass.
“You look like you caught the sun.”
I glance at him. He’s staring at my arms, but his eyes skim up to my face.
“We were outside all day.” I pull the top of my T-shirt down and check where the line of my bikini was yesterday. He’s right: there’s a white strip of skin there.
“Being in France for the summer suits you,” he says with a smile.
I mirror him, my tension easing. He’s been making an effort to chat with me all day.
