Nicole gasped. ‘And what about Christmas dinner? How will I cook one-armed?’
‘You’ve always got me. I may not cook as well as you, but I have my uses.’ Evie looked up at the doctor approaching. ‘Looks like we’re about to find out what’s going on with you.’
It turned out Nicole’s wrist was broken and she went off to have it put in a cast. It’d take a while too—it seemed Nicole wasn’t the only person today to have slipped and broken or fractured something in the icy streets of New York.
Evie sat and read the newspaper for a while, but when she’d had enough and her bottom had turned numb from waiting around, she went down to the main foyer of the hospital. She followed the selection buttons on the vending machine, and when she reached the black coffee option she clicked, deposited her coins, waited for the cup to drop and the liquid to splash into it. She pulled the cup from its grasp, appreciating the warmth through the plastic, and turned to find a place to sit and read the book stowed in her bag while she waited.
‘Watch it!’ A man yelled as she sent her coffee flying all down the front of his impeccable suit.
‘Oh God, I’m so sorry!’ Her eyes shot up to his and she froze.
He didn’t say anything, but raised his eyebrows as though to tell her to move her arse out of the way of the vending machine, pronto.
‘It’s Jackson, isn’t it?’ She tried to be friendly. Nicole seemed to like him after all.
He glared at her. ‘It’s Jack.’
How was she supposed to know? She wasn’t psychic! ‘I apologise, once again. Nicole introduced you as Jackson, that’s all.’
Oh dear, the mere mention of what she presumed was his full name didn’t please him in the slightest. She’d been tempted to suggest paying to have his expensive suit dry cleaned but the look of disgust on his face told her the help probably wouldn’t be appreciated. So she turned to walk away, pulling a tissue from her pocket to dry the drips that were all over the side of the now half empty coffee cup.
‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to,’ he shouted after her.
She turned on her heel, slopping coffee again, except this time the tissue she was clutching absorbed it straight away. ‘What did you say?’
He lifted his own cup from the vending machine. ‘I know exactly who you are. It took a while, but I figured it out.’
She exhaled. ‘Figured what out?’
‘You’re the one we threw off our property a few years ago.’
‘Well done, Einstein.’ Who did he think he was? Just because his family owned a fancy home overlooking Central Park didn’t make him any better than anyone else. ‘Big deal,’ she snapped. ‘So you remembered. You can go to the top of the class.’
When she turned to walk away, he followed her, stuck closely behind.
‘You’re using Nicole and I’m not happy about it,’ he accused.
‘You what?’ She kept her hand in check, tempted to sling the rest of the coffee right in his face.
‘You reeled her in well and truly. You got her fired and then you’ve muscled in on her life. Oh, you might have a job now, but I bet she had something to do with that. You sure as hell landed on your feet, didn’t you?’
Tears sprang into her eyes, but she was tough. She didn’t go down without a fight. ‘I didn’t get her fired. Your family did that all on its own, not willing to see another side to the story. She worked for you for years and you repay her loyalty by terminating her employment and throwing her out of your lives like an overused teabag!’
He had the good grace to look shocked at her outburst, and she wasn’t finished yet.
‘Nicole did help me to get a job, yes. People in my situation need help. We don’t live on the streets because we like it! So next time you accuse me, please make sure you do it in front of Nicole. I’m sure she’d be very interested to hear your opinions.’ And before she could talk herself out of it, her wrist flicked and sent the rest of the cup of coffee in Jack’s direction, soaking the front of his dark grey suit, the white shirt and burgundy-striped tie that sat beneath.
Shit, she shouldn’t have done that.
‘Evie!’ Nicole appeared behind them, coat draped around her shoulders, wrist encased in fresh plaster and nestled comfortably in a sling. ‘Jackson? What on earth’s going on?’ She looked at Jack standing there lost for something to say, Evie refusing to open her mouth.
‘What happened to you?’ Jack returned Nicole’s question with one of his own as he took a tissue she handed him from her pocket and dabbed at the coffee.
‘I slipped and fell. But don’t change the subject. I want to know what this is all about.’ She looked from Evie to Jack and back again.
‘It was an accident,’ he told her. ‘Wasn’t it, Evie?’
Evie’s mouth sat in a hard line. ‘Yes, sorry about that. I don’t know what happened.’ She wasn’t sure why he was covering it up; she’d be happy to tell Nicole everything, but for some reason he didn’t want to. Maybe he knew Nicole wouldn’t listen. Evie had done nothing wrong. She stood on her own two feet, always had done.
