‘Hey babe.’ His voice was reassuringly deep but slightly detached. It was like she could picture him doing something else as he spoke to her.
‘I wasn’t expecting you to call so early; aren’t you still at work?’
‘I took a late lunch today. It’s been hectic. I was helping out with a road traffic collision. It was pretty nasty. A bigpileup and loads of injuries. I thought I’d better call you now, as I might be out later.’
‘Oh OK. With colleagues?’
‘What, oh … yeah … It’s nothing much really.’
Willow frowned as her feelings of unease grew. Jake sounded so distracted, like he was barely there at all. She tried to shake off the resentment that was daring to settle. After all, she had no right to judge Jake.
Especially with what had just happened with Lucas. What had that even been about?
‘You have to remember, I’m going through a lot of stuff at the moment. I’m literally witnessing trauma before my eyes.’
‘You poor thing,’ she said softly. ‘That sounds horrible.’
Jake tutted lightly. ‘It’s part of my job, babe. You get used to it. I’ve already made my “day in the life” vlog – this one is especially hard-hitting, really emotional. I’ll send you the link in a minute. You can tell me if I’m going to pull at the heartstrings enough. I want to make sure I make the right impact.’
‘Jake, I’m not sure I would be any good—’
‘Of course, you will. You’ve been working in marketing for years. My followers have stalled a little and I need something enticing to pull them back in.’
Any feeling of pride melted away. Willow frowned down the phone. She couldn’t believe Jake was using something as awful as a huge car accident to win likes and followers. This was leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
She was about to say something when she heard someone talking in the background. It sounded like they were saying Jake’s name and then laughing.
And they sounded familiar.
‘Jake. Is Alex Rose there?’
Willow tried to bite back her anger. Why would Alex be at his work? Was Jake lying to her? Or was she mistaken?
But then she heard the laugh again. Sharp and brittle like it was in all her videos.
It was Alex Rose.
Why was she there?
‘Will. It’s nothing. Alex is just having lunch with me, that’s all.’
‘That’s all?’
‘Sure.’ His confident swagger was back with a vengeance. ‘I’m sending my video over now. Have a watch and let me know your thoughts.’
‘OK.’ She was feeling a bit defeated. ‘I guess I could take a look. But Jake, why are you having lunch together?’
It wasn’t that she was jealous; Willow wouldn’t have minded at all if he had told her. It was just that something felt odd, as if the final parts of their relationship were breaking apart.
He didn’t reply. She swore she heard him suck in his breath.
‘Jake …’ She kept her tone light. ‘Is everything alright with us?’
‘Yeah, of course it is.’ He chuckled. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’
‘I dunno. You just sound a bit odd.’
‘I’m not being odd. I’m just tired.’ He sighed, as if to make a point. ‘I’m going to go now, Will. I don’t think we’re getting anywhere here. Watch my video for me, yeah?’
