Jessie Slaymaker's Non-Existent Love Life (The Jessie Slaymaker Series) (31 page)

‘I’m good, thanks,’ she replied a little awkwardly. ‘How’s Sonia?’ Jack fought the urge to keep his face neutral but something told him by the way her expression changed to one of concern that he had failed.

‘She’s fine. Still together,’ he said curtly, making it clear he didn’t want to talk about her any further. ‘What about you, Jessie? You look amazing,’ he said genuinely, smiling broadly at her.

‘Oh no,’ she said modestly, brushing him away. ‘I mean, look at the state of me,’ she said self-deprecatingly, gesturing at her casual appearance.

‘Well, I think you look lovely,’ Jack said firmly, trying to make her believe him.

‘Thanks. You look nice too,’ she said shyly before weakly following up with a question so no one dwelled too long on her compliment. ‘How long are you in town for?’

‘A couple of weeks, then back to Hong Kong,’ Jack exhaled, trying to transmit to her without saying it, that he wished it was for longer.

‘And how is Hong Kong?’ Jessie asked, her eyes lighting up.

‘Hong Kong is Hong Kong. Never still, never sleeping. There’s always something going on in that place. I never really got to ask you if you had a nice time there, what with all my melodramas going on.’

‘I did. Aside from all the drama, it was one of the most exciting times of my life. I absolutely loved the place. Not a day goes by when I’m sat at my desk here, without me wondering about the what if’s, if I’d taken the bank up on their offer,’ she said wistfully.

‘Hold on. You were offered a job out there?’ Jack asked in a more astonished tone than was polite.

‘I didn’t think it was that surprising,’ Jessie snapped, taking offense at his obvious surprise and concentrating on the pages in her hands.

‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ Jack said soothingly. ‘Anyone in their right mind would want you working for them and I mean that. I was surprised that you could have been there when I was out there. We could have seen lots of each other. I’m also surprised after hearing you talk so animatedly about the place, that you turned them down.’

‘Oh, well,
que sera sera
and all that jazz,’ Jessie replied flippantly, clearly not wanting to discuss her decision-making process further.

Chapter 79

Jessie was mortified. He wasn’t supposed to have been there, and he most definitely wasn’t supposed to have seen her looking so dowdy in her practical, comfy, getting-things-organised outfit and scooped-up hair. She was only supposed to have been in the hotel for a matter of minutes, just dropping the table plan off. No one was supposed to have seen her there. No one. And certainly not him.

Every time she looked up at him and caught him looking her squarely in the eye she had the urge to look away and melt like a little girl. She desperately wanted to touch him again, but an overwhelming shyness seemed to incapacitate her. She was about to make her excuses and flee instead of continuing to prolong her agony any further, when a smart and sophisticated lady approached Jack and gently touched him on his elbow.

‘Jack, darling, won’t you introduce me to your friend?’ the lady said, smiling at Jessie warmly. Jessie found it hard to age her. She was definitely what you’d call a well-preserved beauty, who was probably over fifty but much more than that was hard to tell.

Jack seemed to snap to attention at the older lady’s words and stood up just a little bit straighter.

‘Of course,’ he muttered. ‘Jessie, this is my mother. Mum, this is Jessie. Charlie used to be her boss,’ Jack said stiffly. Jessie felt herself momentarily freeze at the mention of Charlie’s name, and she may have been hallucinating but she could have sworn she was wearing the very same expression mirrored back to her from Jack’s mum.

‘Pleased to meet you, Mrs Davenport,’ Jessie said formally, extending her hand.

‘You too, Jessie,’ Mrs Davenport replied, shaking Jessie’s proffered hand warmly whilst simultaneously flashing her impossibly white pearly whites even more. ‘Please, call me Cicely.’

‘I hope Jack will be spending lots of time with you whilst he’s in town,’ Jessie said a little mischievously. She felt relived that there was a third person to bounce off in their conversation. Even if it was Jack’s mother.

‘I doubt that very much, Jessie. He’s far too much in demand with all his friends to be wanting to spend much time with his old mother. Plus, he’ll probably be running around after that Sonia woman,’ Cicely said conspiratorially, as though Jack weren’t even present. So, Jack’s mum didn’t think too highly of the wonder that was Sonia Shum, Jessie found herself thinking, with more than a minuscule amount of glee.

‘Is she here?’ Jessie said, determined to keep her face and voice as neutral as possible.

‘Don’t worry, dear, she’s long gone,’ Cicely said, a touch triumphantly. ‘It’s a beautiful day today—why don’t you two young people go for a walk in the park over the road? Jack, I have some things to attend to, but I’ll see you for dinner,’ Cicely said assuredly, as though there were no room for debate.

‘Jessie, lovely to meet you,’ Cicely concluded, ending the meeting assertively. Then she winked at Jessie. There was no mistaking her. She actually winked. It wasn’t just a friendly wink, either. It was a totally suggestive wink, verging on the lewd in relation to her son. Jessie felt herself blush and was thankful that Cicely had turned on her heel in the opposite direction.

‘She’s lovely,’ Jessie beamed at Jack, once Cicely was definitely out of earshot. ‘Lovely, but rather unsubtle if you don’t mind me saying so,’ Jessie added, smiling, as she felt her cheeks return to normal.

‘I apologise for her,’ Jack said, smiling broadly now, running his hand through his hair in a slightly self-conscious way. ‘She seems to take great delight in embarrassing me and whoever else is around her these days. She says at her age, it’s her only sport.’

‘Come on,’ Jessie said linking her arm through his. ‘You heard the woman, let’s go for that walk.’

Jack didn’t seem to need much persuading. Out of the hotel and into the fresh air he seemed to relax, and the two of them walked slowly in no particular direction as they chatted amiably about Hong Kong and Jessie’s job. It also came up that Jessie and Tom were now an item, much to Jack’s surprise. Jessie found herself defending and justifying their relationship a little too vehemently, even to her own ears.

Although neither of them spoke much, they seemed at ease with each other as they enjoyed the uncharacteristically warm day. After walking for some time they spotted an attractive-looking tree under which they could sit and take a breather for a few minutes, before they turned about and went back to the hotel. Jessie found herself unable to get comfortable, and so gave up and lay flat on her back, looking up at the sky through the canopy of leaves above her. She could feel Jack’s gaze on her as he sat thoughtfully next to her, leaning against the tree trunk.

‘Jack, I need to tell you something,’ Jessie began after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

‘Okay,’ Jack replied warily, his senses automatically bristling.

‘Back in Hong Kong, Sonia and Charlie,’ Jessie began.

‘Look Jessie, I think you said everything you needed to say on that subject,’ Jack said firmly, cutting her off.

‘No Jack. You need to listen. I didn’t think you would still be Sonia, so you
obviously
need to listen,’ she said, raising her head up off the ground and meeting his stern eye. He had the beginnings of a scowl starting to mar his features, so Jessie lay back down and tried to pretend he wasn’t there.

‘Go on,’ Jack said quietly, but there was an authority in his tone which made it sound more like a command.

‘So… anyways, we were at the party, and I felt a little out of place, and kept going off for little wanders outside on my own.’

‘Yes, I remember,’ Jack said, obviously recalling the night in question.

‘Well, on one of my little trips I overheard Sonia talking with someone. It was quite dark, but there was no mistaking what I heard. Basically the gist of their conversation was that they’d been plotting to steal company information from the bank—and they’d also been scheming about entrapping you. Jack, Sonia already knew about the deal you’d made with her father, and she tricked you into staying with her on the basis of your fear of what might happen to you without her protection.’ Jessie raised herself on her elbows once again and saw that Jack was staring blankly at her like she was talking in tongues.

‘So you were eavesdropping?’ Jack asked, clearly not focusing on the key point.

‘Not intentionally. I heard her, Jack,’ Jessie said gently. ‘I know I should have explained it better to you sooner, but I didn’t. Plus, I was… well, I was confused and… angry.’

‘Who had she been plotting with?’ Jack asked his voice dripping in skepticism, as though he already knew the answer. Jessie felt disappointment wash through her. One, he clearly didn’t believe her and two he didn’t seem to care why it was that she had felt angry.

‘Who was she plotting with?’ Jack asked again when she still hadn’t replied. Jessie sat up and busied herself with her hands, which had now suddenly become incredibly interesting to her. Although she wasn’t looking at him, she could definitely feel Jack’s gaze boring into her and she knew for a fact it wasn’t the same admiring gaze from before. As she looked across at him tentatively through her eyelashes, she could see that he was positively glaring at her, waiting impatiently for the answer to his question.

‘Charlie,’ Jessie exhaled. ‘You know it was Charlie.’ She felt a smidgen guilty that she was implicating his brother so wholeheartedly and that she would potentially be the cause of an even deeper wedge being driven between the brothers, but Jack needed to know the truth.

Jack’s response was completely unexpected. He just laughed. A full-on belly laugh.

‘Don’t be so ridiculous, Jessie. I know for a fact that Charlie wasn’t even at that party. Why would my brother be scheming with Sonia? They’ve loathed each other for years,’ he explained as soon as his laughing had subsided. ‘I think you must be mistaken,’ he continued, still chuckling to himself.

‘Who do you think I saw then, Jack?’ Jessie snapped, lifting her head to meet his eyes. Jack just smiled at her and shook his head.

‘I’m not kidding. He must have told Sonia about the agreement you had with Mr Shum.’ Jessie said firmly, clearly frustrated that he wasn’t listening to her.

‘Like I said, you must have been mistaken in the darkness. Charlie’s not a bad man, Jessie,’ Jack continued, sounding reasonable. ‘Granted, he’s not the best man in the world, but he’s just not capable of doing such a thing to his own brother. But thank you for telling me about Sonia though. It does explain a lot,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ Jessie asked, feeling the anger beginning to rise within her.

‘Are you going to make me say it out loud?’ Jack asked, shaking his head slightly at her. Jessie merely eyeballed him some more, wishing he would just spit out whatever it was he wanted to say.

‘Okay, here’s the truth as I see it. You’re obviously still carrying a flame for me, and now you’ve concocted this story to try and isolate me from Charlie and Sonia. I honestly don’t know why you’re persisting with this Charlie and Sonia intrigue, despite the fact I’ve told you previously that they can’t stand each other’s guts. It’s kind of transparent, Jessie, and to be honest I thought all this game-playing was beneath you. You really need to stop spreading this story around, before someone gets hurt.’

Jessie wanted to scream at him. How could he not believe her about his wretched brother? Who else would be selling Sonia privileged company information about the bank for cripes’ sake? The man was in denial, that much was for sure.

‘I have to go,’ Jessie said, abruptly standing up and brushing grass off her clothes. Her patience had now completely evaporated. ‘Nice to see you again, Jack. Good luck with everything,’ she added with a tight smile before she started marching off with sure purpose back in the direction of the hotel to finally drop off Nadia’s table plan.

She’d expected him to call goodbye. In all honesty, she’d expected him to follow her. Of course she did. Isn’t that what always happened in the Hollywood movies?
Where the hell is he?
Jessie wondered as she strode through the park. Okay, so he didn’t have to commit to a full-on sprint after her; a brisk jog would have done the trick. Jessie slowed her own pace slightly, fearing that perhaps she was walking too fast for him and he was unable to catch her up. Still no Jack, though. He’s not coming to apologise for being a total prick, she thought sadly to herself as she reached the hotel. Giving up, she disappeared into the entrance to conclude preparations for yet another wedding which wasn’t her own, as fast as humanly possible.

Chapter 80

‘Okay, Jacky boy. Who was that viper of a woman you introduced me to today and what has she done with my son? Why, I didn’t see you crack a smile once!’ came Jack’s mother’s not-beating-about-the-bush appraisal as he sat down to dinner. Sonia’s business dealings had overrun in the city and she’d pulled out of dinner with Jack and his mother. Jack had originally thought himself quite fortuitous that Sonia had been kept elsewhere, but now he wasn’t so sure, judging by the hardball glare he was getting from the other woman in his life.

‘Don’t talk about Jessie like that. She’s a good… friend,’ he found himself replying, finding that his joke fell a little flat when he had to search for the word with which to classify his relationship with Jessie.

‘Don’t be so facetious,’ Mrs Davenport said sternly. ‘It doesn’t suit you. I may be old, but I can still see what’s right in front of me. Jessie is lovely and you clearly fancy the pants off the girl. What the hell are you doing with that Sonia?’

‘Don’t start, Mum. It really is none of your business,’ Jack said, exasperated. Deep down he knew it was pointless trying to give his mother the brushoff. She’d decided they were going to talk about this, and talk about this they would.

‘Rubbish. Of course it’s my business when I’ve hardly had sight nor sound of you for the past six months. I don’t blame Jessie for that. She doesn’t seem that sort of young woman to me. I know I only met her for a few minutes, but I’m an excellent judge of character,’ she stated, not attempting in the slightest to sound modest as she tucked into her food.