Days after the party, Tina was still finding it difficult to concentrate on work. The evening at Fiona’s had been fun and she’d had a good time but since then she’d struggled to stop her mind wandering off, thinking and wondering about the things Fiona had said. Or rather, not said.
When Luc had said, ‘I hope you enjoyed the party,’ she’d replied, ‘It was fun, thanks for taking me. You were right too. I did like Fiona.’ And that had been that.
Luc had walked her home from the tube station, his arm around her shoulders, and he’d gently kissed her when he’d said goodnight. She’d gone to bed that night feeling there was an unspoken connection between them.
Emails between them since then had been their usual mix of work stuff and friendly quips. To her disappointment, though, no mention of getting together again had been made.
Why had he taken her to the party in the first place? He must have known there would be a consequence to taking her as his plus one. Did his silence now mean he was regretting asking her? It was clear, from his warning to Fiona, that he didn’t want their parents knowing about her yet. He must have realised there was every chance Fiona would want to interrogate her and maybe even drop hints about her brother to Tina.
Could he have possibly been hoping Fiona would learn something about Tina’s past relationships and tell him? If that was the case, why didn’t he just ask her outright? She didn’t have anything to hide. Which begged the question: why couldn’t she ask him about his own past, which Fiona had hinted at? Because she couldn’t.
Could she instigate another meeting? Casually tag another invitation to supper onto the end of her next email? He could say no, but if he said yes it would be good. And if he said he was busy and couldn’t make it, she’d try to accept it. Maybe an editorial meeting in town would be better? Get it back to being a purely professional relationship? They still hadn’t discussed fully the promotion he needed to do for Lucinda Penwood. Tina sighed. Meeting up with Luc socially seemed to have been the wrong thing to do. She should have let things take their own course. Not tried to force his hand when he was clearly a man who blew hot and cold.
Times like this, she really missed talking things over with Jodie. She glanced across at the kitchen clock. 7.30. With the hour’s difference it would still be evening in France. Would Jodie be free to chat if she Skyped her? Worth a try.
Tina pressed the Skype key on her laptop and sat back. She was looking forward to this video call and hoped Jodie would have time to sit and talk. It was ages since they’d had a proper chat. Recently it had all been text or email.
The ringing buzz sounded for over a minute and Tina was about to click the off button, disappointed, when Jodie answered.
‘Hi. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,’ Tina said.
‘Sorry. I was in the bathroom being sick,’ Jodie said. ‘Think I’ve picked up a bug, which is the last thing I need this week, what with moving and everything else that’s going on.’
‘You do look a bit pale,’ Tina said, concerned. Pale was an understatement. She’d never seen Jodie look quite so rough. Not that she was going to tell her that. ‘Any chance of you going to bed and sleeping it off?’
‘Not this week. Anyway, how are things with you? Any agency news I should know about?’
‘Things are good here. Need a couple of urgent press releases – I’ll email the details to you tomorrow. Nothing else important for you to worry about until next month when we’ll need to start thinking about future publicity for Luc.’
‘That’s great. How’s Maisie?’
Tina quickly told Jodie about the latest developments in Maisie’s life, wishing Jodie had asked how Luc was instead. She had lots to tell her about him. ‘Maisie’s parents are lovely. They came to supper recently. The evening was going well until John the Obnoxious unexpectedly joined us. Thankfully, though, Maisie seems to think he’s finally got the message that they’re over and will soon be on his way back to Scotland.’
‘I’m glad taking Maisie in worked out. I was worried in case she turned out to be up to no good,’ Jodie said.
‘I, um, I’ve been breaking one of my golden rules recently,’ Tina said, taking a deep breath. ‘You know the one about not mixing with clients.’
‘Ah, I bet that’s with Luc,’ Jodie said, a big smile on her face. ‘Tell me more.’
‘We’ve had supper together here and he took me to Ronnie Scott’s, which, incidentally, was fabulous. Can’t believe we never went when you lived here. And…’ She hesitated. ‘I went to a party with him and met his sister.’
‘He’s introducing you to his family already? Is she nice?’
‘She seems lovely. She’s got some sort of high-flying job in the City but her first love is painting. She’s good too. The first thing she did when we arrived was drag me off for a woman-to-woman chat about Luc. But I got the feeling she really wanted to interrogate me as much as she was telling me about him.’
‘How d’you mean?’ Jodie asked, intrigued.
‘Well, she’d say something like – “How do you feel about spiders? Luc hates them. He adores dogs, though – do you like them? Because he’s desperate to have one again. Are you a townie through and through? Luc can’t wait to get out of the city and live in the country”.’ Tina sighed. ‘It was as if she was checking to see if I was on the same wavelength as Luc.’ Tina smiled. ‘Although she did say I must be special as I’m the first girlfriend he’s had in years that he’s actually introduced to her. But that was before she said she hoped I liked him enough to accept his past.’
‘That’s a bit of a conversation stopper,’ Jodie said. ‘Did she give you a clue about what it was?’
‘When she saw I didn’t understand what she meant, she said, “He has told you about his past, hasn’t he?” And then she clammed up when I shook my head.’
‘Luc’s never mentioned anything to you?’
Tina shook her head. ‘No. When I asked her to tell me, she shook her head and refused to say anything more. Said it had to come from Luc. So now I don’t know whether to ask him about it or wait for him to tell me. Or even if I dare ask him if he thinks of me as his girlfriend as well as his agent. He’s so damn self-contained and private. I honestly don’t know where I am with him.’
‘It’s a difficult one,’ Jodie said. ‘Maybe give it a little longer and see if he tells you. If not, and you’re worried, you’ll have to pull up your big girly pants and ask him. It’ll probably turn out to be nothing major.’
‘Hope you’re right,’ Tina said. ‘But what if…’
‘No what ifs,’ Jodie said. ‘Just take it slowly – like I did with Ben.’
Tina burst out laughing.
‘If that was taking things slowly then I’m a lost cause.’
Jodie grinned. ‘At least you’re both in London. No long-distance relationship for you.’
‘That’s true,’ Tina said. ‘How is Ben?’
‘He’s fine,’ Jodie hesitated. ‘I’m glad you rang because I need to talk to you. A man has turned up here claiming to be a relative and Ben is piling the pressure on for me to meet him.’
‘Who is it?’ Tina said. ‘Your mum didn’t have any relatives, did she?’
‘His name is Travis Saville. Says he’s my brother. Ugh, I feel sick again. I’m going to have to run in a minute but, before I forget, Annette is sending you an invite to her wedding – 25th of November. Hope you can come. Bring Luc as your plus one. I can check him out then. Gotta go. I’ll ring you later.’ And Jodie pressed the disconnect button.
Tina sat for a while thinking. Could she accept the invitation and go to France for Annette’s wedding? Would Luc like to go with her? Thoughtfully, she typed a message to Jodie – ‘Sorry you’re not well. Feel better soon. Can’t wait to hear all about this Travis Saville. Will put Annette’s wedding in the diary and think about asking Luc.’
Maybe Luc would find it easier to open up about his past if they were away together. It was all well and good for Fiona to say it was for Luc to tell her himself, but he’d shown no indication so far that he planned to do so. Right, she’d definitely arrange another meeting and turn the tables on him by asking him to be her ‘plus one’ at Annette’s wedding.