‘Yeah.’ He laughed. ‘She gave me a couple of names but I’ve looked up some of their work and, while they’re obviously good at their jobs, neither of them have got quite the style I’m looking for.’
‘Oh.’
The room fell quiet again, the logs catching in the burner the only sound. Both of us sipped at our drinks before Jesse spoke again.
‘What was it you said you did before you came here?’
‘I’m not taking a pity job, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
Jesse tipped his head back, then looked at me. ‘You are impossible, woman. You do know that, don’t you?’
I gave him a look over the rim of my cup before I took another sip.
‘You’re an interior designer, right?’ he persisted.
‘Iwasa home stager.’
‘So youarea stylist.’
‘And you say I’m impossible.’
‘Did you enjoy it?’
I was too tired to argue. ‘Yes, I loved it, actually. But I well and truly burned my bridges with my employer.’ I felt the blush creep up my chest as I thought back to that day.
‘That bad, eh?’ Jesse pulled a face.
‘Let’s say I certainly don’t do things by halves.’
‘No, I got that impression pretty quickly.’
‘I cocked up on an important meeting and when they, quite rightly, took me to task about it, I announced I didn’t need their bloody job anyway as I was moving to the countryside to “lose myself in nature as that was where I truly belonged!”.’
‘That told them.’
‘As you have probably realised by now, I’ve made some very poor life decisions in recent months.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’
‘You were there tonight, right?’
‘OK. Fair enough, I’ll grant that attempting to scale the gate tonight probably wasn’t the best decision, but then part of that was on me and I’m pretty sure I owe you a pair of shoes.’
‘Don’t be silly.’
‘I may not be a fashionista, but I know those shoes are pricey and, even if I hadn’t, your face when you realised they were ruined told me as much.’
‘It wasn’t that.’ I finished my drink and placed the empty Emma Bridgewater mug down on the coffee table.
‘I grew up rich. Anything I wanted, I got. Money was literally no object. I was, admittedly, very spoiled.’
I glanced at him and he was watching me, listening.
‘I’m pretty sure you already guessed that.’
‘Carry on,’ he encouraged gently without answering the question.
‘When I was fifteen, everything fell apart. My mother died when I was three and my father remarried quite quickly. It’s funny how sometimes, people choose the same sort of person for their partners and sometimes they go for the opposite. My father definitely went for the opposite this time. Estelle was nineteen years his junior.’ I glanced across at Jesse. ‘Very much a trophy wife. They were out a lot of the time, either at events or shopping or travelling.’
