“Yep. Jacob’s driving. Can’t you tell? I’m not sure I know where the horn is, whereas he’s used it three times already this morning.”
Anna chuckles, but she notices Eleanor’s tone is more waspish than normal.
“Anyway. I’ll let you get back to sleep.”
“Give my love to Jacob,” Anna says before her sister disconnects.
She flops back into her pillows and thinks about it. If someone asked her to give up being a doctor after five years of studying and another five years of training, she would refuse, too. She is not sure she will be much comfort for her cousin apart from fully supporting her choice. Still, Serena is family. She makes a mental note to message Serena later to arrange a get-together, even though it may all be in vain.
She realises she didn’t mention meeting Tolly to Eleanor. She could justify it because Jacob was in the car with her. Which man wants to listen to a discussion of their wife’s ex? But truthfully, at the moment, the Sexiest Man Alive is all hers. If she discussed him with Eleanor, he would have reverted to being Eleanor’s.
Because he did date Eleanor. And he did leave Eleanor to come to Los Angeles and pursue his stellar career. Another one who chose career over love. She wonders how he reconciles that in his big romantic heart. Even if Eleanor has since patched up her heart and married Jacob, there is history between her and Tolly. Anna is in no doubt, if he liked her, Tolly Hyde would be off-limits.
Ifhe liked her.
Because she doesn’t think he does. He showed no sign of being enamoured with her. He didn’t flirt. He didn’t touch her. Not even her hand. There was nothing to suggest he liked her besides his number in her phone and a car ride.
The first was nothing. Stars may be cautious about their contact details because the odd crazy fan can cause them any amount of problems. But stars still want to have friends and that is exactly what Tolly had said.In case you need a friend. To be fair, she hadn’t tried the number. It might actually belong to his assistant.
The car ride was also nothing. Anna has been around enough super-rich people in her life to know how others confuse an irrelevant gesture as a grand sign because of the amount of money involved. Many would regard Anna’s family as wealthy, but Anna has schoolfriends whose wealth is stratospheric. One of those is the daughter of a Russian oligarch. He’d sent a private jet to take a group of his daughter’s school friends to his Mediterranean villa. It was no more than a word to his assistant on his part. It was the tiniest of things to him. But the father hadn’t spent time with them; he hadn’t got to know his daughter’s friends. Those were the real things to judge him by, not jets and fripperies.
So what if Tolly had ordered an upmarket Uber for her? It was as easy as dropping a dime for him. To imbue the gesture with any more significance was silly. All she can reasonably draw from Tolly’s behaviour is a level of kindness and consideration.
But she already knew that. From talking to him for hours, she had understood he was a decent person. One who cared about his mother and sister. Just as family is important to Anna, so she rates anyone who also values family ties. Family can irk. They know your weak spots better than any other. They take forgiveness and tolerance at times. But in the end, through illness and death, divorce or incarceration, it is most likelyfamily who will be by your side. Friends only carry the burden when family doesn’t.
Anna snuggles down into the pillows. In some ways, it is a relief to think Tolly’s kind nature is in play, not the start of some torrid affair. She has fancied men before who don’t like her back. It is a rarity, thankfully. But it does happen. And after a time, her attraction to them subsides. She liked a previous boss, the one who had worked for Operation Smile, but he was married. He wasn’t interested and besides, it was another line Anna would never cross: to destroy a family. She’d had to work with him every day and after a while, the arousal she felt when he was in the room had just faded away. From her own experience, it takes a very determined person to pursue a one-sided relationship. And Anna reserves that determination for her career.
Hopefully, her weird attraction to Tolly Hyde, the fluttery feelings she gets when she thinks about him, will dissipate with time. She just has to endure. In the meantime, she should at least acknowledge his kindness. Not to do so would be rude. And Anna is, after all, British. Rudeness is unconscionable.
She checks the clock. Six local time in Los Angeles. Not too early to send a message. She doesn’t know the hours he keeps. He may be a late riser, or he could already have been in the gym for an hour. She can’t help smiling as she selectsSexiest Man Alive.
If the car last night was you, many thanks. Doctor Anna.
The reply is immediate and it answers the question about whether it is his number or not.
Ah. So you liked my grand gesture.
A grand gesture would have been a helicopter. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Essentially, you ordered me an Uber.But Anna feels the flutter, low in her stomach. A warmth spreads through her. She types,Also next time, warn a girl. Ispent the whole time worrying I was in a real-life version of Taken.
Difficult to warn you. I gave you my number. I didn’t take yours.
How unforgivable of him to make sense.An oversight on your part. Now you have it. But just so as you know. If it hadn’t been for my friend, I would never have climbed into that car.
Noted. Sorry. Can’t chat. Got to go.
Anna blinks. They were getting along fine with the banter, much like they had on the plane. But that ending was abrupt. She is not obtuse. She can spot a brush-off. A very definite brush-off. The exchange is strangely unsatisfying. But her quandary is decided. The car was nothing more than a kind gesture towards a stranger. Much like paying for someone’s shopping when they’ve lost their wallet. And they aren’t friends. They aren’t anything. It is just as well. She can already tell she is far too invested in the man who broke her sister’s heart.
At First Sight
By the time Anna makes it to breakfast, she has already run five miles in the gym (the safest place to run in this part of Los Angeles), processed her emails (she isn’t on holiday although it may feel like it), and had her slightly disturbing conversation with her older sister.
Eleanor had been all uptight and very un-Eleanor-like, almost crabby. Maybe she was distressed about Serena; maybe the call with their cousin had put her sister on edge. Even if she wasn’t already looking forward to seeing Serena, Anna promises herself she will move things around or sacrifice networking events in order to make a rendezvous with her cousin happen.
Having been awake since four, she is starving by the time she makes it to breakfast. The noise from the dining room is clear from the foyer. It’s not just the hard surfaces reflecting the bangs and crashes of serving spoons and stainless-steel trays; it seems like every hotel resident has decided this is the optimum time to eat. Chatter fills the space to the high ceilings. Anna looks around the packed room and in one corner spots a head of shiny ginger hair. Perfect.
She gives her room number to the woman manning a tablet on a podium and then navigates her way through the tables to the buffet area. Used to European coffee, she avoids the filter pot of stewed black stuff so beloved by Americans and opts instead for a teabag in a cup and boiling water. Then she makes her way over to the redhead.
He looks up as she puts her cup down and immediately smiles at her.
