‘I don’tknow,’ Rachel said after a minute, peering through her fingertips, then finally lowering them. ‘I’m pretty sure I still hate you.’ She said this without conviction.
Jack dipped his head towards her, unbothered. ‘You always did a bit, even when we were together. So, in all honesty, I’m not sure how relevant that is.’
Rachel looked around them, alarmed at the thought that their teammates might have overheard this reference to the past – but also shaken that he’d brought it up at all.
‘It’s fine, nobody’s listening,’ he said, smiling again, laughing at her panic.
She made a face at him, narrowing her eyes. Even if no one was listening, some people werelooking. A new crowd of R/C staff had arrived at the pub, Kemi and Greg among them.
Kemi was deep in conversation with Ella, who had a whole bottle of Prosecco in one hand. Both of them were glancing every so often at ‘Hot Harper’ with undisguised thirst. Greg was trapped at the bar chatting to Theo, but his gaze was focused over the office bore’s shoulder, locked on Rachel and Jack. Rachel lifted a hand to greet him, and he raised a sardonic eyebrow in answer.
Rachel shuffled on her backside, trying to put some space between herself and Jack for the sake of common decency – and to help calm her surging blood pressure. He’d thrown his suit jacket over the back of a chair, removed his tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves: a look that, much to Rachel’s dismay, was working for him.
As she fidgeted, the cushion she was sitting on slid too quickly against the smooth wood beneath it, tumbled towards the floor and tried to take her with it.
She yelped and Jack grabbed her before she could slip too far, catching her hand in his, pulling her towards him and holding her steady. His palm curled around her fingers and stayed there too long, clinging on as she righted herself. It was delicious and excruciating. She wanted it to end right now, and absolutely never.
After what felt like hours Rachel reconnected her brain with her body, pulled her hand free and took a deep breath of air that smelled, unavoidably, of Jack. She scrambled away from him as if he’d stung her, almost upending several drinks as she got to her feet.
With Jack staring at her as if she were mad, she managed to choke out ‘Sorry, loo’ before pushing past him and dashing in the direction of the ladies. She had to get out of here. No good could come of staying and drinking more alcohol.
When she emerged from the toilets, she’d resolved to collect her things and be on her way. She crossed her fingers and prayed that she could creep out of the pub without Jack noticing – that he’d moved away from their seats to chat to someone in a corner, or on the other side of the bar … Or in a completely different building, several miles away.
No such luck. Jack was still sitting with Rachel’s stuff and had even put her handbag on the bench next to him in an attempt to save her place. Theo, resplendent in his raspberry-pink trousers, was no longer lecturing Greg but had closed in on Jack, undeterred by the bag and talking non-stop despite receiving little encouragement to do so.
‘Ah! Rachel! You’re back!’ Jack said, his voice shrill, his eyes beseeching. Rachel choked back a laugh. He had never more clearly needed rescuing, and after the way he’d stood up for her this morning she didn’t have it in her to abandon him. Today, at least, Jack didn’t deserve to be thrown under the Theo bus – doomed to a whole night of conversation that consisted entirely of buzzwords.
‘Sorry, Theo,’ Rachel said. ‘D’you mind if I nab my seat back? It’s just all my stuff is here and I don’t want to lose track of it.’
‘Oh … Yah. Sure.’ Theo nodded, not moving.
‘Also,’ Rachel said, momentarily inspired, ‘I heard Donna say she needed to speak to you a minute ago when I was going by – something about your last expenses claim. I think Greg told her you’d come over here.’
Theo shrunk in his seat, staring around him like a small rodent suddenly aware of a nearby snake.
‘Thanks, Rachel,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll, er … I’ll go and find her.’
Once she was back in her seat, Jack handed Rachel a new drink and asked, ‘Was that true?’
‘Nah,’ she said. ‘Fastest way to get rid of him, though – nobody wants a lecture from Donna on a Friday night. Twenty quid says he’s scooted halfway home by now.’
‘You’re evil,’ Jack said. ‘I’m impressed. What is hisdeal, by the way? I only understood about thirty per cent of his waffle, and at one point I think he said, “Sometimes you have to punch a puppy to pivot your thinking.” I was quite alarmed.’
Rachel laughed. ‘Standard. I’m told his clients love him, though my gut feeling is they’re too scared to risk looking thick by admitting they have no idea what he’s on about.’
When Rachel had exhausted her knowledge of Theo’s best corporate catchphrases and they’d finally stopped giggling at ‘Let’s face our fears and just open the kimono’, Jack asked: ‘So how come you’re still here? It’s past ten. I assumed you’d have one drink and then shoot off to meet your man.’
‘Oh,’ she said, surprised it was so late. Then, ‘Business trip. I’m seeing him tomorrow.’ The lie skipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.
‘Ah. Love’s young dream!’ Jack warbled. ‘And here’s me, a sad singleton with no weekend plans beyond Netflix and a Chinese takeaway.’
Rachel whipped her head left to look at him. ‘What’s that?’This doesn’t make any sense.
‘Yes. You are looking at a man in the throes of a very unpleasant, very expensive divorce.’
‘Wow. I’m sorry to hear that.’Very sorry. Definitely. Sort of.
‘Thanks,’ Jack said, scratching the side of his stubble-shadowed face. ‘I deserve it, though. I guess you could call it karma. The dumper becomes the dumpee, the player gets played, blah blah blah.’
