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‘I was cross with you.’
‘Yeah, I know that too.’ Jess wasn’t particularly good at concealing her feelings. He’d never thought that was a bad thing, and his introduction to the business world over the last eight months had only raised that quality in his estimation.
‘I should have been a bit more understanding. The way you’ve been about me wanting to work this afternoon.’
That was the whole thing, in a nutshell. He resented getting out of bed at five in the morning just to settle a dispute between grown men who were only interested in scrambling to gain a bit more territory. Jess had considered this afternoon an opportunity.
‘Don’t you think this afternoon was worth it?’
‘Yes, of course. I’m just saying… ’
A pause and a slight grimace that made Greg wonder just how much of this she really believed.
‘I’m saying that you’ve respected what I do. I should do the same and respect what you choose to do.’
Choose was stretching it a bit. The only thing that he had chosen to be was a doctor. And he was still unmoved by any definition of the word ‘emergency’ that didn’t include some pressing threat to life or limb. If Jess thought that the Sunday working she’d done was more important than his, he was inclined to agree with her.
This was a genuine effort to meet him halfway, though. ‘Thanks. I appreciate it, Jess. Your support… ’ Support was probably stretching it a bit as well, he could tell from the look in her eyes. But she nodded.
‘I’ll take you home.’ He pulled the car keys from his pocket.
She hardly hesitated. ‘Mmm. Thanks.’ She fell into step beside him.
Greg closed his fingers around the car keys, smiling to himself. It was reassuring to be back in the driving seat.
You couldn’t really call going out with Greg going out. When their shifts allowed, Jess would go to his flat in the evening and Greg would order some food in from a list of restaurants that seemed to be more than willing to make an exception to the normal insistence on actually turning up and eating on their premises when the name of Greg’s father’s company was mentioned. Jess could never bring herself to think of it as Greg’s company. It was an unknown behemoth that he never talked about but which he seemed to be endlessly thinking about.
When he wasn’t eating, he was answering emails. And when he wasn’t answering emails, he was apologising for being about to. The long hours between eating and sleeping she spent alone, with just the TV for company. Was this what people meant when they talked about the beginning of the end?
‘Can I help you?’ Jess had decided to make a change. She’d brought some groceries in for dinner, and cooked for him then stacked the dishwasher while he sat at the kitchen table, staring at his laptop.
‘What?’
‘Can I help you? I’m a lot faster on a keyboard than you are so you could dictate your emails and I’ll type.’
He tore his gaze from the screen for a moment. ‘No, honey. Why don’t you go and relax in the other room? I won’t be long.’
She’d heard that one before, and each time he repeated it, it got just that bit harder to take. ‘I’d rather be with you.’
‘I have to work.’
‘I know. I don’t care what I do, I just want to be with you.’ The words sounded a bit too much like something a whining girlfriend might say and Jess recoiled from them. ‘I might find it interesting.’
He sighed. ‘I doubt it. Trust me, it’s not riveting stuff.’
That was the worst of it. She could have borne it if Greg was ignoring her in favour of something that was important to him, that he enjoyed. But this was, somehow, the ultimate insult.
Jess turned away, pressing her lips together. She should be supportive. She wanted to be supportive. But it was difficult when she had no idea where she stood with Greg.
‘Can’t I just have a minute? There’s something I want to ask you.’
‘Of course.’ A couple of keystrokes saved whatever
it was that he was doing, and he closed the lid of his laptop. ‘I’m all yours.’
He wasn’t, but the look on his face made Jess’s world suddenly tilt. The worries, the nagging doubts, the questions about whether Greg really wanted to spend time with her or not all slid to the back of her consciousness and were replaced by that smile. The one that seemed to tell her everything she needed to know.
‘I know you’re busy, Greg. Why don’t you let me do the model of the hospital? Or I can find someone else to do it. I was talking to Ash the other day and he said he’d help.’
