As he moves back, he smiles warmly at me. “So I’ll see you tonight then.” He opens the door for me.
“Yes, tonight. At eight.” Oh God, I sound like a complete idiot.
I stumble through the door, legs failing on me. I grip hold of my bag like as it’s my life support.
“Bye, Jake,” I say, lingering.
“Bye, Trudy Bennett.”
I force myself to turn and walk down the hall.
When I reach the end of the hall, I turn, looking back but the door is already closed.
I reach the lift and the doors instantly ping open.
I wobble into the lift, press for ground and fall back against the mirrored wall.
I’m going out for dinner tonight with Jake.
Holy shit.
Chapter Five
It’s going to be okay.
No it’s so totally not.
How the hell am I going to explain to Will that I’m cancelling on him for the second night in a row, this time to go out for dinner with Jake Wethers, who I forget to mention I knew very well when I was younger and have just interviewed today, which he also didn’t know as I neglected to tell him that too.
Okay, deep, calming breaths Tru. It’s not a big deal. Will is cool, he’s understanding. And really there is no issue to have. It’s just two old friends having dinner. One of them just happens to be the world’s biggest rock star.
Oh crap.
The concierge opens the door freeing me from The Dorchester and I step onto the busy street. The warm air on my face does little to help me, right now I need a blast of the cool.
Looking at my watch, I see it’s 11:15. Digging my phone out of my bag, I decide to call Will at work and see if he’s free to have lunch with me so I can tell him about tonight.
“Will Chambers.”
Oh, I love his work voice. All deep and professional. So cute.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hey baby.” He sounds happy to hear from me. He won’t be happy when I tell him I’m cancelling tonight.
“I was calling to see if you fancied meeting me for lunch?”
“Sure. What time?”
“Whenever you’re free. I’m already out of the office; I just finished up on an interview.” With Jake Wethers whose album you were listening to the other day.
“How does half-an hour sound? I’ll meet you at Callo’s?”
“Brilliant. See you soon.”
I head straight to Callo’s, which is a little upmarket café. I take a window seat and order a latte.
Then I ring Vicky.
“Trudy, my superstar! How did it go with the gorgeous rocker?”
“Good. Great.” The memory of his lips on my cheek flashes through my mind and I feel myself heating up. “I got plenty for the article. I’ve just stopped off to have an early lunch with Will and then I’ll be heading back to write it up.”
“So he remembers you then?” There’s a teasing tone in her voice.
“Yes.” I can’t help the smile on my lips. “He … um … well he actually asked me out to dinner tonight to catch up on old times.”
She actually squeals down the phone. She doesn’t act like my boss at times, or owner of a magazine.
“You’re going aren’t you? Please tell me you said yes?”
“I said yes.”
Another squeal.
Jeez, has she been drinking or something?
I look up and see Will coming in through the door.
“Look I’ll have to go, Will just arrived.”
“My office when you get back, I want all the gory details.”
“There are no gory details,” I laugh but keep my voice quieter so Will doesn’t hear in his approach.
“Sure there isn’t. See you soon,” she sings.
I hang the call up and Will leans down and kisses me on the cheek. On the same spot as where Jake kissed me. I feel this odd territorial feeling and a flash of anger toward Will. Annoyed that he’s just erased Jakes kiss. Which is completely crazy, even by my standards.
Will sits down across from me and the waiter comes over. Will orders a white coffee, and me another latte.
“What would like to eat?” he asks me.
“I’ll have a ham and cheese Panini,” I say to the waiter.
“BLT on brown for me,” Will says handing him back the menu.
Will reaches over and takes hold of my hand. I notice how soft his hands are compared to Jake’s rough ones.
“I missed you last night,” he murmurs.
“I missed you too,” I smile.
“So how was it? You have fun with Simone?”
“I did. We got a quite drunk though.”
“Don’t you two always,” he smiles. “Great news about her promotion.”
“It is.” I fidget nervously with my free hand. Taking a deep breath, it’s now or never, I say, “So, I have some news.”
His eyes flicker to mine with interest.
I’m not actually sure where to start first. Maybe just at the beginning.
“Well, I never told you this, not because it’s a big deal or anything, just because it was never really relevant, and I don’t really tell anyone, but growing up, I lived next door to Jake Wethers.”
I see confusion which suddenly clicks into understanding in his eyes.
“Jake Wethers … as in … The Mighty Storm – Jake Wethers.”
“The one and only.” I give him a tight smile.