Page 92 of Lie For Me

Jack grimaced.

‘This doesn’t feel simple. I feel I’ve got no idea what to do.’

‘Perhaps it’s an invitation, then. In my experience,’ James said, stretching and yawning with a groan, which startled the rabbits back into the bushes, ‘life sometimes offers these crossroads for just that reason.’

Jack managed a nod, only half understanding.

‘What would you do?’

Laughing, James held his hands up.

‘I’ve no idea. There’s no doubt selling the company to focus on what you really want and spending a year in New York is a great opportunity and would be an exciting experience.’

James shook his head, smiling.

‘What does Lucy think?’

Jack suppressed a shudder as he thought of how he still needed to tell Lucy.

‘Uh, we’ve not talked at length,’ he stalled. ‘The bit about me going to New York for a year came late in negotiations on the sale, so we haven’t…we still need to talk about it. Properly.’

Jack realised he had no idea how she would feel about him going. Or about how he felt about not seeing her for a year. Too much was happening all at once.

In fact, he had no idea how she would feel about their night together. Maybe she would wake up and be embarrassed, and they’d suffer through a largely silent journey home, neither knowing what to say. Or perhaps she’d laugh off the whole night as a prosecco-fuelled mistake, and they’d grin and hug a little awkwardly and say, ‘ah well, what happens at the wedding stays at the wedding.’

Then he’d pack up and move to the US, and she’d giggle with Cassie over coffee one day in months to come about her silly drunken tumble with Jack. ‘But it’s not too embarrassing,’ she’d say to Cassie, with a shrug. ‘He’s in New York now.’

He rubbed at his eyes, hoping to see things more clearly.

‘Hmm, always hard when these things come up when a relationship is still new,’ James said.

‘I just…’ Jack hesitated.

The quiet of the dawn, the strange privacy of this conversation in the middle of the gardens was lulling him into sharing. James waited.

‘I had made peace with selling the company and walking away. I have the other business idea I want to develop, and then…this year abroad came up. It seemed like a great way to make sure the company and the team would be okay, and maybe make new contacts, too. But now…a year feels like it could be a long time to be away from….’ He trailed off. ‘I don’t know…’

James nodded and said nothing. They sat in companionable silence as the sky turned from grey to soft blue. Jack was about to make his excuses and head back to the room when James spoke.

‘Truth is,’ he stretched and smiled, ‘I don’t know what you should do. You’ve certainly got some decisions to make, and that’s both exciting and scary. I know that. And I’m not sure what’s going on between you and my daughter.’

Jack blanched as he wondered if James suspected the relationship was less than it was supposed to be.

Then James continued, ‘I know you haven’t been together long, and I’m sure this is a conundrum neither of you were expecting. But there is one thing I can share from my own experience…’

Jack listened as James talked, as crisp early morning sunlight crept across the lawns.

30

Lucy stretched and sat up in bed. She reached an arm out to her side. The sheets felt cool. Jack must have been gone a while. She put her hand to her lips, remembering the night before. Although she had hardly slept, she wasn’t in the slightest bit tired. She was energised and wide awake.

Jack’s phone was nowhere in sight. Grabbing her mobile, she tapped at the screen—no messages. Her fingers hovered over their last chat, but she didn’t know what to write. Perhaps he had woken up and instantly regretted their night together and had crept out to avoid facing her when she woke up. Maybe he was, right at this moment, sitting somewhere with his head in his hands thinking about how to tell her he felt embarrassed, it was all a mistake. She looked around the room at the clothes flung about the floor and her face flushed as the details of the night came back to her.

Hiding in bed all day wasn’t an option.

‘Hey, where are you?’ she typed.

She stared at the message. She wasn’t his keeper.

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