Page 60 of The Plot Twist

‘And I’ll be right next to you,’ Verity said in a voice thick with emotion. She went to grab Tessa’s hand, but Tessa jerked it away, evidently not ready for the touchy-feely vibes Allie and Verity were giving off. The three women sunk into silence and Allie tried hard to resist the urge to re-alphabetise the picture books that had been carelessly cast aside following story time, so desperate to do something with her hands that didn’t involve punching the wall and alarming everyone.

Eventually, after sharing several looks with Verity, Allie conceded that they weren’t going to get any more out of Tessa today and that they should take it as a win that she had even showed up. ‘Look I think we’ve both said enough, and I think you’ve got a lot to think about. Neither of us want to put any more pressure on you than we already have. So, Verity? Shall we leave Tessa in peace?’

Verity nodded and she and Allie stood up to leave. ‘Thank you for listening,’ Allie said and squeezed Tessa’s tense shoulder as she passed.

‘Wow. That was heavy,’ Verity said as they walked slowly towards the exit. She had already made it clear that they needed to leave at staged intervals so as not to be seen outside the building together.

‘It really was,’ agreed Allie.

‘Do you think she’ll go for it?’

‘I don’t know. It’s a lot to ask. And I’m now worried about what might happen to her if she does decide to go public. He’s a shit, we know that, but I worry that he’ll manage to outshit himself and do something to completely surprise us.’

Verity nodded.

‘Well let’s hope that if Tessa does come forward, other women do too,’ Verity said. ‘He can be a shit, but he can’t shit all over everyone, can he?’

‘God, I hope not.’ Allie shuddered at the thought.

ChapterEighteen

Whether it was Allie’s walk with Martin, or the fear that Tessa might not come through and Allie might end up having to meet Jake Matthew’s deadline was unclear, but by Friday Allie had written three new chapters and was feeling as good about life as she could while still dwelling on her conversation with Tessa and Verity. She was managing to distract herself from the pervasive misogyny of the world with writing. She hadn’t worked this hard since the time she’d written a new book in the space of a month, and she was enjoying it. Martin sent her regular little messages of encouragement, all of which sounded like they could have been lifted straight out of the mouth of General Kitchener. Jess had been in touch with plans for that evening and Allie was beginning to think things were looking up again. She had even contemplated sending the new draft to Verity, just to get her opinion, but Verity had visibly blanched at the suggestion and whispered the words ‘NDA’ at her and rapidly changed the subject. Allie sent over some silent positive vibes of fortitude and bravery to Tessa, in the hope that they might help her decide whether to out Jake Matthews or not.

Will had been in touch just the right amount, sending sweet messages along with some delightfully suggestive ones. Even if neither of them were truly being honest with each other, sheknewhe was definitely keen to see her when he got back.

Allie had surprised herself by saying, ‘I wish you were here,’ when they’d spoken the other day on the phone and then immediately held her breath, grimacing, holding the phone away from her ear, waiting for Will to get cold feet and swiftly end both the phone call and whatever type of relationship they were currently in.

‘I do too,’ Will said straight back. ‘I’ve really missed you.’

Allie bit her lip and smiled. Her stomach swooped, which was a nice feeling, and her palms went sweaty, which was a less pleasant sensation to endure. But this wasn’t the plan. Telling Will she missed him was not ‘keeping him at arm’s length.’ It was not playing it cool, getting her writing done and then figuring out if he might still like her after he discovered she had been essentially lying to him. But it wouldalsobe lying to say she hadn’t missed him. She had missed the way he made her laugh, the way he held her hand, the way his hand tightened around her waist as he pulled her close to kiss her, and god dammit, if she wasn’t falling for him hard. Her already overactive mind was literally screaming at her to stop, to pull back, to remember her deadline, to focus on her career. But instead, she asked in a small voice, ‘When do you get back?’

‘In a day or two? I really want to get back to London and see you…’

He had left the suggestion hanging in the air and Allie in suspense as to all the things he might have in mind for his return. She had gone back to her laptop frustrated yet inspired and, courtesy of these thoughts, written a steamy chapter for her new book. She told herself she was back on track, back to getting what she needed from Will and pretended she wasn’t getting in too deep.

* * *

So, it was in just such a confused mood that Allie found herself sitting in a hip rooftop bar near London Bridge waiting for Martin. The location had flummoxed her. Much as she was invested in the love story of Martin and Angie, she wasn’t blind to its limitations, and lack of hipness was certainly one of them. She couldn’t imagine this being somewhere Martin was scoping out to take Angie on their next married couple date night.

‘This is very nice,’ she said, once Martin had picked his way through the city suits towards her.

‘You like it?’

‘I do! Good choice.’ Martin blushed a little under her praise. ‘Somewhere you’re thinking of taking Angie?’

‘Brought her here the other night actually.’ Martin failed to conceal the note of pride in his voice at this revelation.

‘Good for you!’ Allie reached across the table and gave Martin a friendly punch on the arm, causing him to spill his beer.

‘Sorry!’ Allie handed him a napkin so he could mop up his beer. ‘So, did she like it?’

‘She did. We’d been to see a play at The Chocolate Factory and Liam had suggested this place.’ Martin smiled. ‘I think he’s thinking of bringing his new lady friend here, he wanted an in-depth report on the ambience of the place.’ He started laughing. ‘Sorry, I just find it peculiar he would trust us with checking the location, it seems like a big responsibility because he seems to really like this friend.’

Once again Allie wished she had come clean sooner, and then she and Martin could be sitting here having a perfectly normal conversation about writing without all of this subtext and subterfuge roiling away under the surface and giving her heartburn. She rubbed the top of her ribcage.

‘By the way, I hope you don’t mind but I told him I’d be here. He’s been away but he said if he was back in time he’d call in and have a beer with me. I’m still trying to make it up to him for not being honest about everything. I hope that’s OK?’

Allie’s eyes widened in panic. Will was coming here? To meet Martin? His dad? With absolutely no knowledge that Allie would be here, not even realising that Allie knew his dad? This was not OK. This was very far from OK.

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