Page 74 of Wild About You

‘Where’s your resignation letter?’ he said.

‘Oh.’ I looked around as though it might appear magically from somewhere. ‘I’ll get it to you today.’

‘So you didn’t plan this? It’s spur of the moment?’ he said.

I frowned in irritation. ‘No.’

‘You’re one of the most organised people I know,’ he said. ‘If you were serious about this you wouldn’t have come without a nice, neat letter, perfectly phrased, naming your date of departure.’

I didn’t quite like the way he was saying this – the note of bitterness in his voice. I tried to breathe steadily and to ignore the pounding of my heart.

‘I’m perfectly serious,’ I said, only the slightest tremor in my voice.

He was shaking his head. ‘Why?’

I blinked at him. ‘I’ve established things here. Time for a new challenge.’

He practically growled. ‘Absolute rubbish. You’ve written a plan. You’ve been here – what? – nine months? And now you’re going to leave us in the lurch. This will set the project back years.’

I managed a shrill laugh. ‘Wow – emotional blackmail, that’s great. I really should have stuck with the corporate world.’

I saw the brief twist in his expression. I’d hurt him. It was only there for a second though – the steel was back in a moment. ‘You really should,’ he said.

Ouch.

‘I’ll have the letter with you by the end of the day,’ I snapped.

As I turned, something made me stop. A brief, high-pitched whine. It came again. It was Hugo. He was on the floor, under the coffee table. I’d never heard him make that noise before.

‘God.’ Jamie had his hands on his head. ‘He can’t stand shouting – or when people get…’ he swallowed, ‘aggressive. I’m not sure what he went through before he came here.’

The beagle made the noise again, a whine, aplease-no, in dog language. Beneath the table, he was trembling.

‘Oh, sweetheart.’ I was on my knees before I had time to think about it. I reached under the table to stroke the small, soft spot behind his right ear. He ducked his head away. I felt the air shift, and Jamie was next to me, saying Hugo’s name.

Hugo didn’t respond. Instead he placed his head on his paws and gazed up plaintively at us.

Jamie rocked back on his heels. Our faces were inches from each other.

‘Didn’t I do what you wanted, Anna?’ he said quietly. ‘Isn’t that enough to keep you here?’

When I looked up at him, his eyes were dark with sadness. I couldn’t move; I could hardly breathe.

‘I would have done anything,’ he said.

‘Please,’ I said. ‘Don’t.’

The phone rang.

He closed his eyes and stood up, his face hardening.‘That’ll be Roshni,’ he said. ‘She and George are checking in on me constantly. I have no idea why.’

‘I’ll go.’ I stood ungracefully but quickly, glancing back at Hugo, who still had his head on his paws. I tried to ignore Jamie as he answered the phone, but before I got to the door, he waved his hand in my eyeline. ‘She wants your number,’ he said. ‘She says she has a gardening question.’

‘Fine,’ I said flatly, with a shrug. Only then did I finally manage to get out of the door.

Luckily, I wasn’t required to banter much that day. Tobias had decided to begin writing his ‘Fiona manual’ for covering her maternity leave, so was carefully taking notes and eating toast furiously. I kept to myself, and swiftly drafted a resignation letter which I emailed to Jamie, copying Callum in. Callum was absent for the day so I knew he’d only see it tomorrow. And I’d tell the others then, too. I couldn’t face it now. Plus, I had three long months to serve as my notice period. I could argue I needed less, but I’d never reneged on a contract in my life, and the thought of telling Jamie I wanted to break the contract made my heart falter in my chest.

‘What’s up?’ Fi was smiling at me. ‘You look very pensive.’

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