Page 121 of Ride the Wave

‘I can’t disagree,’ she says gravely, still watching me as I casually take a sip of champagne.

‘Iris isn’t a tabloid reporter; she’s a sports journalist,’ Leo tells Peter. ‘You’ve probably read some of her features.’

‘I’m afraid I focus on the business pages – boring of me, I know,’ he sighs, before nudging Leo. ‘You ever been tempted to get into the media industry since retiring?’ He winks at Michelle. ‘In your blood isn’t it?’

‘Nah, I’ve stuck to surfing,’ Leo says.

‘Yes, that ship sailed a long time ago,’ Michelle informs Peter with a forced laugh. ‘I did try to get him interested in real work, but it was met with resistance. I’m sure you read all about how entertaining his choices were back then.’

For the first time in this exchange, Peter looks a little startled and then uncomfortable. He attempts to breeze over it by saying, ‘When the ocean calls, you have to answer, right Leo? Speaking of which, I must talk to you Michelle about your vision for this fund; I’ve got heaps of collaborators excited about this one.’

She responds with a polite smile. A woman taps her on the shoulder and whispers something in her ear. I look over to Leo, who has retreated into pensive silence.

‘Do excuse me, I’m needed,’ Michelle says calmly to us, before exiting the conversation, followed by her camera crew.

As Peter follows suit thanks to being cheerfully greeted by an acquaintance, the woman who had just initiated Michelle’s next move steps into her empty space.

‘Mr Silva, I’m Jenna, one of Ms Martin’s assistants,’ she says hurriedly, a bright smile attempting to mask her stress. ‘Did your mother mention the photo we’d like to arrange with you? I’ll come find you in a bit if that’s all right; we have a screen all set up to the side of the room, so it won’t take up too much of your time. Thank you so much.’

Leo doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t appear to need a response. She turns on her heel and scurries off into the crowd.

‘Leo,’ I say quietly, ‘are you—?’

‘Let’s go,’ he states, placing his glass down on the nearest table. I think I see his hand trembling. ‘We never should have come.’

I knock back the last of my drink and reach for his hand. I don’t care who sees, not anymore. Threading my fingers through his, I give his hand a comforting squeeze and he leads me around the edge of the room towards the door.

As we leave the ballroom, I feel a wave of relief, as though I hadn’t realised how long I’d been holding my breath in there. He grips my hand tightly, striding across the lobby.

‘Mr Silva!’ A cry behind us comes up. ‘Please! Mr Silva!’

He halts abruptly, causing me to bump into his arm, before he turns to see Jenna pelting towards us, her eyes wide with panic.

‘You’re not leaving?’ she asks breathlessly.

‘I’m afraid so,’ he mutters. ‘I have an early start in the morning.’

‘Wait!’ she pleads. ‘I’m sorry, I should have organised the photo earlier. If you have just a moment, we could quickly get that done now. I’ll make sure a car is waiting out the front for you so you can get off straight after. But it’s very important – you see, Ms Martin noticed you leave and she’s keen to—’

‘She noticed, did she?’ He drops my hand to shove his in his pockets.

‘She’ll be right here, any moment,’ Jenna wills, glancing back at the door to the ballroom. When it swings open, the relief that radiates through her is unmissable. ‘Ah, here she is.’

Michelle marches towards us and, naturally, the camera crew come bustling through the door right behind her, lugging their equipment, scuttling after her to keep up.

‘Leo, what do you think you’re doing?’ she asks calmly, clasping her hands in front of her. ‘You’ve only just arrived.’

‘Actually, we’ve been here a while,’ he corrects, barely able to look her in the eye. ‘You were busy with everyone else.’

She gives him a look that says:really?

‘I have to get home,’ Leo continues, nodding to the exit that is screaming at us to run through it. ‘I’m up early.’

‘I understand; we’ll make this quick,’ she says, her eyes shifting to Jenna. ‘Go get everything set up and we’ll be there in a minute.’

Jenna nods vigorously at her boss. ‘I’ll have that car waiting for you,’ she promises Leo, before she scurries back into the ballroom.

Michelle turns back to Leo. ‘One photo and then you can go.’

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