Page 6 of Made Up for Love
“If you’re sure? I can always come back later?”
“I’m not going out until much later, so now’s as good a time as any.”
The bar was busier than Joel had expected. He suspected that the weather had something to do with it. The TV was tuned to the news channel, which was reporting on how the snow had affected pretty much all parts of the UK, Scotland in particular. They were expecting another wave of snow later that afternoon and it was possible that flights and train journeys might be cancelled. For a moment, Joel was grateful that his meeting had been moved and he was able to stay another night.
“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” asked the barman, who had come over to the table Joel had managed to find in between a group of German tourists and an elderly couple.
“Coffee would be great, thank you.” Joel glanced around. It was unlikely he’d be able to get any more practice in down here, so he might as well look at one of his other client’s reports instead.
He fired up the Internet and logged in to the WiFi. The welcome page was Scotland-biased and he spotted the same Sadie Starr story he’d read in the paper. Before he knew it, he’d clicked on the link and was reading it again. There was a link to one of her social media pages and he spotted she’d posted something about the shoot that day:Totally gutted not to have @jbmua_london with me today, hoping that @lydshenmua will be just as talented xoxo
The mouse hovered over the link to @lydshenmua. It would take one click to find out more about the woman who sat next to him at breakfast.
Before he could do anything, his mobile rang, causing those in close proximity to him to turn and tut as he quickly picked up the device.
“Sophia! Hi!” His tone was over-bright, not his usual demeanour, at all.
“Are you okay? You sound guilty. What’s going on?” Sophia didn’t miss a thing, even if she was hundreds of miles away.
“Nothing. I’m just going over the presentation again. You know, make sure it’s perfect.”
“That’s good.” She seemed to believe his little white lie. “You still haven’t responded to the Christmas party invite. Are you coming?”
Joel sighed. What was it with everyone bothering him about Christmas parties? First Luke, now Sophia. The Bourne & Masters Christmas party was usually a blast, but he wasn’t interested this year. It was held on the last working day before the Christmas break, which this year was the following day. Joel had refrained from responding. It wasn’t that he was becoming The Grinch about Christmas, but the events of the previous year had tainted the season for him. He couldn’t bear the thought of being surrounded by dozens of happy couples, waiting to celebrate together. He needed a time out this year.
“Not this year, Sophia, sorry. I’ve, um, got to meet my mum and her latest boyfriend for dinner that night.”
“Right.” Joel could almost hear the disappointment in Sophia’s voice. “I’ll put you down as a no. Rupert’s not going to like it.”
Rupert Smythe-Johnson was the head of Joel’s department. He liked all of his team to attend every social event going, to show the close-knit nature of his workers. The majority of Joel’s colleagues obeyed the rule with rumours abound that, if you didn’t attend, it could be career-limiting. Joel guessed he’d find out whether that rumour was true.
“Rupert is going to have to put up with it. I can’t let my mum down.” Joel crossed his fingers as the second lie in as many minutes tripped off his lips.
Sophia changed the subject. “The taxi is booked to pick you up just after four. It shouldn’t take you long to get to the offices.”
“I guess you haven’t seen the snow here then?” Joel glanced out of the window to see fresh flakes falling and settling on the already compacted slush outside the hotel.
“I’ve seen a couple of things on the news, but it’ll be fine. At least you’re already staying over tonight if there are any issues.” Joel heard Sophia rustling some papers at her end. “Got to go, Rupert needs me. Oh, and Joel? Good luck this afternoon; I have no doubt you’ll be amazing.”
He hoped so. If he was going to earn Rupert’s wrath by not attending the Christmas party, he needed to make up for it by winning a new client.
5
Lydia needn’t have worried about being late for Sadie Starr. As she and Stewart set off, Lydia received a message with a last-minute change of location and they had to drive to Edinburgh instead of Stirling Castle, which had been the initial choice for the shoot. The woman then kept her and the rest of the hair and stylist team waiting for almost two hours, before she finally deigned to arrive. Her PA, who had apologised for all the adjustments and promised them additional hours payments, kept them all updated with Sadie’s progress, using the inclement weather as an excuse, not to mention the fact that the latest of Sadie’s scandals had hit the Scottish tabloids that morning and she needed to do some firefighting.
In the end, they had run over and were late finishing. At the end of the shoot, Sadie took Lydia to one side and praised her for stepping in at short notice, telling her she’d done a good job. She finished up by saying she’d recommend Lydia to her friends. It was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time and her mood lifted.
Having been inside another hotel all day, Lydia had no clue about the state of the weather and when she came to leave, she was taken aback by the deluge of snow that had hit.
Stewart was waiting for her outside. She dashed across the path to him, her feet slipping and sliding all over the place as she tried to control her suitcase and handbag. Just as she was about to completely lose her footing, she reached the car and tossed her case into the backseat, not caring that it might mess up her carefully organised products.
“I’m so sorry!” She sank into the front seat. “Have you been waiting long?”
The chauffeur nodded. “I waited inside to start with. The team were kind enough to let me have some tea and scones as they knew you were going to be late.” He frowned as he looked at her. “Where’s your other suitcase?”
“What other suitcase?”
“You had two when I picked you up yesterday. I meant to say something to you this morning, but what with all the palaver of Sadie changing locations, I completely forgot to mention it.”
