Page 74 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“Two weeks without me and you already forgot that that’s what I’m here for.” Nicki was already pulling Zoe’s trolley and carefully set it against the living room wall, next to the couch. “Do you want a cup of tea?”
Nicki wasn’t wrong. Zoe did forget how much easier her life was with her assistant around. “Yes please.” Zoe buried her face back into one of the couch cushions.
A moment later, Nicki came back with a small tray with a cup of tea and biscuits on it. Zoe sat up and took the warm cup between her hands.
“Pass me your phone,” Nicki directed. Zoe obeyed, sliding it across the coffee table. As if on cue, it lit up with Harry’s name and picture. Nicki hit the decline button decisively, and smiled up at Zoe. “I reckon I can do that twice more before he gets really pissed off. Plenty of time for some tea and a chat before we get into all that. Normally I’d ask you how the wedding was, but…”
“Oh god, Nicki, it was awful.” She pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“I have no idea what happened. We spent days making sure everything was perfect. Then guests showed up, Adam showed up, they walked down the aisle, Adam said his vows, then Yasmine totally broke down and ran away. Next thing we know, she’s driving away from her own wedding with another man.”
Nicki was wide-eyed behind her glasses. “And I thought social media was exaggerating.”
“It was a mess, Nicki. I’d never seen that before.” Zoe took a long sip of her tea then put it down and leaned against the back of her couch.
Nicki nodded. “I see that.” She paused. “How did things go with Julie?”
Zoe groaned internally, trying to keep her face neutral. “It was fine.”
“That’s it? Fine?” She lifted her brow. “The last time you called me, you were-”
“Nicki, I’m sorry. Can we please not talk about this right now?” Zoe buried her face in her hands. Everything was terrible.
“No worries, I understand.” Nicki said apologetically. “I’ll let you rest for a bit if you’d like? We can call Harry later.”
“Thanks Nicki.” Zoe stood up and stretched. “I’ll quickly jump in the shower then.” Zoe walked towards the stairs before turning around. “Did social media and the tabloids blame me for this wedding debacle or something?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know…” Zoe put her hands on her hips. “That I have a wedding curse or something… Since they think my fiancé is cheating on me.” Zoe realised the irony of it. Tom was being dragged as the unfaithful one when she was the one who threw it all away for one shag with a woman who wouldn’t even look at her now.
“Not yet, but I can call the tabloids and tell them to run that story if you want.” Nicki looked puzzled but made the best of it.
Zoe chuckled. “Why don’t you do that.”
* * *
“Zoe, love, I don’t understand why you don’t like the idea.”
Zoe was sitting at her oak kitchen table next to Nicki, glowering at the phone on speaker between them.
“For starters, Harry, this is not something I can just decide on my own.”
“Then talk to Tom about it. This will also absolutely save him, because d’you know what I heard this morning at the coffee shop? That Tom was a massive prick for cheating on poor Zoe.”Harry was talking like he didn’t want anyone else to be able to talk over him. Zoe could picture him sitting in his lofty Mayfair office, with one of his expensive suits on. ‘The Italian one’ like he would tell her.
“Besides, I don’t see what the problem is! You two are getting married no matter what, what’s the problem with tying the knot a bit sooner? You don’t even have anything planned yet, anyway.”
Zoe wanted to strangle Harry. She knew he was right. As far as Harry was concerned, all of these publicity problems could be neatly solved by just bumping up the wedding date. Both she and Tom could save their reputations. But this was her life, and there was a whole lot more to it than her public image. She should just be able to shut this all down, but she didn’t know how.
“The new show’s coming out in a couple months,” Harry continued, sensing that the agreement he was hunting for was close at hand. “That would also be great publicity for that.Zoe just walked down the aisle and now you can see her on TV!Think about it, Zoe.”
“I’ll think about it, Harry.” Zoe exhaled, feeling defeated.
“That’s all I’m asking, Zoe. But not for too long, of course! We’ve got to get out ahead of these things. You’ll call me back when you’ve talked to your fiancé?”
“Yes of course, we’ll talk soon. Bye, Harry.” Zoe almost slammed her finger on the hang up button on the phone’s screen.
