Page 34 of The Island in Bramble Bay
DESPITE FEELING NAUSEOUS all morning, seeing Jessica made Charlie feel like he was actually going to puke. She was sitting at the conference table talking to someone, presumably a lawyer. Jared was stood across the room, looking at her nervously. As soon as he spotted Charlie and Maggie, he headed over to them and joined them in a huddle near the door.
‘What’s she doing here?’ Charlie asked in a low voice.
‘Christ,’ said Jared, ‘I didn’t think she’d have the nerve to show.’ He visibly slumped before saying, ‘I gave her some shares when we were together. She was upset about what had happened and about you leaving, said she’d been left destitute or whatever. I was partying way too hard, I didn’t think about what I was doing… ’
Charlie couldn’t believe she was there. In the same room. It was one thing having a drink with Jared to clear the air but the way she’d betrayed him was worse. She hadn’t cared that he’d had a breakdown, she’d just carried on her affair with Jared as if nothing had happened. Charlie could no longer give her what she wanted so she had turned to Jared instead, as if they were interchangeable. And now she was here when he’d thought she was out of his life for good. The only link he had to her now should have been sorting out the stuff she’d sent to his house in Lake Tahoe.
Maggie hadn’t said anything since they’d entered the conference room. She was staring at Jessica as if she were in a trance and there was no one else in the room. Jessica was dressed up to the nines in a red bodycon dress, her blonde hair in perfect waves down her back and wearing more make-up than Maggie had worn in the whole of her life, he thought grimly. What had he seen in her? She looked like a doll. There was nothing natural about her at all and if Charlie also found himself staring at her it was because it was incredible to him that he’d ever found her attractive.
Jessica looked up and fixed her gaze on him with a self-satisfied smile. He forced himself to nod in acknowledgement but that was as far as he was prepared to go. There weren’t going to be any fake friendly greetings. He took Maggie’s hand and steered her over to the far side of the room where there was a table set up for the signing. He just wanted it over now.
‘You must be Charlie?’ A slightly dishevelled guy in a suit was grinning at him.
‘Yes. Charlie Mackenzie, nice to meet you,’ he said, assuming that the man must be a lawyer.
‘I’m Ed from Cumulus.com. I’ve heard a lot about you and seen a lot of your work. You’ve left an impressive legacy here.’
‘Thanks,’ said Charlie uncertainly.
‘I’d love to talk to you today, after the signing. Are you staying in town?’ He looked at Charlie and Maggie questioningly. His face was open and friendly. Charlie liked him.
‘We’re staying in San Francisco but we’re leaving for Tahoe tomorrow.’ He looked at Maggie who had raised her eyebrows and was half-smiling at him. ‘I guess we could postpone that for a day or so?’
‘We definitely could,’ she said.
‘Ed, this is Maggie Cassidy.’ He felt awkward not knowing how to refer to her. He could say ‘girlfriend’ but they weren’t kids and it wasn’t a bit of fun. ‘Partner’ sounded too formal, so he was at a bit of a loss.
‘You’re British!’ he said, stating the obvious. Charlie smiled. It wasn’t the first time she’d had that reaction since they’d arrived.
‘I am. Nice to meet you.’
‘So you don’t mind me stealing him away from you for a couple of hours?’
‘Not at all.’ Maggie smiled and squeezed Charlie’s hand.
An expensively-suited lawyer shepherded Charlie and Jared over to the table along with a man and woman from Cumulus.com. Despite Jared looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights every time he caught Jessica’s eye, he managed to remember to introduce them to Charlie. Ethan and Jacquie were clearly very excited about their acquisition and were a little solicitous which Charlie didn’t take to but Jared seemed to like.
Luckily Jared had been through the contract with their lawyers and passed on the comments to Charlie which he’d reviewed on the first night they’d arrived after Maggie was asleep. The lawyers from Cumulus.com briefly outlined the main sales clause before they invited Charlie to sign first, then Jared followed by Ethan and Jacquie. There was one television camera from Bloomberg to capture the moment but thankfully no reporters. Then from nowhere, someone popped some champagne and the conference room erupted with cheers and congratulations on all sides.
‘Charlie.’
He turned around to find Jessica standing next to him. He caught sight of Maggie talking to Ed out of the corner of his eye. She didn’t appear to have noticed.
‘Jessica. How are you?’ He didn’t care how she was, he was just trying to avoid the conversation veering into anything personal. Formal was best.
‘Really good, Charlie, and it’s great to see you.’ She stood in front of him, smiling as if nothing bad had ever happened between them. ‘You’re with her?’ She moved her eyes briefly to glance at Maggie.
‘Maggie, yes.’
She looked amused as she said, ‘Interesting, Charlie. Not your usual type.’
‘What do you want, Jessica,’ said Charlie, unwilling to enter into a conversation on how she and Maggie compared with each other. ‘Why did you come here?’
‘I wanted to see you.’ She touched his arm as if nothing had changed between them. Charlie drew away from her so quickly that he spilt the champagne he was holding.
‘There’s nothing to say. I think you should leave.’
‘Well, I’ll be seeing you then,’ she smiled, appearing annoyingly unruffled, and swept out of the room. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and hoped he never saw her again.
