Page 43 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Hey, Ed.’ They shared a slightly awkward hug that involved a lot of back-slapping.
‘Look, I don’t want you to think I’m throwing you in at the deep end but I’ve gathered together the team that’s worked on the project so far to help get you up to speed.’
‘Okay, great idea.’ Charlie followed Ed to the glass box of a conference room where there were six people sat around the table.
One of them was Jessica.
Charlie put a hand on Ed’s arm, stopping him before he strode in.
‘Is Jessica Martinez part of the team?’
‘Sure is. We’ve collaborated with her company, Digipixel, on the photo-specific algorithm.’
So Jessica’s company was an essential part of the work.
‘You okay, Charlie? I thought she was a friend of yours. Wasn’t she at your party in Tahoe?’
‘It’s a long story.’ He wasn’t going to get into the history of his relationship with Jessica.
‘That’s an “it’s complicated” kind of comment, Charlie, so I’m going to deduce from that that you guys used to date or something similar. I don’t need to know the details.’ He held his hands up to stop Charlie from beginning to explain, not that he was. ‘You know I’d do almost anything to keep you here and I could even stretch that to getting a different company to help us out with the algorithm but they’re the best. If there’s any way you can give it a chance, at least for a bit, I’d love that.’
Charlie sighed, wondering if he was putting himself in an impossible situation before he’d even started. ‘Fair enough. I guess we’ll see how it goes.’
‘Appreciate it.’ Ed slapped him on the back and headed into the conference room.
‘I’m sure you all know Charlie Mackenzie already,’ he said as he sat down at the head of the table and gestured for Charlie to take the same spot at the other end.
Charlie purposely kept his gaze away from Jessica, not wishing to see the self-satisfied smile that had been on her face every time he’d seen her since he’d been back. But he couldn’t avoid her forever as she introduced herself as if they’d never met, part of the general introductions with everyone around the table doing the same. She spoke professionally and eloquently about the work her company had done and Charlie felt himself begin to relax. Perhaps she had got the message at the party and had accepted that there would never be anything between them.
They broke for lunch and Ed dashed off to take a phone call before he and Charlie headed out for food. As everyone else left the conference room, Charlie pulled out his phone checking yet again for a message from Maggie. She’d texted to let him know she was back on Bramble Island and to thank him for organising the car that picked her up from the airport. He’d replied with a little more emotion than her perfunctory message to him and had heard nothing back. It hurt, but at the same time he understood that she needed space. He knew he had let her down and that also hurt. More so now that things weren’t feeling as amazing as they had a few days ago.
‘Charlie?’
He swallowed a sigh and turned towards Jessica who had hung back, presumably to catch him alone.
‘Jessica.’
‘I know that you would probably prefer I wasn’t involved in the project and I completely understand that you might find it difficult to work together.’
That was an understatement.
‘Ed’s willing to find another company for the photo algorithm if it doesn’t work out.’ A bit of a stretch of the truth but it was enough to make Jessica’s eyes widen and the colour that wasn’t down to make-up drain from her cheeks.
‘Oh. Well I should probably say that we are the best and I’m not going to jeopardise our involvement in this by playing games. I want to apologise for what happened at the party, with your… girlfriend.’
‘Thank you. I appreciate that.’ Whether she meant it or not didn’t matter to him as long as she did the job and left him alone. A weight lifted off him and for a second he saw the Jessica he’d fallen for before she’d turned into a money-grabbing cheater. ‘I had no idea you owned a company or were into this kind of work.’
‘I made some money off some shares and bought into Digipixel. They were a start-up a couple of years ago and it’s grown from there. You know me, not that technically-minded but I guess I’ve picked up quite a lot by being involved at the beginning.’
‘Well, good for you.’ Maybe now she wouldn’t need to trap another sucker for their money.
‘So we’re good, Charlie?’
‘I guess so. For now.’ He gave a half-smile and she smiled the most genuine smile he thought he’d ever seen from her. It was confusing but oddly soothing to think that maybe she was capable of being a normal person.
‘Ready, Charlie?’ said Ed, from just outside the door.
‘Sure,’ called Charlie.
