‘What? Why?’
‘I was assigned the project on the same day she and Will got engaged. There was no way I could steal her thunder – ruin one of the happiest moments of her life by bringing up my dead sister.’
Tom shut his eyes, as if in pain. ‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah. And now she’s so thrilled all the time – even when she isn’t talking about the wedding I know she’sthinkingabout it. I keep catching her staring at her ring, wiggling her fingers so it catches the light. There’s never going to be a good time to raise this. Jack reckons that, once we get the account, we’ll be moved on again,’ she continued. ‘He says that within a few weeks all this will be done, at which point I can stop thinking about the past. I think he’s right.’
Tom’s eyebrows met above the bridge of his nose, which he was also pinching.
‘Well. As long asJackthinks this all makes sense.’
‘Hey,’ Rachel said. ‘Don’t be like that. Itdoesmake sense. This way I don’t have to worry Anna – and I don’t have to explain to a load of people that I’m not actually an only child, I’m a bereaved one.’
‘I’m sure it suits Jack perfectly that he’s the only one in your office who knows about Lizzy,’ Tom said bitterly. His grey-blue eyes were flashing in a way Rachel had never seen before. ‘I’ve no doubt he’s very pleased to be comforting you through every difficult moment on this project – happy he’s the only one you can confide in. And I’m absolutely sure I knowwhy, even if you can’t see it.’
‘What do you mean?’ Rachel asked, irked by the implication that she was naive.
‘I mean I hope you’re reading him right,’ Tom said. ‘I hope you’re sure he’s acting for your benefit. I hope you understand what’smotivatinghim. He strikes me as someone who’s excellent at turning any situation to his advantage – using it to further an agenda best known only to himself.’
‘You’ve never even met him!’ Rachel cried. ‘And I’m not an idiot – I know how he operates. I’m not going to fall for him a second time.’
She’d meant to say ‘fall forita second time’. She paled as she realised her mistake.
‘Hmm,’ Tom mumbled, averting his gaze and smashing a pistachio shell into tiny shards. ‘Sounds like you have it all in hand.’
Rachel snapped a chicken bone in two and threw it aside. She stared at him miserably.
‘I don’t think we should talk about this any more,’ she said. ‘But please – trust me when I say that I’m keeping a safe distance between myself and Jack. Nothing’s happening.’
Tom rubbed his eyes, suddenly looking tired, then tugged on a thick wave of hair as if he were trying to yank some unpleasant thought from his brain. ‘You don’t need to justify yourself to me, Rachel. You’re my friend, I care about you and I’d hate to see you hurt – but let’s be honest, it’s none of my business who you date.’
He sounded stoical, almost cold, and for some reason his words felt like a punch in the stomach.
‘No, I guess it’s not,’ she said, her voice small and sorry for itself. ‘This is depressing. I don’t want to fight. We need to talk about something else.’
She munched on another chicken wing, trying to work out what to say.
‘If you were a Zack Lanson song, which one would you be?’ she finally asked, and Tom’s lips twitched – the corners tilting up far enough that she knew they’d soon be okay again.
‘Tough one,’ he said a moment later, ‘but maybe “Hold My Hand, Crush My Heart”. Either that or “What Do You See in Him”?’
Rachel laughed, ignoring the barb – allowing him the final word because he was funny.
‘I’m definitely “False Filter”,’ Rachel said. ‘How could I not love a song about the evils of Instagram?’
They both laughed, easy with one another again.
‘How are things with Oscar, by the way?’ Rachel asked after they’d finished their food.
‘Not too bad,’ Tom said. ‘As predicted, he was in deep with Christine after Snakebitegate – but she saw sense once she finished accusing me of leading him astray … Realised that it was actually pretty lucky we were around to help him.’
‘Too bloody right,’ Rachel agreed.
Much later, lying awake in bed, Rachel wondered how a fun evening’s banter had descended into something that felt perilously close to a row – an argument she couldn’t help worrying she and Tom had put off temporarily, rather than properly concluded.
She also asked herself how she’d ended up defending one man she should hate to another whose judgement she’d always trusted … Someone who’d never been anything but a strong, supportive friend to her – even if his honesty was occasionally tough to take.
Tom would never like nor trust Jack; that much was clear. Meanwhile, Jack certainly wasn’t keen on the version of Tom he’d imagined as Rachel’s boyfriend. She thanked her lucky stars that, despite the numerous ways it had already screwed her this year, the universe hadn’t seen fit to put the two of them in a room together.