Page 86 of The Work Husband

I know your job at Devereaux Partners is amazing and you must love it there. But if you were thinking of ever leaving, perhaps I could tempt you? Money’s not an object, within reason, and we’d happily match or exceed your current remuneration package (Okan told me I should put that bit in!).

Please do reply and let me know what you think.

Love and best wishes,

Zahra

I didn’t reply to her email. Instead, I forwarded it to my personal account and then deleted it from my Devereaux Partners’ inbox. Then I shut down my computer, picked up the box with my stuff in it and left the office without saying another word to Jasper or Jamie.

Feeling like I was walking on air, I got the lift to the ground floor. I said goodbye to the receptionist, pushed open the door and stepped out into the street, temporarily blinded by the sunshine.

Rummaging one-handed in my bag for my sunglasses, I wasn’t looking where I was going. There was a thump as the corner of the box in my arm collided with something, and a voice said, ‘Ouch!’

‘Sorry!’ I looked up.

Sam was standing there, smiling down at me.

FORTY-TWO

My sunglasses clattered to the pavement. Sam bent down and picked them up, hooked them carefully over my ears, smoothed back a lock of my hair that was stuck underneath one of the lenses and took the box from me.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, once I’d recovered the power of speech.

‘I came to… I was going to…’ he stammered, then didn’t conclude whatever it was he’d been going to say and finished, ‘But it looks like you’re off out somewhere?’

My giddiness at having walked out of my job was enhanced by giddiness at seeing him, making me feel like I’d just necked two glasses of champagne without pausing for breath. I started to giggle.

‘That’s one way of putting it,’ I said. ‘I’ve just left Devereaux Partners.’

‘What? As in quit?’

‘Correct. Come on – let’s walk.’ I grabbed his free arm and almost dragged him off, heading nowhere in particular – just away from Jasper and Jamie and everything they represented. ‘Basically, I had to, or he’d have fired me.’

‘Fired you? Why? What did you do?’

I explained about Cormac Kennedy and Gossip Guru and Trent and all the rest of it.

‘But that’s outrageous.’ Sam gestured angrily and almost dropped the box. ‘You should sue their arses off at an employment tribunal.’

‘Maybe. But I’m not going to. The funny thing is, Sam…’

By now, we’d reached the edge of St James’s Park. With unspoken agreement, we walked in and sat down on a bench under a plane tree. Its leaves cast dappled shadows on Sam’s face. He listened as I spoke to him – really listened, his head tilted to one side and his eyes serious.

‘The funny thing is, I kind of tried to fight to make Jasper sack Jamie instead. Because I knew it was all his fault. But I didn’t really care. I’d already decided that I was going to leave and go back to working as a yacht stewardess.’

Sam’s eyes widened and darkened with surprise. ‘When did you decide to do that?’

‘Um… about half an hour before Jasper called me and Jamie into his office.’ I laughed. ‘It was one of those carefully thought out things, you know, weighing up the pros and cons and all that stuff.’

‘It certainly sounds like that.’ But he didn’t laugh.

‘Only now,’ I went on, ‘I’ve had this email from Zahra.’

‘Zahra?’

The fact that he didn’t recognise her name made me realise how little we’d been communicating over the past couple of months. Normally, I’d have told him anecdotes about my work all the time, making him laugh or rage with annoyance on my behalf. But more recently, it felt like all we’d talked about was Ava and Jamie and the slow-motion implosion of our relationship.

‘She’s a client,’ I explained, ‘but a nice one. And she’s looking for – I suppose you’d call it a private secretary. I don’t have many details yet, but it sounds perfect, and she and her fiancé are… well, they’re almost normal. Apart from being really rich.’