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‘Ilove this new hair on you.’Shetrailed her nails over his cheek. ‘Come.Ineed your advice on where to hang something.It’saVanGogh.’Reachingdown, she tookConnor’shand and pulled him after her.
Connorwidened his eyes atKrishas though sayingsave me.
Usinghand signals they’d developed over the years,Krishasked ifConnorwanted him to follow, but the sound of a crash made him turn before he could seeConnor’sreply.Themake-up artist had knocked over one of his light stands.Bythe timeKrishhad made sure the light wasn’t broken,ConnorandValentinahad disappeared.
Hefollowed the direction they’d gone, but couldn’t see them.Hetried a couple doors.Alllocked.
Throwingup his hands in capitulation,Krishreturned to packing up their kit and his swirling thoughts.Theimpending chat wasn’t the only thing onKrish’smind.Hecouldn’t stop thinking aboutFrancescaand what a sorry state she’d been in yesterday.
Shedid not look well.Hecouldn’t shake the suspicion that something was wrong with her.Nota little thing, but a big thing.Hedidn’t want to speculate on what it was; after typing nausea intoGoogleas a symptom and being confronted with a terrifying list of possibilities, he decided not to tread that road.
Unfortunately, thinking about her in any way led him down an assortment of other wormholes.Heartache, grief, anger…the memory of the day she left him sat like a black hole on his personal timeline, sucking in all the good events around it and leaving only the break-up.Shortlyafter, he’d started working forConnorand threw himself into that as a form of therapy.
Heshook his head to dispel the memories, realising that he had been staring into space again.Hezipped up the camera case and got to work dismantling the lights.Thinkinglike that wasn’t good for his mental health.
Besides, he had foundJess.Dependable, beautifulJess.Theyshared the same values, never argued, and both saw two kids and a dog in their future.Theydidn’t exactly have the same hobbies—Jesshad a love of crafting that he didn’t share, and some of the teddy bears in her extensive collection freaked him out in aChuckysort of way.Butaside from that, his mother and father approved of her.Hissister adored her (and had actually introduced them).Jesswas the full package.
AndKrishloved her.
Aslong as he hadJessto tether him, he could handle being a friend toFrancesca, even though he doubted he’d see her again—which was a good thing, really.Sincerunning into her at the wedding, the movie of their relationship had been on a constant loop in his head.Thefiery sex.Theirintense connection.Thesurprise ending.
Hejust wished he didn’t feel this need to take care of her.Whydid her happiness matter to him?Hesighed as he flattened a lighting stand.Itwas all academic.Shewasn’t going to be working with him (thankfully), so none of this postulating mattered.Hewasn’t her boyfriend; he wasn’t even herfriend.Francescawould have to take care ofFrancesca.
Shewas a stranger to him now.
Whydid that thought make him so sad?
Itwastwo o’clock by the time they were packed and heading back to the studio.Staringout of the van window,Krishtried to work up the courage to say the words: ‘Iwant to start my own business.’Itdidn’t help that, every time he imagined how this conversation might go, it ended withConnorsaying good riddance and breaking all communication, takingStellaandGracewith him.Krishwould miss them, too.
Helicked his lips for the hundredth time.Water.That’swhat he needed.Hesearched his bag for his bottle and took a long, deep drink.Asliver of liquid snaked down the wrong pipe and he spluttered, clamping his jaw closed so he didn’t spit all over the car.
‘Youall right?’ askedConnor, glancing over quickly before returning his gaze to the road.
‘Fine, fine.’Henoticed a red mark on his boss’s collar. ‘Hey, you’ve got some lipstick…’
‘Where?’Connorflicked down the visor and located the offending mark. ‘Shit.Goodspot.Stellaalready hatesValentina.Thiswould be the last thingIneed.’
Fora moment,Krishwondered how that lipstick had gotten there.Hadanything happened betweenConnorandValentinawhen they went out of the room?Surelynot.Eventhough in the past,Connorhad dated a lot ofScandinavianmodels—includingValentina’sfriend,Galina—all of that was pre-Stella.Connorwould never cheat on his wife.
Theywere the epitome of couple goals.
‘God, yeah,’ saidKrish, just to say something.Iwant to start my own business.Allhe had to do was open his mouth and let the words pour out.Shouldhe do it now?
Whatabout…now?
……………………………….Now?
ThegreyLondonpavements sped past.Whycouldn’t he just say it?Histongue sat like a potato in his mouth.Themuscles that controlled his lips twitched.Hestarted drumming his hands on his legs.
Connorstopped at a red light. ‘Thatwoman is exhausting.’
‘Who?’
‘Valentina.’
‘Oh, yeah.Yeah.’
‘Butshe’s one of my highest spending portrait clients, so…’Thelight changed and he accelerated. ‘Actually, she’s offered to help me get some tear sheets for my new portfolio.Herbest friend is a picture editor atVogueScandinavia.Howdo you feel about shooting inStockholm?’
