One Summer Night At the Ritz (9 page)

So this person, this Jane, went to college for a year to take her now-proficient printing skills and turn them commercial, so she might be able to move them maybe from their one-roomed boat to a new home where she might have a bed. She came back every weekend and brought food and stocked the freezer and the fridge with meals labelled for the week, she swallowed her pride and her fears of being a burden and asked Enid to pop in every day. But then this Jane had to drop out of college because, one night, her mum set sail. Just disappeared with the boat and was found drifting ten miles upstream.

‘‘I saw him.’ Was all she could say when asked why she went. ‘Who?’ this Jane had asked. ‘Your father.’

‘Mum, he’s dead.’

‘He’s not dead.’

This scrap, this snippet, had this Jane round to Enid’s bombarding her with questions. Going on and on about her father. What did she know? What was her mother not telling her? Accusing Enid of hiding her mum’s secret with her, getting so angry. Pleading with her to tell her everything she knew. And in response Enid had walked to the kitchen and opened a drawer. This Jane had been momentarily taken aback, thinking that finally, after a life-time of asking, she was going to find out something about her father, something that was in that drawer. But instead Enid had taken out a new packet of cigarettes, lit one from the stove and said,
‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She can’t live on that boat alone, Jane.’

Will’s hand brushed down her hair. ‘What did you do?’ he asked.

Jane swallowed. Aware that she’d been talking for a really long time, it was almost a shock to hear someone else’s voice. ‘I, er– I moved back,’ she said, sitting upright again, moving away from the warmth and smell of him, retying her hair. ‘She was really sick after that. And, well, there was just me and I was never going to let her be on her own.’ She leant forward and took a sip of Coke. Will stayed in exactly the same position, watching her. ‘So really it was just me,’ she said, glancing at him with a half-smile, ‘Me, Enid and my mum. Two houseboats. Enid sort of looked after me, I looked after Mum and watched out for Enid as she got older.’ She had started to ramble, nervous. ‘Quite hard to have order in a life like that,’ she said and then picked up a handful of now-cold chips and ate them to stop herself talking any more.

Will nodded. ‘I see now why my offer of money was er – not quite called for,’ he said, stretching out his arms with a yawn and then leaning forward to look at the half-eaten food.

‘No.’oShe shook her head.

‘No.’oTheir eyes met and she had to look away.

Across the room his phone started to ring.

‘Hang on, let me get that.’ Will stood up and went across the room to search through his jacket pocket and find his phone. ‘Oh god,’ he sighed before pressing Answer.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Dude, I’m right where you are,’ his brother said on the other end of the line.

‘How?’ Will frowned.

‘Find My Friends,’iZeph laughed. ‘What are you doing in The Ritz anyway?’

Will scratched his forehead. Why had he ever downloaded that app? ‘I’m just, er, having dinner.’

‘OK, well I’m gonna swing by cos I’m in the area and I really need some cash.’

Will glanced down at his robe. ‘I’m not actually in the, er, restaurant.’

‘Where are you then?’ asked his brother, then he laughed. ‘Oh I get it. I’m walking up the steps now, god it’s so anal here. The guy’s got a top hat on. Jesus. OK, what room?’

‘Zeph. Just wait down there and I’ll come and meet you.’

‘No chance,’ his brother laughed again. ‘Come on, what room?’

Will put his hand over his eyes and tried to think.

‘I’m waiting,’ said his brother. ‘Hey!’ He heard him say to someone else down in the lobby, ‘Have you seen William Blackwell in here?’

‘OK, Zeph, just tell them you’re seeing Jane Williams. Jane…’ He turned to look at Jane, who was sitting defensively upright again in her seat, eyes wide trying to gauge the situation. Her feelings were unreadable; like the whole previous hour or so hadn’t happened. ‘What’s the room number?’ he asked, reluctant.

‘Well, well, well, what have we here?’eZeph took his sunglasses off as he sauntered into the room and tucked them into the pocket of his leather jacket.

Will had just managed to pull on his damp suit trousers and almost-dry shirt but he hadn’t had time to put his shoes on.

When he’d said his brother was popping in, Jane had looked confused and said, ‘How did he know you were here?’

‘There’s this stupid app where your friends can track where you are. He put it on my phone ages ago because he thought it was funny. I’ve never deleted it.’

She’d raised a brow as if it sounded like the stupidest thing in the world to have on your phone and got up to make a cup of coffee.

Will had watched her deciding between which colour pod to put in the coffee machine, the cuffs on her sweater pulled down over her hands and one arm crossed in front of her body, and found himself furious with an earlier version of himself for not bothering to clean up his phone. He’d wanted to go and stand next to her, but the bang on the door had stopped him.

‘Zeph, this is Jane Williams, she’s the one who sent the diary pages – with the stuff about James Blackwell.’

Zeph stalked the room like some big cat in a safari park. ‘I bet she is. Very cosy,’ was all he said as he took in the room service, the wet towels, Will’s bare feet and Jane’s set
en garde expression
.

Will rubbed his eyes. ‘So how much money do you need?’

‘What, no friendly hello?’hZeph smirked, obviously enjoying the look of discomfort on his brother’s face. ‘There’s no hurry, Will. I’d be forgiven for thinking you were trying to rush me out. I mean, I could have a coffee,’ he said to Jane, who was now cradling a tiny white cup of espresso in her hands.

Will was about to say that he couldn’t when Jane just handed Zeph her cup – no messing about or getting riled by his attitude as Will always did. ‘Here, have this one. I don’t know why I made it, the caffeine’ll keep me up all night.’

‘And that’s not a good thing? Will, you’re losing your touch!’hZeph said with a sly half-smile. Jane looked at him as if he was a child.

Zeph tipped his head back at her, his eyes assessing her as he rolled his gum around in his mouth. ‘Mind if I take a seat?’ he asked.

Jane shrugged as if she couldn’t stop him, then started to clear away the room service plates.

Zeph flumped down on one of the big chairs, taking out a cigarette that was tucked behind his ear and toyed with it as he sipped the coffee. ‘Don’t you have people who’ll do that for you in The Ritz?’

‘I don’t need people clearing up after me,’ Jane said without looking up.

Will stepped forward, ‘Look, Zeph, come on. It’s late, what do you need?’

Zeph shrugged. ‘What have you got?’

Will got his wallet out and pulled out four fifties. ‘Two hundred cover you?’

‘That’ll do nicely,’lZeph said, reaching forward to take the proffered notes, folding them between the fingers of one hand and tucking them in the top pocket of his jacket.

Jane had paused in her clearing to watch the exchange. Will could just tell that she didn’t approve but he just wanted Zeph gone. When he glanced over she was putting the glasses back on the tray with a bemused shake of her head.

‘It’s interesting. This…’ Zeph said, pointing from Will to Jane. ‘You’re not my brother’s usual type.’

Jane straightened up with a sigh, ran her hand through her hair and kept it there, holding her fringe back. ‘I never get that phrase. Isn’t it just really rude? Like some roundabout way of saying that the person’s not good-looking enough?’

Zeph paused, seemed to think about what Jane had said and then narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Not at all,’ he said, downing the rest of the coffee, sliding the cup and saucer onto the table and standing up. ‘I really just meant you seemed quite bright. Like you have half a brain – at least.’ He winked as he walked backwards towards the door. ‘I’ll see myself out. Will, thanks for the cash. Jane, it was a pleasure.’ He did a slow nod as he looked at her. ‘Very interesting,’ he murmured. Then he was out the door and gone from the room.

‘I’m sorry,’ Will said as soon as the door clicked shut. ‘He’s a pain in the neck.’

Jane had perched on the arm of the sofa, her arms folded in front of her. ‘What does he do?’

‘Do?’ Will asked.

‘As in what job does he do?’

Will shook his head. ‘He doesn’t do anything.’

‘Why not?’

‘Can’t be bothered.’

He saw her nod as if that was all the answer she needed.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ he said.

‘Wow, that’s clever of you,’ she replied.

‘Don’t be like that. I just know that you think I shouldn’t give him money because then he’d go out and get a job and wouldn’t be such a pain, but there’s the other side to it that if I don’t give him money then he’ll get it somehow and it won’t be from doing a proper job.’

‘You’ve tested that theory?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’

‘How?’

Will rolled his shoulders back, uncomfortable. ‘He came to work for me.’

Jane snorted a laugh as if the idea was ridiculous. ‘And that didn’t go too well, I take it.’

‘No.’

‘No. He doesn’t look like the office type.’

‘If he wants a job it shouldn’t matter who it’s with. He should just be thankful for a job.’

‘Yeah right.’ She shook her head. ‘Who’s that talking? Sounds like you inherited a bit of your grandmother there, Will.’

‘Bullshit. He’s a layabout. He does nothing.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Twenty-eight.’

‘So there’s, what, ten years between you?’

‘Eleven.’

She raised a brow, ‘Really, you’re thirty-nine, are you? Interesting.’

‘What, do you think I look young or old?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not answering that.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s just for your ego.’ She got up from the sofa and wheeled the room service trolley to the front door and out into the corridor.

‘So what would you do?’ Will asked as she came back in and shut the door. ‘About Zeph.’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know him well enough,’ she said, plumping the cushions on the sofa and not looking at him. He wanted her to stop. He wanted to stop talking about bloody Zeph and go back to how it had been before he’d interrupted.

‘One thing I would say though,’ Jane said, giving one cushion a particularly harsh beating and still not looking at Will, ‘You stop treating him like he’s sixteen and then maybe he might start to grow up.’

Will ran his hand over his mouth. ‘I don’t treat him like he’s sixteen.’

‘Course you don’t.’ She stood behind the sofa, her arms crossed again. ‘Look, I think I’m going to go to bed so…’

Will glanced around the room. This wasn’t the way his evenings usually ended. This wasn’t the way he wanted this evening to end. He had no idea why he hadn’t kissed her earlier – she’d been crying out to be kissed and he’d bloody hesitated. It was the same feeling he’d had in the taxi earlier. Like her freedom and her honesty affected his conscience. Caught him off guard, knowing that she somehow expected, no deserved better than his usual which he just didn’t give. But he was hooked on her presence, he didn’t want to leave.

‘Or we could have another drink?’ he said, taking a couple of steps closer to where she was standing.

‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘No, I think I’m done. Thanks, though.’

‘Come on…’

‘No.’ Jane walked over to the door and held it open for him.

Will watched her for a second, holding her gaze, deciding whether to try one more time but the look on his face told him not to. So he sat down on the sofa, pulled on his shoes and socks, picked up his jacket and phone and sauntered to the door as if that was all cool.

As his brother said, she wasn’t his type anyway.

But then ‘his type’ hadn’t fared too well in that conversation.

He paused in the doorway. ‘It was a good evening,’ he said.

‘Yeah.’ She nodded. ‘Yes it was.’

‘OK then,’ he said, hovering, giving her a chance to change her mind.

‘OK, well, I’ll be in touch about the diary stuff. See if Martha changes her mind. Maybe you could meet or I don’t know…’

‘Yeah, no, that sounds good.’

‘OK.’

‘OK.’ He nodded.
Will, you’ve gotta leave
. ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ he asked suddenly.

She smiled. ‘Going home.’

He nodded again.

She started to back away so she could close the door.

‘Well if you have any ideas on Zeph then let me know,’ he added.
Will, just shut the hell up
.

‘Maybe treat him like an adult. Find out what interests him,’ she suggested with a shrug of her shoulder.

‘Yeah good idea.’

‘Bye, Will.

‘Bye,’ he said. The door closed on his face.

Chapter Sixteen

Jane covered her face with her hands. She’d bottled it. She’d completely bottled it. His brother arriving made her lose her nerve. She looked down and saw her hands were shaking. Zeph was a little shit – too clever and cocky for his own good – but he’d hit the nail on the head with his brother. She wasn’t good-looking enough for him. They
were
completely different. She lived on a scruffy houseboat, he was a top exec probably with a penthouse office and a view of the world. He liked order, she was all over the place – she didn’t even know yet what her own version of normality was. He lived tight and controlled and she had been taught to live like the wind. She had no tethers, no ties. He had a great big company that he carried on his back like a snail shell.

She wasn’t his type.

And yet he’d hung around on the doorstep clearly wanting to stay. She wasn’t so far out of the dating pool that she couldn’t read the most blatant of signs.

And she’d shut the door on him.

For what? What was she doing tomorrow? she thought, looking at her neatly arranged sofa cushions and the cleared-away table. Someone else would be sleeping in this room, her dream would be over. She’d be hauling her suitcase in the heat back to the Tube and back to her boat.