Public Property (18 page)

‘
OK, let’s say his intentions are
honourable
.
I
t doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t tell me about it
.
And
I really want to know why
.’

‘
Nick, please sit back down. I’ve
apologized.
I should have told you
.
W
hat else can I say?
’

‘
I don’t know
.’

‘
Look, he wants to meet me for lunch tomorrow
. W
hy don’t you come with me and then you can hear for yourself what he has to say
.’

And then the awkwardness would be halved and she wouldn’t have to worry about keeping secrets.

‘
So
,
you’re meeting him again
.
W
ell
,
I suppose I should be grateful y
ou’ve mentioned it
.’

‘
Now you
’
re just being pathetic
. A
nd I really don’t see why all this is so important
.’
She began to pack away the Chinese food. She’d deserved the dressing down for keeping her meeting with Jonathan from him, but how long was she going to have to pay for it?

‘
Well
,
it was obviously important enough for you to hide it from me
.’

‘
For God’s sake!
I didn’t hide it from you. If I was
really
hiding it from you I wouldn’t be telling you now. Do you know something?
Perhaps I didn’t tell you because
I knew you
’
d react like this
.’

‘
What
d
’you
mean?’

‘
I knew
you
’
d be jealous
.’

That’s what all this was about. If this had been about anyone else offering the money, other than the boy she’d pledged to marry years ago, they wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

‘
I
’
m not jealous
.’

‘
Well
,
you
’
re doing a pretty good impression of someone who is
.’

‘
And if I remember correctly
,
you made lying to people a full
-
time occupation not so long ago
.’

The comment was well below the belt and she felt her temper erupt and take over. She slapped him,
hard across the face and then stepped back
in shock at what she’d done.

He
took in a sharp breath and just looked back at her, unmoving.

She
pushed past him
,
ran out of the gazebo and
raced
off up the road.

S
he
caught her breath and put a hand to her chest. The blood was pumping so hard she could hear it echoing in her ears.  She
push
ed
open the door o
f
Casey’s
diner.

Blond
-
haired Casey was wiping down the surfaces and removing some doughnuts from display when Freya arrived at the counter.

‘
Hey
,
Freya, no doctor’s outfit tonight
,’ Casey asked, smiling.

‘
No and I can see you
’re missing a gorilla suit. C
an I have a large cup of tea and a blueberry muffin?
’

‘
Doughnuts are two for one
.
I
t’s that time of night
,’
he offered
, indicating the remaining doughnuts on display.

‘
I’ll take four and some chocolate sauce
.’

‘
I’ll bring it over
.’

She
went across the room and sat down at her
favourite
table in the corner
by the jukebox
. Billy Ray Cyrus was playing.
Inappropriate honky
tonk
that didn’t suit her mood.

The bell above the diner door rang
a
nd
she
raised her head
.
Nicholas entered and s
he hurriedly put her head back down and pretended to be engrossed in the menu.

‘
Hey
,
Nick
.
H
ow you doing?
’
Casey asked as he appeared from the kitchen and came back to the counter.

‘
I’m fine
,
Casey thanks
. C
ould I get a coffee
?
S
trong black?
’

‘
Sure, I’ll bring it over
.’

He
walked over to Freya’s table and stood in front of her
.
His presence made her look up.

‘
Is this seat taken?
’
he asked, indicating the chair opposite her.

‘
Yes
.’

‘
Well I don’t see anyone sitting there
and I have Chinese food
.’ He shook the bag at her.

‘
I’m expecting someone. I’ve just called Jonny and told him to come right over and have his way with me on this very table
.’

He
sat down opposite her
,
reached out and took her hands in his.

‘
I’m sorry
.’
His tone was soft.

‘
Sorry for what?
’

‘
For
what I said
and f
or being stupid.
You were right.
I was jealous
.’

‘
I’m sorry I hit you
.’

‘I’m sorry I provoked you.
I should know by now you have a mean right hook
.’

‘
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Jonny the minute he walked in
to
the office
.’

‘
I think I overreacted because
of who it was
. He was the only man you trusted to tell
everything to before you met me.
H
e was important to you, you loved him
.’

‘
I loved him when I was seventeen
.
I don’t love him now
.
A
nyway, you have to trust me.
’

She looked across at him.
Her handsome fiancé, the man who graces magazine covers and wore swimwear on
David Letterman.

‘H
ow bizarre is this conversation?
You
’
re
the one
idolised
by millions of women, most of whom are a thousand times better looking than me
.
You
snog
a diff
erent actress every other month.
I
f there
’
s anyone who should be having a fit of jealousy here it’s me
.’

‘
One large tea, one coffee and four doughnuts
with
chocolate sauce
.’
Casey put the order on the table.

‘
You ordered doughnuts
,’
Nicholas remarked.

‘
I was depressed
.’

‘
Can I share?
’

‘
I suppose
so
.
B
ut no hogging the sauce
.’ She picked up a doughnut, tore some off and dipped it in the sauce.

‘
Listen, if Jonny
’
s genuine about donating all that money and time to your project
,
I
do
think it’s great
,’
Nicholas told her.

‘
Well I was suspicious of his intentions at first
,
but the trade off was I have to take some photographs of some of his hotels
.’

‘
That doesn’t sound like too bad a deal
.’

‘
No and besides that
,
I
really
think he feels bad about the way he treated me. Everyone has a moment
in their life when
they take stock, think back,
regret things
and want to try and put them right
.
P
erhaps this is his
.’

‘
So
,
are we friends again?
’

‘
Well that depends on how many doughnuts you
’
re planning on eating
.’

‘
I thought I might order a
chilli
burger with everything on it actually
.’

‘
Make that two and we’re
BFFs.’

After
food
at
Casey’s, they
got ice creams
f
rom the ice cream
parlour
and ate them on the walk back to their home.
One of the joys of living in America was ice cream available all year round. Even though the ni
ght was almost as frosty as their
dessert, it still tasted good.

‘
He has a crap car
,’ Freya said, her mouth full of ice cream.

‘
Who?
Jonny?
I thought you said he was a millionaire
.’

‘
He is, but he
obviously has bad taste in cars
.
A
nd
h
e had a driver
.’
She laughed at the absurdity.

‘
Then he obviously classed meeting you as an official function
.’

‘
Either that or he
’s just plain lazy. L
isten, I spoke to Emma today and told her we
’
d set a date for the wedding
.’

‘
And can she make it?
’

‘
Well
,
she actually came
up with a different suggestion.’

‘
Oh?
’

‘
She thought we might consider getting married in Corfu
.’

‘
And what did you think about that idea?
’

‘
What do
you
think?
’

‘
I asked first
.’
He smiled.

‘
I quite like the idea. It
’
s probably one of the only places in the world where we might actu
ally get some privacy.
W
e could stay with Emma and
Yiannis
at the villa and we could spend our honeymoon there
,
visiting all the places we didn’t get to
see
together last time
.’

‘
I think it sounds like a fantastic idea
.’

‘
S
o shall we do it? The beach might be
out,
it’s warmer than here but…’

‘
How about
up at the fort
?
A
t sunset
.’

‘
That sounds perfect
.’

She touched his cheek with her hand and moved forward to kiss him.