Chapter 8

I didn't see Noah for the rest of the day, which flew by. I spent my time coming up with publicity ideas for Bitten and I emailed Deborah Day's agent, Ed Thomas, to ask if she would meet us to discuss the publicity for her book.

After how badly the last one went?

His blunt reply didn't really bode well but I was hopeful that two fresh faces ready to help the book would win both him and his author over. I told him that Noah and I loved the book and we were committed to doing all we could in the month left until publication day, which admittedly wasn't long but it was the perfect Halloween book. I told him that if they still wanted Bitten to be a success then this was their chance to make it happen. And I ended the email with an ‘x' because everyone in publishing seemed to.

His reply came a minute later.

You're enthusiastic, I'll give you that. Debs is in London Monday. We'll come by your office at 9a.m. You have fifteen minutes.

Okay, not everyone used a kiss or an exclamation mark then. I booked the meeting in our calendars and crossed my fingers that it would go better than our email exchange.

‘Hot date tonight?' Emily said as I slipped on my jacket at home time.

‘Nope. I have officially given up dating.'

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Seriously?'

‘When you've had as many bad dates as I have… I'm concentrating on my career. Which, you know, seemed like a good idea before all of this.' I gestured to the room.

‘I get it,' Emily said as she got up from her desk to walk out with me. ‘I had some horrific experiences with dating apps. I met my boyfriend at a wedding. So, no hot dates for me either. We've been together three years.' She smiled though and I knew she was happy with him. ‘We should have work drinks next week with Gita; we can share dating horror stories.'

I smiled as we walked to the lifts and I pressed the call button.

‘I'm in,' I said. ‘Having workmates will make this experience much more bearable.'

‘Tell me about it. I think I would have lost it if they'd let Gita go. We need all the solidarity we can get. I have a feeling The Shark is only going to?—'

‘Hold please.'

The deep voice made us both jump. We turned to see Noah hurrying to catch the lift, and I saw Emily bite her lip as she realised he must have heard some of our conversation. The three us got into the lift and Emily pressed the ground floor button, the doors sliding closed as a tense silence descended inside.

I turned to Emily, not daring to look at Noah. ‘I'm actually having dinner with my parents this evening. My mum is trying a new recipe.' I found myself having to say something. ‘Which is terrifying because she always makes changes to every recipe, and they are never good.'

Emily forced out a laugh. ‘Thank God my boyfriend is a chef otherwise I'd have got scurvy by now with my cooking skills. Do you take after your mother?'

I shook my head. ‘I had to learn how to cook at a young age so we'd have something edible to eat at every meal. I would tell her it was just a side dish but I'd make it big enough to feed my mum, dad and me just in case. I've got a lasagne I made yesterday to bring with me tonight.'

The lift doors opened and we stepped out.

‘Well, have a good weekend,' Emily said, giving an awkward wave and hurrying off.

I watched her go, my stomach sinking. Finally, I glanced at Noah and saw he was looking at me, a wistful expression on his face. I started walking and he fell into step beside me. ‘Remember when your mum made a curry but she put in sugar instead of salt and we secretly rung the local Indian and ordered?—'

‘Noah,' I cut in as we reached the building doors. ‘I can't do that.'

‘Do what?' he asked, frowning.

We stepped out into the evening together. Workers hurried past us, eager to get away from work for the week. We stopped on the pavement, forcing people to weave around us.

‘Exchange funny moments, share memories…' I said, frustrated. I was all for acting like Noah was my boss and only my boss but not when he kept bringing up our past. It was too confusing. ‘When I walked in on Wednesday, you didn't even acknowledge we'd been together, and now you're talking about my mum! You either talk about what happened with us or we don't mention it at all. To use your words, think about it over the weekend and let me know.'

Before Noah could answer, I slung my handbag over my shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.

My parents lived in Surrey in the same house I grew up in. It was an hour's train ride out of London and the house was right by the station so it was super easy to get there. As soon as I left the city, I felt some of the tension in my shoulders slide away. I'd been on edge ever since I walked into the chaos at Turn the Pages two days ago, and it was a relief to get away from the office, and my ex-boyfriend. And breathe freely for the weekend.

‘There she is, publishing boss queen,' my dad called out as he opened the front door while I walked up the path, clearly having been watching at the window for me.

I did a curtsey then bounded up the steps to give him a bear hug. ‘It's been a hell of a week, Dad, and I only started on Wednesday.'

‘I've already opened a bottle of wine.' He leaned in to whisper then. ‘Please tell me you brought food; your mother is making chilli and I swear I saw her put apples in it.'

Snorting, I pointed to my bag. ‘I have lasagne, don't worry.'

‘This is why you're my favourite child.'

‘I'm your only child,' I replied as he closed the door and I walked on through to the kitchen to find my mum. I always tried to come home as much as I could but it wasn't because of only-child guilt. My parents were both parent and couple goals. ‘Something smells good,' I said, going over to my mum at the cooker and giving her a kiss. This room always smelled of the vine tomato candle Mum burned when she cooked. The lights were on as darkness had settled over the village and I instantly felt more relaxed and comfortable being home. ‘I made too much lasagne for myself so thought I might as well bring it,' I lied, taking the container out of my bag.

My mum, whose similar blonde hair to mine had a few grey streaks in now, wore a blue apron and a frazzled expression.

‘That was a good idea; we hate food going to waste, don't we?'

‘Wine?' Dad said as he went over to the kitchen table, dropping me a wink when Mum turned back to her cooking.

‘Definitely. It's been a stressful couple of days,' I said, joining him.

‘How is it going? We were so shocked about the takeover,' Mum said, looking over her shoulder at me.

Dad poured me a glass of rosé, our favourite, and I took a long sip of the delicious cold drink.

‘Mmm, I needed that. Well, I have been given an exciting project to work on, which has helped amidst all the chaos. I'm going to be working on the publicity campaign for Deborah Day's new book.'

‘Oh, I used to love her work!' Mum cried.

‘I know. Weirdly, I hadn't kept up with her books but this one is fabulous. I really want to make this a success. And the pressure is on; our new boss said we have six months to make improvements otherwise the company that took us over might just dissolve the whole thing.' I winced as I said the words ‘new boss'.

‘I looked up Matthews Wood Publishing,' Dad said as he sat down at the table. ‘Because I thought it sounded familiar.'

I sank into the chair opposite him, knowing I'd been rumbled. My parents knew Noah's real surname.

‘I had to let the news sink in.'

Dad nodded. ‘How do you feel, love? You don't have to see him much, do you?'

‘Well, I have to work on the Deborah Day project… with him.'

‘With Noah?' Mum screeched then abandoned the cooking to join us at the table. She took a gulp from her glass of wine. ‘Oh, darling, is it really worth it? Maybe you should leave. That…'

She trailed off, struggling for the word.

‘Dick?' I said. ‘I told him he was one to his face.' They both snorted at that. ‘He told me to think over whether I wanted to stay knowing he was my boss but he didn't acknowledge anything that happened with us. So, I thought fine, let's do that. I can stay six months, treat him just as my boss then find another publishing job. But then he started to say things.' I sighed. ‘About the past. Noticing things new with me. So, I told him, either he talks about what happened or we just keep on pretending not to have known each other before. So, we shall see.'

Dad whistled. ‘Well done, love. He should get down on his hands and knees and grovel for leaving you like he did.'

I smiled. Dad had taken it as a personal affront to him when Noah left. Both he and Mum had really liked him.

‘He's so different at work,' I said. ‘Demanding, gruff with people, has a no-nonsense attitude, and lacked any empathy when he let all those people go. I think working for his dad in New York has rubbed off in a serious, and bad, way.'

‘Well, at least you can count yourself better off,' Mum said, patting my arm. ‘You don't want to be with a man like that. It happened for a reason.'

‘Definitely,' Dad agreed. ‘You're doing the right thing. Stay six months for the experience and for your CV then you can walk away from Noah and never see him again.'

‘That's the plan,' I said, but there was a pang in my chest at the thought, which I really didn't want to feel. I should want to leave in six months and be free of my ex, right? I decided it was best to change the subject. ‘So, I really need to make Deborah Day's new book a hit.'

‘You will,' Dad said. ‘Let's hear your ideas over dinner.'

‘We better microwave your lasagne, Stevie; I think my chilli has burnt,' Mum admitted then. ‘Ridiculous! I followed the recipe to the letter.'

I couldn't look at my dad because otherwise I'd never have stopped laughing.