Hi Zack, I’m coming home! Lost my phone, so don’t have your number. Call me at Mum’s any time after the 29th August. Missed you so much and can’t wait to see you again.
All love, Meg xxxxx
Meg. The mix of emotions she was becoming all too familiar with reappeared. Zack had mentioned Meg once or twice when they’d talked about past relationships. He’d been busy building up his business, Meg had worked as a journalist on a glossy magazine and their affair had ebbed and flowed over the course of several months, until Meg had been persuaded by a girlfriend to take off on a round-the-world trip. And that was it, she had gone.
When Zack had told her, Ellie had said, ‘Did you miss her terribly?’
And he replied, ‘Yes, I kind of did.’
‘What would have happened if she’d stayed here?’
Zack had shrugged. ‘Who knows.’
Ellie gazed at the postcard and wondered what might happen now that his former girlfriend was on her way back. What was she like? Had she changed while she’d been away? Did she deserve him?
Would Zack say casually, ‘Oh, by the way, you don’t need to give up your weekend to come down with me to my sister’s wedding. I’ll be taking Meg now instead.’
Just imagining him saying those words made Ellie want to stick her fingers in her ears and go, ‘La-la-la-can’t-hear-you!’ whilst inside she felt sick with disappointment because, Joe or no Joe, the trip down to Cornwall with Zack was something she’d been looking forward to more than she would admit to a living soul.
Or Jamie.
Rrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnngggggg.
Glad of the diversion, Ellie lobbed the postcard at Zack’s in-tray. It helicoptered through the air, skidded across the envelopes already sitting there, and slid down the back of the radiator.
Was that meant to happen? The temptation to leave it there, to pretend she hadn’t seen it disappear out of sight, was huge. What if this was fate’s way of letting her know that Zack and Meg shouldn’t get back together?
OK, front door first. Opening it, Ellie came face to face with a dumpy woman in her late fifties, with pale eyes and bushy caterpillar eyebrows. She was wearing a peach crimplene blouse and a turquoise pleated skirt, and it was probably safe to assume this wasn’t another of Zack’s former girlfriends.
At least, she hoped not.
Chapter 43
‘Hello, dear, is Zack at home?’
‘Sorry, he’s away. Maybe I can help you.’
‘Oh, I do hope so! I’m Christine, dear. I used to be Zack’s PA.’
Ellie had heard all about her. Nicknamed Crimplene Christine by Zack, her skirts invariably reacted with the nylon in her tights and petticoat, creating a build-up of static charge each time she moved. Shaking hands with her, Zack had gravely explained, was a positive health hazard. Poor Elmo had been too terrified to venture into the office.
‘Come along inside. I’m Ellie. It’s lovely to meet you,’ said Ellie. At least, it was lovely so long as she wasn’t here to ask for her old job back.
‘Ah, there it is. You still have it, thank heavens for that!’
Christine was pointing to the largest of the plants on the window ledge, some temperamental creature with bright orangey-pink flowers and glossy heart-shaped leaves that was always threatening to keel over and die.
‘This one?’ Ellie moved towards it. ‘It’s yours?’
‘Not the plant. The pot it’s in. My bossy sister gave it to me for Christmas,’ Christine explained. ‘You have no idea what she’s like. Anyway, she’s coming to London tomorrow to stay for a couple of days. Before she got off the phone this morning she said, “And I hope you’re using that lovely plant pot I gave you; it had better not be hidden away in the back of a cupboard.” Well, I’m telling you, my poor heart nearly jumped out of my throat.’ She flapped her sausage fingers in dismay. ‘For a couple of seconds I couldn’t remember for the life of me what I’d done with the thing. Then it came back to me. I’d left it here. Now look, I know it’s a bit of a cheek, but do you think Zack would mind awfully if I took it home?’
Ellie managed to reassure Christine that Zack wouldn’t mind a bit. Relieved, Christine asked chattily how she was enjoying working for him. Then she started asking how Zack was, and if he was still seeing Louisa. The next thing Ellie knew, Christine had made