Still Me (Me Before You #3) - Jojo Moyes Page 0,148
woman in the marketing department at Women’s Wear Daily. She said she’s going to ask them to find out if they have any entry-level vacancies. She seems pretty confident she can do something for you. What do you say?’ He was beaming, like he’d presented me with the Holy Grail.
I took a swig of my drink. ‘Sure.’
‘There you go. Exciting!’ He kept looking at me, eyebrows raised.
‘Yay!’ I said finally.
He squeezed my shoulder. ‘I knew you’d be happy. Right. Let’s get back out there. It’s the family races next. Want a lime and soda? I don’t think we can really be seen to be drinking more than one glass of the champagne. Here, let me take that for you.’ He put my glass on the tray of a passing waiter and we headed out into the sunshine.
Given the elegance of the occasion and the spectacular nature of the setting, I should really have enjoyed the next couple of hours. I had said yes to a new experience, after all. But in truth I felt increasingly out of place among the corporate couples. The conversational rhythms eluded me so that when I was pulled into a casual group I ended up seeming either mute or stupid. Josh moved from person to person, like a guided managerial missile, at every stop his face eager and engaged, his manner polished and assertive. I found myself watching him and wondering again what on earth he saw in me. I was nothing like these women, with their glowing peach-coloured limbs and their uncreasable dresses, their tales of impossible nannies and holidays in the Bahamas. I followed in his wake, repeating his lie about my nascent fashion career and smiling mutely and agreeing that yes, yes it is very beautiful and thank you, ooh, yes, I’d love another glass of champagne and trying not to notice Josh’s bobbing eyebrow.
‘How are you enjoying the day?’
A woman with a red-haired bob so shiny it was almost mirrored stood beside me as Josh laughed uproariously at the joke of some older man in a pale blue shirt and chinos.
‘Oh. It’s great. Thank you.’
I had become very good by then at smiling and saying nothing at all.
‘Felicity Lieberman. I work two desks away from Josh. He’s doing really well.’
I shook her hand. ‘Louisa Clark. He certainly is.’ I stepped back and took another sip of my drink.
‘He’ll make partner within two years. I’m certain of it. You two been dating long?’
‘Uh, not that long. But we’ve known each other a lot longer.’
She seemed to be waiting for me to say more.
‘Well, we were sort of friends before.’ I had drunk too much and found myself talking more than I had intended. ‘I was actually with someone else, but Josh and I, we kept bumping into each other. Well, he says he was waiting for me. Or waiting until me and my ex split up. It was actually kind of romantic. And a bunch of stuff happened, then – bang! Suddenly we were in a relationship. You know how these things go.’
‘Oh, I do. He’s very persuasive, is our Josh.’
There was something in her laugh that unsettled me. ‘ “Persuasive”?’ I said, after a moment.
‘So did he do the whispering gallery on you?’
‘Did he what?’
She must have caught my look of shock. She leant towards me. ‘Felicity Lieberman, you are the cutest girl in New York.’ She glanced at Josh, then backtracked. ‘Oh, don’t look like that. We weren’t serious. And Josh really does like you. He talks about you a lot at work. He’s definitely serious. But, Jeez, these men and their moves, right?’
I tried to laugh. ‘Right.’
By the time Mr Dumont had made a self-congratulatory speech and couples had begun to float off to their homes I was sinking under an early hangover. Josh held open the door of a waiting taxi but I said I’d walk.
‘You don’t want to come back to mine? We could grab a bite to eat.’
‘I’m tired. And Margot has an appointment in the morning,’ I said. My cheeks were aching from all the fake smiling.
His eyes searched my face. ‘You’re mad at me.’
‘I’m not mad at you.’
‘You’re mad at me because of what I said about your job.’ He took my hand. ‘Louisa, I didn’t mean to upset you, sweetheart.’
‘But you wanted me to be someone else. You thought I was beneath them.’
‘No. I think you’re great. It’s just you could do better, because you have so much potential and I –’