No!
‘Yes, Patrick.’ I try, and fail terribly, to sound sure. My phone starts jumping around my desk and Sam Sparro’s Black and Gold blares around the office. I frown, picking it up to see Jesse’s name flashing on the screen. He’s been messing with my phone again. My heart flutters and not in a good way. I can’t speak to him.
‘I’ll let you get that, flower. Keep that pretty little chin up. That’s an order!’
Patrick leaves me as I silence my phone, but no sooner has it stopped, it starts replaying again. I push the button to shut it up, placing it on my desk and throwing myself into some work. I find the email from Mikael. It’s brief, but there’s enough information for me to start compiling my designs.
Fifteen minutes later, my phone is still ringing and I’m getting sick of the track and sick of reaching over to shut the damn thing up. I was delusional if I thought he was going to make this simple for me. My text alert starts chiming, but instead of deleting it – which would be the sensible option – I open it.
ANSWER YOUR PHONE!
Oh, here we go. Sam Sparro starts playing up again, and I silence my phone…again. I’m never going to get any work done at this rate. Then there’s another text.
Ava, speak to me, please. What have I done?
I pop it in my top draw and try to forget about him. What has he done? Nothing really, but I’m sure, if I give him the opportunity, he will. Or will he? Oh, I don’t know. But instinct tells me to walk away.
‘Sal, if anyone calls the office I’m on my mobile, okay?’ I know that will probably be his next move.
‘Okay, Ava.’
I start cracking on with my mood boards and drawings for Mikael. I’ve not even seen the apartments yet, but I have a good idea of where I’m going with this and, surprisingly to me, I’m quite excited.
I pop to the deli at lunch time to grab a sandwich, returning to the office to eat it. I’m informed by Sally that a man called while I was out, but he didn’t leave a message. Of course, I know who it is, but I’m on a roll and I don’t want to interrupt my momentum, so I disregard his persistence. With Victoria and Tom out of the office all day on various appointments, I’m not being side tracked with drama from Victoria and seedy stories from Tom. I can’t let Jesse distract me either.
I persistently ignore my phone, except when Mikael calls to arrange a meeting for tomorrow. He’s stuck in Denmark for the rest of the week, so I’m meeting his PA at The Life Building at nine in the morning. As six o’clock hits, I’m satisfied with my productive day and glad I knuckled down. The day has flown by.
Crawling through the front door, I find an empty house. I’m absolutely shattered. It’s a combination of the after effects from my Saturday night blow out and the Jesse saga. I’m rubbish at hangovers. They last longer than the average day for me. My Monday night cheeky glass of wine will not be happening tonight.
I take myself to my room and strip down to shower, gazing up at the ceiling for strength when my phone starts ringing again. This man is not going to make this easy on me. I know it. But then I realise…it’s not Black and Gold. I’ve endured the damn track all bloody day, knocking my phone to silent each time. I’m pleasantly surprised when I see “Mum Mobile” flash up.
I listen to her for twenty minutes as she gives me the full itinerary of Dan’s journey from Australia to Heathrow. Bottom line…he’ll arrive next Monday morning, spend the week in Newquay and return to London on the Saturday. After checking all is well in Newquay, I go to take a shower. Sam Sparro starts shrieking about Black and Gold again, and I turn my phone to silent…again. If I can’t hear it ring, then I won’t be tempted to answer the thing.
After my shower, I fall into bed and I’m asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.