I stared at Jake in panic, my eyes wide. Hayley was furious. I’d never heard her as bad as this. And I had nothing to say to her, no excuse to make. We had fucked it up.

Was my career over before it had even begun?

Jake reached out, took my phone out of my hand and deftly hit the end call button.

11

‘What the hell, Jake?’ I said, staring in horror as he handed my phone back to me. ‘You just hung up on Hayley!’ I wasn’t sure anyone had ever done that before; she was too formidable to even consider it for most people surely.

‘We’ll say it was a bad connection,’ he replied. ‘You really wanted to stand and listen to more of that?’

‘Well, no… but what do we do now?’

‘I don’t know but I appreciate you using “we”.’ Jake shifted his feet. ‘Freya, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you wanted to be an agent, that this trip… that Hayley considered it some kind of test for you to prove yourself to her.’ He sighed. ‘I told her it was a long shot that we’d be able to get my career back on track. I’ve made people really angry, and now I’ve made it even worse. I’m sorry that will affect you. Hayley really shouldn’t have put it all on you for it to work out.’

‘I think that’s the most you’ve ever said to me,’ I blurted out, shocked by his gracious apology.

‘Maybe you talk enough for us both,’ he replied with a small smirk.

I sighed. ‘I was always told off for being a chatterbox at school, that’s true. And sometimes, I do say inappropriate things…’ I trailed off, thinking how he overheard me telling Liv about my sex life. I wondered if he remembered that. I certainly was never going to ask. ‘I embarrass myself a lot. Particularly in front of you.’

‘This time, it was me who did that,’ he replied ruefully. We actually smiled at one another. ‘What now?’