Sapphire (33 page)

Jazz and Sapphire got on with the preparations, while Sam stretched out on the sofa and watched TV, too exhausted to do anything else. Jay emerged from the bathroom with only a white towel wrapped round him. He came into the kitchen to check on the preparations. He looked so delicious, so clean and so sexy, Sapphire could hardly take her eyes off him, and nearly sliced the end of her thumb off.

‘Ouch!’ she yelped as blood poured out of the gash and all over the onions, she’d just sliced.

Jay rolled his eyes. ‘I knew I couldn’t trust you.’ And he took her over to the tap and ran cold water over the wound.

‘Ow! Do you think I need stitches?’ Sapphire wailed, hamming it up because she was so enjoying the feel of Jay’s hand over hers and being so close to him.

‘Stop being such a baby, and keep still,’ Jay ordered.

‘What’s she done now?’ Sam exclaimed from the doorway. She looked decidedly pissed off to see Jay touching Sapphire. He let go of Sapphire’s hand.

‘It’s nothing,’ Sapphire replied, ‘I’ll just get a plaster.’

‘And I’ll get dressed,’ Jay muttered, walking swiftly out of the kitchen.

Sam walked over to the table, wincing as she lowered herself onto the chair. ‘I’m shagged,’ she said, half yawning as she did.

‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather rest on the sofa?’ Sapphire asked.

‘No, I’m fine here,’ she replied, a little abruptly. And Sapphire had the distinct impression that Sam wanted to keep an eye on her. To try and lighten the atmosphere, Sapphire got out the champagne and poured everyone a glass.

Then, when Jay returned after getting dressed, Sapphire left the kitchen, saying she had some research to do for the following day’s show. She felt as if Sam would be happier if she wasn’t there; it seemed a sad ending to the day, which should have been about celebrating her friend’s success. In the end dinner was a subdued affair – both Jay and Sam seemed too exhausted to speak, and went off to bed shortly afterwards. Jazz left to get the train back to Brighton. Sapphire waited up to let her stand-in bodyguard in and then went to bed herself, though in spite of being exhausted, she barely slept. How could she, knowing that Jay was in the next room, lying in someone else’s arms . . .

THE FINAL TWO
weeks in London passed without incident. Sapphire was pleased that her brief stint as a TV reporter had gone so well – in fact, the producer had said there was bound to be more work – but was also looking forward to going home to Brighton and taking over the running of her business again. She had found it hard delegating to her mum and Jazz. She desperately wanted to be back in control. She also wanted to see Jay again. He had seemed to be warmer towards her the last time they’d met, less critical and offhand, so maybe, just maybe, they could be friends. And even though it would be hard, at least she would still have him in her life. The fact was she was wretched when she didn’t see him.

The police had been to see Markov who denied being anywhere near the marathon. One of his friends gave an alibi for him and the police thought it stood up. When they reported this back to Sapphire, she almost began to doubt that she had seen him, but then she remembered him blowing her a kiss. No, it had been him, there was no question. Colin was mortified that he hadn’t been with Sapphire. He hardly let Sapphire out of his sight. Originally he had been planning to hand over her protection to one of his colleagues when she returned to Brighton, but with the Markov incident he was now
adamant that he was going to come down with her and no amount of arguments from Sapphire that she’d be fine would persuade him otherwise.

She returned to Brighton late Friday night after going out for farewell drinks with the production team and was back in the boutique at eight the following morning, going through the accounts. Things clearly hadn’t been great; her mum must have been keeping the full picture from her. The books were in a mess, and the figures didn’t quite add up. She sighed; it was just as well she was back.

Jazz was the next to arrive, at half eight, bubbling over with excitement because it was her engagement party that night. ‘So good to have you back, babe!’ she exclaimed, handing Sapphire a latte and croissant.

‘That’s nice of you, Jazz.’ Sapphire was starving.

‘We’re meeting at Star Bar at nine’, Jazz called out as she dashed off upstairs.

Sapphire knew ‘we’ included Sam and Jay. She hadn’t spoken to Sam since the marathon; they’d texted but both seemed to be avoiding an actual conversation. Sapphire had found it so hard seeing Sam with Jay. It had definitely affected her friendship. She was half dreading, half excited about seeing Jay again. She had thought about him a great deal since their last meeting, endlessly analysing what he’d said to her – the ‘babe’ had played over and over in her mind on a loop, the way he had looked at her, how it had felt when he held her hand. She was completely torn – wanting him to still find her attractive, not wanting to hurt her friend. She felt on edge for the rest of the day. God, it was doing her head in!

‘Wow!’ Colin exclaimed when he saw her dressed in her party outfit later that night. ‘Lads of Brighton, beware! Heartbreaker on the loose.’

Sapphire rolled her eyes and took one last look in the mirror, was the outfit too much? To give herself confidence she had gone for it in a wickedly short pleated skirt, tight black polka dot sheer top and heels. Yes it was a full-on look but Sapphire felt as if she needed to reassert her confident side. She’d been so miserable these last months; she wanted to sparkle again. She was still nervous though as she walked into the Star Bar. Straightaway a group of lads recognised her from the TV and one of them asked if she would have her picture taken with him. Sapphire shook her head, she was so not into that kind of thing.

‘Oh go on,’ the lad insisted, ‘it’s my birthday.’

‘Go on, Sapphire,’ Colin reassured her, so reluctantly Sapphire posed and just hoped none of her friends had seen. But as she scanned the bar she saw they all had and were laughing. There was no sign of Jay, although she could see Sam. Maybe they’d had an argument? Stop it! Sapphire ordered herself, she must not think like this. She turned to Colin, needing reassurance. ‘Will you come over with me?’ she asked.

‘No, I’m just going to get a ginger beer and sit at that table in the corner. Go on and enjoy yourself.’

Sapphire walked across to her friends. Jazz looked prettier than ever. She seemed so blissfully happy – all Sapphire’s usual cynical thoughts about marriage no longer seemed to ring true and suddenly she realised that she envied Jazz her happiness, that committing to one person seemed an exciting thing to do, that it didn’t seem like the end of something. It seemed like the beginning.

‘So aren’t you going to tell me not to go ahead and get married?’ Jazz said defiantly as Sapphire sat down next to her at the table. ‘That it won’t last, that Ben will cheat on me?’ She looked at Sapphire, daring her to puncture her happiness.

‘I think it’s brilliant you’re getting married and as for Ben cheating – he never would.’

She sounded so serious that Jazz looked at her in surprise; she had clearly been expecting Sapphire to make one of her usual cynical comments.

Sam was looking at her with a similar expression. ‘What’s happened to you, babe?’ Sam asked. ‘Have you met someone in London since we last saw you?’

She shook her head, eager to get the spotlight off herself. ‘Ben knows that I would pay him back big time if he cheated on my mate.’ She glanced over at Ben who winked at her. At least the serious mood was broken.

‘So are you going out on the pull tonight, Sapphire?’ Ben teased her. ‘Or are the Brighton lads not good enough for you now you’re a celebrity?’

Sapphire smiled, ‘I’m so not. I just want to dance all night with my girls.’

‘Yeah, too right!’ Sam exclaimed. ‘It’s been ages since we all went out clubbing.’ She paused, and said quietly, ‘It’s really good to see you, Sapphire, I’ve missed you these last weeks.’

Sapphire was desperate to ask where Jay was, but just felt that she couldn’t without giving away how much she wanted to see him.

‘I’ve missed you too, it’s just been so full on at work, I haven’t really stopped. I’m sorry that I haven’t been in touch as much as I should. And it was brilliant you ran the marathon, I’m so proud of you.’

‘Thanks,’ Sam smiled in appreciation. ‘We’re thinking of doing the New York one next year.’

‘Good for you,’ Sapphire managed to say. Obviously they hadn’t argued, they were still the perfect couple. Sam, sensing that this was a subject she wasn’t comfortable with, asked her how work was going.

Sapphire shrugged, ‘The TV show went really well, but business is not quite so great as I’ve been discovering
today. But please, let’s not talk about it. Tonight I just want to dance and drink.’ At this she raised her glass. ‘To Jazz and Ben!’

A couple of large vodkas got Sapphire through the first part of the night and she found that she could banter with her girlfriends and light-heartedly flirt with Ben’s friends. But by the time they headed to Revolution, on one of the roads just off the seafront, she was feeling horribly apprehensive about seeing Jay again. A mixture of so many feelings were aroused in her – longing, pain, jealousy. It seemed too much to contain. Colin wanted to come into the club with her but Sapphire assured him that she’d be okay. ‘I’m with my friends, Colin, there’s no need for you to be here. The music will just give you a headache, go back to the apartment.’

‘No way am I doing that!’ Colin exclaimed. ‘I’ll be outside in the car if you need me.’

‘We’ll be with her all the time,’ Jazz assured him. ‘Ben and his mates will be looking out for her. And anyway,’ she added cheekily, ‘I don’t think you’ll get in in that outfit.’

Colin looked down at his shiny, grey mod suit that, like all his suits, was slightly too tight as he’d put on weight over the years but had not changed his style of dressing to accommodate the excess. ‘What’s the matter with it? It’s vintage. I thought all you youngsters went mad for vintage?’

‘Where do I start?’ Jazz replied.

Colin shook his head in mock disgust, then pointed his finger at Sapphire. ‘Right, madam, I want a phone call from you when you think you’re about to leave and I’ll come in and get you.’

Sapphire tried to protest that he really didn’t have to, but Colin was having none of it.

Inside the club Sapphire found herself looking around for Jay, as did Sam, but he didn’t seem to have arrived yet. ‘Why’s Jay late?’ Sapphire asked, standing next to Sam and shouting to get herself heard over the house music pumping out. She could hardly bring herself to say Jay’s name, convinced that her true feelings would register on her face.

‘He had a business meeting in London with an investor. He’s thinking of setting up his own personal training company – maybe in London, depending on the costs.’

‘So does that mean he would move to London?’ Sapphire asked, struggling to take in the idea of Jay leaving Brighton.

Sam looked slightly awkward, ‘We both might, actually. I’m thinking of moving there with him.’

‘Wow, that’s quick!’ Sapphire couldn’t stop herself exclaiming.

Sam nodded, ‘I know. But I love him and I just want to be with him.’ She looked anxiously at Sapphire. ‘I understand it must be weird because you went out with him but it was never serious for you was it?’

It took all Sapphire’s strength to reply, ‘No it wasn’t, you know me.’

And then because she really didn’t think she could bear to come out with any more lies, she made an excuse about helping Ben get the drinks in. She wove her way through the clubbers; any desire she had to dance the night away had left her.

She had no idea that things were so serious between Jay and Sam. She wanted so badly to believe that it was just a rebound thing for Jay; that he didn’t really have strong feelings for Sam, but deep down she knew that couldn’t be true. Jay was not the kind of man to mess around with someone’s emotions. He was obviously in love with Sam. She had completely misread all the
flirtatious signals that she thought had been reignited between them.

Ben had already ordered the drinks when Sapphire managed to get close to him. She tapped him on the arm and he grinned at her, ‘I thought you’d be cutting up the dance floor, Sapphire.’

She shrugged. ‘I think I need another drink first.’ Or five, she thought miserably.

She helped Ben carry the drinks back to the chill-out area where the group had managed to grab a couple of sofas. Instantly her heart flipped when she saw that Jay had arrived. He was standing next to Sam with his arm round her. How was it possible, she wondered, that he looked better than ever? And how could she ever have thought that he was too boyish for her? He wasn’t by any means boyish – he was a devastatingly handsome man. She made sure she was standing as far away from the couple as possible as she sipped her drink and chatted to Jazz. Only she couldn’t resist looking over. Jay caught her eye and mouthed ‘Hi’, Sapphire simply nodded and turned back to her friends.

‘Come on, Sapphire, you promised me you’d dance,’ Jazz grabbed her hand and practically dragged her to the dance floor. Sapphire forced herself to look as if she was having a good time and after two songs she felt as if she was getting into it. At least with the music pumping out, so loud she could almost feel it vibrating through her body, she could forget about Jay and Sam. But try as she might to block them out of her mind they made it so hard for her when they came and danced next to her and Jazz. Then it was torture as Jay and Sam moved fluidly together, so close their bodies were almost touching. Sapphire felt her whole body tense and it was as though her limbs had been turned to lumps of concrete, except even that would probably have been able to move with more grace, she felt bitterly.

She lasted through Lady GaGa’s ‘Poker Face’ – how ironic was that title – then shouted to Jazz that she was going to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, suddenly feeling self-conscious about the outfit. She had wanted to impress Jay but what was the point of that? Even if he still found her attractive, he was lost to her.