The next week seemed to pass in a haze, and not even work was doing anything to distract Harriet from the dull ache that seemed to get worse every day that she didn’t speak to Jamie. She didn’t know whether it was truly over or whether he was too stubborn to cross the street between them to come and talk to her. The only thing she knew for certain was that she couldn’t face him rejecting her, and so she couldn’t bring herself to go speak to him.
Harriet wandered room to room in her big, empty house, wrapped in a bathrobe, not feeling up to doing anything. She had the whole weekend to be stuck there alone, and she felt too uninspired to do any work. She still didn’t get how things could have been going so well between her and Jamie one minute, only to crumble the next. It chilled her to the bone when she thought of the way she had reached for him and he had backed away. Everybody left her, and now she was alone again.
“Snap out of it!” Harriet said to herself as sternly as she could. Moping around the house wasn’t going to get her anywhere. If she didn’t want to be alone, it was up to her to do something about it. Harriet considered her options, and then took her mobile phone out of her pocket. If she had been a bit gutsier, she might have rung Jamie, and then they could have sorted their issues out. Instead she dialed another number.
“Hello, Chloe speaking.” Her assistant put on her best professional voice, although Harriet could hear the disappointment underneath. She probably thought Harriet was calling to ask her to do overtime or something.
“Hi, Chloe. I just wondered if you girls were still going out tonight?” Harriet suddenly felt foolish. Chloe kept asking her to come on a night out with them, but Harriet wondered now whether she was only asking to be polite.
“Yes, we are!” Chloe’s voice brightened, and Harriet was relieved. “Oh my God, are you going to come too? It’s about time! I’m so excited!” As her bubbly assistant began to arrange the details of their night out, the pain Harriet was feeling eased a little. She genuinely began to look forward to an evening with the girls. It would be a welcomed distraction from thinking about Jamie, and besides, maybe she’d meet somebody who was bit more suited to her than an ex-con.
* * * *
“You look hot!” Chloe made Harriet turn around to show off her dress. “Is that one of ours?” Harriet did little cartwheels inside when she saw the envy poorly disguised in her assistant’s eyes.
“Actually, it’s one I made myself. I was experimenting.”
A couple of the girls from the office raised their eyebrows, but the others looked impressed, and Harriet felt happier than she had in days. She was wearing the blue dress she’d been making that fateful day when she’d argued with Jamie, and though part of her had wanted to throw it straight out the window, she loved the design, and was glad she’d finished it.
“Come on, let’s get a round in!” Chloe said eagerly.
The bar where Harriet had met the girls was upscale and very overpriced, even by Harriet’s standards, but she got why the girls came there. There were dozens of groups of young men flashing the cash, already well on their way to being drunk.
Harriet enjoyed the beginning of the night. They talked about work and men and relationships, and they all drank like fish. Harriet hadn’t intended to have more than a glass of wine or two, because she hated losing her inhibitions, and she knew it wouldn’t take much to get her drunk. But Chloe insisted they all do shots, and despite herself, Harriet didn’t want to be left out, so she joined in and knocked a few back. The girls got louder, and Harriet’s head began to spin. Time seemed to move a lot quicker than Harriet thought it should, and suddenly it was late and some of group were insisting it was time to move on to a club.
Harriet hadn’t imagined that she would end up in a club tonight. She had imagined that she’d have a few social drinks and get a taxi home, but now it seemed like a great idea to follow the crowd and head to a club that was even more expensive than the bar. Harriet was glad that they didn’t have to queue to get in. It was colder out than Harriet had first thought, and by the time they reached their destination, her teeth were chattering uncontrollably. As she paid the entry fee, somewhere in the back of her mind, Harriet knew that she shouldn’t be spending this much money on a night out, she was usually so careful. But all she knew right now was that feeling like this, caught up in the mood of the night with all her senses dulled, she didn’t feel the horrible pain that had been eating away at her for months.
It didn’t stop her from thinking about Jamie though, and Chloe seemed to pick up on her mood as they sat at a table, waiting for a couple of the girls to return with a round of yet more drinks.
“Are you still seeing that guy?” Chloe asked her, slurring her words a little.
“I don’t think so.” Harriet’s own tongue felt a bit thick in her mouth.
“Oh well, never mind, because I invited some guys to join us.” Chloe’s face lit up, and Harriet couldn’t quite understand why until a few minutes later when their group was joined by a few loud, arrogant men that were very insistent on buying a couple of bottles of champagne for the table. Harriet snorted, even though a couple of the girls were falling over themselves for these men, Harriet could not be impressed that way. If she’d wanted it, Harriet could buy her own champagne.
“That guy over there is a friend of a friend. He came by the office a few weeks back and has been pestering me to arrange a meeting between you two.” Chloe winked at her. “Which worked out great, because I really wanted to see his friend again.” The assistant gave two of the young men a little wave, but Harriet’s heart sunk as she finally understood why Chloe had been so nice to her the last few weeks. Harriet gave her an excuse to see a guy again. She was being used.
“I’m not interested,” Harriet snapped, and Chloe gave her a sharp look.
“Oh, don’t be so boring.” Chloe rolled her eyes, and then turned to face the two men that had joined them.
“Hi, Thomas, Isaac.” Chloe clasped the hand of the first man, who was tall with dark hair. Harriet guessed he was good-looking, but she hated the smirk he was wearing. The other man, who had the same dark hair as the first, but was a couple of inches shorter, fixed his arrogant gaze on Harriet.
“Isaac Mathews.” He held out a hand. Harriet couldn’t ignore it, so she took it and meant to shake it professionally, but he pulled her forward with a jerk and kissed her knuckles. Harriet’s skin crawled. She did not like this man! “I’ve heard a lot about you, Harriet.”
“Is that right?” Harriet was glad now that they had brought champagne over with them, because she was going to need it. Isaac sat down next to her as she took a big, unladylike gulp from the glass. She couldn’t believe they were trying to impress the girls with this cheap stuff. She hated cheap alcohol.
“I know your father,” Isaac told her.
“Really? He’s never mentioned anyone by the name of Mathews.” Harriet smiled apologetically, and felt a little triumphant when his face soured. He clearly thought a lot of himself, but Harriet knew better than anybody how hard it was to impress her father.
“Oh well, I work with your father anyway,” Isaac said, his confidence obviously knocked a little bit.
“Really?” Harriet settled back and took another swig of the cheap drink. It might not be the most expensive, but as long as it kept her brain sufficiently numb, she didn’t care.
“Okay, not with him exactly, just in the same business. But he likes me. I’m sure he’d approve of you having drinks with me.” The smirk was back, and Harriet didn’t try and disguise the face she pulled. When she had met Nathan, he had been one of these young men, and she had been one of the girls that was fawning all over him.
As Isaac launched off into a long spiel about his start-up business and how much the turnover would be, Harriet felt like she was at a sales pitch, not being chatted up. She knew this was a lot more about hoping that she might mention him to her father than it was about trying to impress her.
Harriet drunk down the champagne, only half listening to Isaac as her mind wandered to Jamie. She had acted like such a fool last week, and even though her brain was numbed by so much alcohol, she had a sudden moment of clarity. Why should she care what anybody thought about her and Jamie? Her cousin had been right, she’d got married to somebody her father approved of, and look how that had ended up. She should be with Jamie, because he was who she wanted.
“Look, I’ve got to go,” Harriet said, reaching for her bag and interrupting Isaac as she came to a decision.
“But the evening is just starting.” He draped an arm around her shoulders.
“No, it isn’t. I have to go home, sorry.” Harriet tried to squeeze past him but he stood up, looking quite disappointed and even a little hurt.
“I was boring you, wasn’t I?” he asked seriously, and Harriet felt a twinge of guilt.
“Oh no, it’s not that. I’ve had enough.” Harriet put a hand on his arm. Partly to comfort him and partly to steady herself as the drink rushed to her head.
Isaac seemed to sag, and when he caught sight of Chloe and Thomas, who were practically eating each other’s faces he rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Fair enough, but stay and finish the drink with me, then I’ll leave with you.”
Harriet hesitated for a moment, but then sat back down. What would the harm be in finishing a drink with him? After all, his mood seemed to have changed, and she would feel bad leaving him as a third wheel with their friends.
After finishing not only the drink, but the bottle, Harriet decided she actually didn’t mind Isaac, and he was quite good looking, with his hair that curled ever so slightly, and dark eyes. But still, there was only one man on her mind right now, and all she wanted to do was go to him.
“I have to leave now!” Harriet shouted over the music, swaying toward Isaac involuntarily.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll walk you outside.”
Isaac grabbed his coat, and Harriet was glad to have him to lean on as they walked out, because her own feet seemed to be made of lead. Perhaps that last drink hadn’t been a good idea. She stumbled as they got out onto the street, and Isaac wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her as he helped her to a taxi. Harriet frowned when she felt his hand slide a little lower, but she concentrated on speaking to the driver, who was asking her where she needed to go. Her words sounded far away, and somewhere in Harriet’s mind she was aware that she probably hadn’t been this drunk since just after high school. She hated to feel this out of control.
“No way, that’s only a couple of streets over from where I live, how about we share a taxi? I’ll pay.” Isaac held the door open and Harriet slid in, the leather of the seats cold against the skin of her legs, she tugged her dress down a little as Isaac climbed in beside her.
The silence inside the taxi was comforting after the noise in the club, and Harriet’s ears were ringing. She shivered violently. It had been cold out on the street, but she felt cozy in the backseat, and she might have drifted off to sleep, but Isaac was talking to her, complimenting her on her sense of style.
“I’m a designer,” she answered sleepily, wishing he hadn’t gotten into the taxi with her.
“It’s good that you have a hobby, most girls would just waste their days spending daddy’s money.”
How patronizing! That was Harriet’s job, it wasn’t a hobby, and if he thought her father was the kind of man to give his daughter handouts then he really didn’t know him. But Harriet was too tired to argue. She leaned her forehead against the window, slowly becoming aware of how sick she felt, as Isaac continued to drone on and on about his business. Finally, the taxi stopped, and Harriet mumbled her thanks to the driver and goodbye to Isaac, because he assured her that he would pay. But as she clambered out onto the pavement and began rooting around in her bag for her keys, Isaac surprised her by getting out of the taxi.
Harriet watched it pull away, and confused, she turned to Isaac. “Did you not have enough money to get home?”
He snorted. “Do I look poor to you? Of course I have enough money for a taxi.”
Harriet turned to walk up to her house, but suddenly Isaac’s hands were on her arms, pushing her back into the cold stone wall at the bottom of the steps.
“I paid for your champagne, and the taxi, and you’re not even going to say thank you?” His body was against hers, pinning her to the wall, and even with her senses dulled Harriet realized how bad a situation she had got herself in.
“Er…thank you?” she said hopefully through chattering teeth.
“That’s not exactly the thanks I was after.” Isaac’s mouth crashed against hers, and he started trying to lift the hem of her dress right there out on the street. She felt the panic rising.
“No, don’t, please…” She tried to turn her face away from his.
“Oh, come on, I know you want it.”
“She said no!” Harriet recognized Jamie’s voice, and she had never felt so relieved. That was, until he grabbed Isaac roughly by his shirt and shoved him into the wall. He looked like he was about to beat him to a pulp, and she knew he was capable.
“Jamie, stop.” She didn’t want Jamie to get into trouble because of her.
“You better leave.” Jamie’s voice shook with the effort it took to keep his anger under control. He stepped back and clenched his fists at his sides, obviously in an attempt not to hit Isaac, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.
“Who the hell are you?” Isaac stood tall and looked down his nose in disgust. He raised an eyebrow and turned to Harriet. “Is this your bodyguard or something?”
“Or something.” Jamie was glowering, standing protectively in front of Harriet.
“Whatever. Harriet invited me back here.” Isaac stepped closer to her with a little bit of a swagger, but Jamie blocked his way.
“Did you?” Jamie turned his head, but he didn’t look at her, and Harriet could hear the hurt in his voice.
“No! No, I didn’t. Look, Isaac, you need to leave,” Harriet told him, her head still spinning. Rather than sobering her up, the cold night air made her feel even more drunk. All she wanted was to go to sleep.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Women!” Isaac turned to leave, but when he was out of Jamie’s reach, he turned back with a triumphant look in his eye. “Trust me, she wanted it.”
At that point, Harriet had to grab hold of the wall to stop herself from sliding to the floor. She felt like she could vomit, but the worse feeling was that of the whole street spinning, so much so that she was have a hard time keeping her balance.
“Well, I’m sure you can make it to your front door without too much trouble,” Jamie said bitterly, still not looking at her. He took off across the street. Harriet tried to reach out and stop him, or say something, but she finally lost her battle to stay upright and slid to the floor as her vision went black.