two of them on their so-called relationship.
‘Would you like a drink, Thom?’ Jonny asked.
‘I’d kill for a beer, dude. Make sure it’s cold, though.’
‘This is a café, Thom.’
‘Oh. Yeah, okay, a macchiato, thanks. So, Jane, tell me what you love about our friend Jonny here.’
Jonny paused halfway out of his chair. He’d offered Thom a drink so that he could walk away and gather histhoughts for a minute, but now he wasn’t sure that he wanted this conversation to go on without him.
Thom glanced at him and made shooing gestures with his hands. ‘Go get out of here. I’m conferring with your girlfriend.’
‘“Girlfriend” is perhaps a little—’
‘Your red-hot babe friend, then. Go away.’
He went. All the way to the counter he kept his ears pricked, trying to hear Jane and Thom’s conversation over the buzz of the café and the whoosh of the coffee machine. He didn’t have much luck.
And what, precisely, did he want to hear, anyway? he wondered as he paid for Thom’s drink. Did he want to make sure that Jane wasn’t going ahead with the ‘pretending to date’ thing without his consent?
Or did he want to hear something that Jane loved about him?
He nearly spilled the macchiato all over his T-shirt in his haste to get back to the table. Jane was smiling and blushing and Thom was grinning and nodding in that ‘all is cool with the world’ way he had.
‘What are you two talking about?’ Jonny couldn’t stop himself asking as he put the coffee down in front of his agent/friend and sat in his chair again.
Thom clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Dude, you are one lucky man.’ He took a swig of his macchiato andgrimaced. ‘Sugar,’ he said, and got up and loped to the counter.
‘Don’t worry,’ Jane said as soon as Thom was out of earshot. ‘I didn’t give away any secrets. We’ve been talking about your career, that’s all.’
‘And how devastatingly attractive you are,’ Thom added, from halfway across the room.
‘Hmmph.’ Jonny covered up his disappointment by drinking his coffee, which was, by now, almost cold.
‘Anyway, I’m sorry to interrupt your little cosy date thing,’ Thom continued, while he finished crossing to them and sat back down in his chair, dumping five or six packets of sugar on the table, ‘but I was on the way to Jonny’s hotel to take him out for a beer and get the skinny on how it went today and I saw the two of you in here. And I want to pick your brains about somebody you work with, Jane.’
‘You mean Gary?’
Jane was too quick to say it, and Jonny swallowed bitter coffee.
It was back to Gary again. Everything came back to Gary, it seemed. Jane’s work, her feelings, this charade she wanted him to take on.
She’d just broken up with the bloke, after all. And how could he, Jonny, compete with that? As well as he believed he knew Jane, as much as he cared about her,when it was all said and done, besides the years as kids and that one night of wild passion, he and Jane had an internet relationship. And Jane was impressed by him being a model.
Compared with years of living and working with Gary, what he and Jane had together had to be shallow.
His coffee tasted like stale jealousy.
Thom was shaking his head, though. ‘No, I mean your art person, who was at the shoot yesterday. Amy. She’s hot, man. Is she seeing anybody?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Awesome. Tell me all about her.’ Thom leaned back in his chair as if it were a hammock.
‘She’s a very good art director. Completely reliable, and very creative. I don’t have any talent at the visual side of things myself, so it’s wonderful to have her on my team. I was very impressed with her CV when she joined the company last year, and she’s completely lived up to it.’
‘Yeah, yeah, that’s great. But what about her? What does she like, what kind of guy does she go for, what’s her favourite food? Does she like boxers or briefs? Wine or
‘Would you like a drink, Thom?’ Jonny asked.
‘I’d kill for a beer, dude. Make sure it’s cold, though.’
‘This is a café, Thom.’
‘Oh. Yeah, okay, a macchiato, thanks. So, Jane, tell me what you love about our friend Jonny here.’
Jonny paused halfway out of his chair. He’d offered Thom a drink so that he could walk away and gather histhoughts for a minute, but now he wasn’t sure that he wanted this conversation to go on without him.
Thom glanced at him and made shooing gestures with his hands. ‘Go get out of here. I’m conferring with your girlfriend.’
‘“Girlfriend” is perhaps a little—’
‘Your red-hot babe friend, then. Go away.’
He went. All the way to the counter he kept his ears pricked, trying to hear Jane and Thom’s conversation over the buzz of the café and the whoosh of the coffee machine. He didn’t have much luck.
And what, precisely, did he want to hear, anyway? he wondered as he paid for Thom’s drink. Did he want to make sure that Jane wasn’t going ahead with the ‘pretending to date’ thing without his consent?
Or did he want to hear something that Jane loved about him?
He nearly spilled the macchiato all over his T-shirt in his haste to get back to the table. Jane was smiling and blushing and Thom was grinning and nodding in that ‘all is cool with the world’ way he had.
‘What are you two talking about?’ Jonny couldn’t stop himself asking as he put the coffee down in front of his agent/friend and sat in his chair again.
Thom clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Dude, you are one lucky man.’ He took a swig of his macchiato andgrimaced. ‘Sugar,’ he said, and got up and loped to the counter.
‘Don’t worry,’ Jane said as soon as Thom was out of earshot. ‘I didn’t give away any secrets. We’ve been talking about your career, that’s all.’
‘And how devastatingly attractive you are,’ Thom added, from halfway across the room.
‘Hmmph.’ Jonny covered up his disappointment by drinking his coffee, which was, by now, almost cold.
‘Anyway, I’m sorry to interrupt your little cosy date thing,’ Thom continued, while he finished crossing to them and sat back down in his chair, dumping five or six packets of sugar on the table, ‘but I was on the way to Jonny’s hotel to take him out for a beer and get the skinny on how it went today and I saw the two of you in here. And I want to pick your brains about somebody you work with, Jane.’
‘You mean Gary?’
Jane was too quick to say it, and Jonny swallowed bitter coffee.
It was back to Gary again. Everything came back to Gary, it seemed. Jane’s work, her feelings, this charade she wanted him to take on.
She’d just broken up with the bloke, after all. And how could he, Jonny, compete with that? As well as he believed he knew Jane, as much as he cared about her,when it was all said and done, besides the years as kids and that one night of wild passion, he and Jane had an internet relationship. And Jane was impressed by him being a model.
Compared with years of living and working with Gary, what he and Jane had together had to be shallow.
His coffee tasted like stale jealousy.
Thom was shaking his head, though. ‘No, I mean your art person, who was at the shoot yesterday. Amy. She’s hot, man. Is she seeing anybody?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Awesome. Tell me all about her.’ Thom leaned back in his chair as if it were a hammock.
‘She’s a very good art director. Completely reliable, and very creative. I don’t have any talent at the visual side of things myself, so it’s wonderful to have her on my team. I was very impressed with her CV when she joined the company last year, and she’s completely lived up to it.’
‘Yeah, yeah, that’s great. But what about her? What does she like, what kind of guy does she go for, what’s her favourite food? Does she like boxers or briefs? Wine or
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