Читать книгу Idle Lies - Lian Knight - Страница 11

Monday, 2 October

IT SUDDENLY OCCURRED TO Jason that the woman seated opposite at the airport café was talking to him.

‘Sorry?’ he asked, reluctantly looking up. The woman gave a low chortle and pointed at his phone.

‘You were so involved I nearly didn’t want to disturb you,’ she said, not looking the least bit concerned that she had interrupted him. ‘Is this your flight coming up soon? You’re off to Sydney?’

‘Adelaide,’ said Jason quickly, immediately on alert. He wasn’t ready for this question or indeed any others. This was unacceptable; he had to be sharper and there could be no dropping the ball. He closed his phone and studied his new companion more closely.

The woman gave him a broad smile that displayed a row of glistening white teeth. Her flame-red hair was loosely swept into a bun but large wisps still fell around her face where they had escaped the round up. Her large green eyes sparkled.

‘Adelaide. That’s odd,’ she said, giving him a strange look. ‘Your compass must be a little off today!’ She pointed to the table in front of him where his ticket lay exposed.

He casually tucked the ticket back in his wallet, cursing inwardly. He hoped she hadn’t been able to read much upside down. She knew at least where he was going; perhaps that was all she got.

‘But you’re on the same flight as me,’ the woman persisted. She laughed again. ‘I hope you really aren’t off to Adelaide today or I will need to call ahead for you and let them know you will be delayed!’

Jason gathered himself and pretended to think for a minute.

‘Ah, wait, that was last week,’ he said, feigning surprise. ‘Lucky you reminded me. It’s Sydney today.’ He studied her surreptitiously. She wasn’t exactly his type – fiery green eyes and cheeks with a sea of freckles hidden in a wild spray of carrot red hair. She looked as if she was pushing forty while doing her best to cling to her twenties, and she was noticeably too thin. Definitely not his type, yet there was something intriguing about her. He paused to consider his options. Given that his recovery seemed satisfactory, he may as well see where this might go.

‘Jason De Rosa, Flight QF488 Melbourne to Sydney,’ the woman said boldly. ‘That’s a really nice name. Do you mind if I call you Jason?’

Shit. She could read upside down. She had examined the whole ticket and was loudly blurting his details. He wondered if any of the other customers had overheard, but they were all engaged in their own conversations at nearby tables or talking to the staff at the counter, placing orders. The noise of the airport lounge made it hard to hear, so it was probably alright. He breathed a silent sigh of relief.

‘Ah, yes,’ he remarked nonchalantly. There was no hiding this information now. ‘That’s me. You’re off to Sydney too?’

‘Just for a few months – I’m minding my sister’s place while she’s away. You must have a busy schedule if you travel that much,’ she chided, brushing a loose wisp of hair away and touching her red lips as if to contemplate how many annual kilometres that might be. She gave him a cheeky look. ‘How long are you there?’ she asked directly.

‘It just depends on the business,’ he replied cagily.

‘Well, that’s business for you. So is it just a few weeks?’

‘Yes, just a few.’

The woman seemed unperturbed by the short answers and continued.

‘I only go to Sydney when I visit my sister, or, like this time, look after her flat. She lives in Manly but she’s regularly involved in these special camps in Indonesia to help educate the kids. I don’t know exactly what she does, she’s only told me a bit about them. Something to do with building new schools and teaching the children English, I think. It’s wonderful for them and good for her, but it’s not my thing. I’m just happy to come up and mind her place when she goes. It gives me a chance to get away.’

Jason waited while she drew a breath. This woman could surely talk.

‘So where are you staying?’ she pushed on. ‘In the city? Probably not far. If you are travelling for business you don’t want to be way out of town. Unless they give you a car. But then there’s the Sydney traffic, and a car doesn’t help much. Any driving in town and especially near the Bridge is awful – you’d know that. Hey, I’m Julie, by the way, but you can call me Jules.’ She gave him a broad toothy smile. ‘Jase. Do you ever get called that? It has a ring to it. Better than Jas-o. Everyone puts an o on the end of people’s names, and I hate it. Dav-o. Johnno. It sounds trashy. I’d prefer to call you Jase. That’s much more refined. You never know, perhaps we might run into each other in Sydney and have a drink together, and then I will call you Jase,’ she babbled. Her eyes twinkled. ‘Actually, damnit, life is short. Why don’t we, Jase?’

Jason appraised his new companion. This woman could chew his ear off, but she also wasn’t wasting any time; they were now on a pet name basis with a potential rendezvous planned before he even had a chance to blink. If this was a speed dating night then he had just catapulted to level two. He put his phone and wallet away in his briefcase and eyed her thoughtfully.

‘Nice to meet you, Jules,’ he replied airily, without answering the question. He sat back. Her nose was a little too long for his liking but under that shirt was probably a pretty tight little figure, if a little bony. She could be interesting.

‘Great,’ she said eagerly, leaping over the introductions and banking his response as if he had just accepted her offer. ‘We should exchange numbers. I’ve got mine here …’ she began, but the rest of her words were suddenly drowned out by a flight announcement. She paused and waited for it to end.

‘I’ll give you my mobile on the flight,’ she continued. ‘That was our boarding call. We’ll need to get going soon.’

Jason pushed his cold coffee away and stood up. ‘I have to get organised, if that’s the case. Would you excuse me?’

Julie nodded, flashing her green eyes and white teeth again. ‘No probs, I’ll be here!’ she said, and leaning forward, she pulled a small suitcase towards her, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage. She caught him looking and gave him a flirty smile. ‘Don’t miss your flight!’

Julie watched him stroll away in his smart pinstripe suit and imagined him heading for his next big meeting. He certainly looked hot. She didn’t know what his profession was, but judging by his style and dress sense it was obviously important. He was probably the head of a large company, a CEO or something, or possibly a bank executive. Or maybe he was a lawyer. She scowled briefly at that last thought.

Dan, a few boyfriends back, had been a lawyer. But he had been a jerk. No, actually more a complete arsehole, she thought angrily. It still riled her to think about it, and when she did, she could feel her fingers tingle and her muscles burn. It had all been a huge lie and a farce. She took a deep breath to calm herself but his image barged into her consciousness and waltzed through her front door in that expensive designer suit he wore.

Initially Dan had seemed so attentive, so interested in her wellbeing, so considerate of her needs and so generous with his gifts. He had bought her a beautiful diamond-encrusted watch, the one she had seen in a shop window in Collins Street and told him about. He had asked her to describe it in intimate detail and then he had surprised her with it on her birthday, the exact watch deliciously wrapped in silver paper with a long silver ribbon tied in a small bow. She had been overwhelmed; it had made her feel more special than any of her previous conquests. Dan was the one. He was the man, and this was every bit the life she wanted to enjoy, living in luxury and swimming contentedly in blissful happiness with a successful entrepreneur. This was the life of a princess, a lifestyle that others would die for.

But once she had danced beyond the wonderful world of wistful fantasies and possibilities, the reality was very different. It hadn’t worked out quite like the dream intended. For all his care and attention, he would not shower her with any of this adoring affection in public. In fact, he would not meet her in any public place and so they always hooked up, when it suited him, in her small Brunswick apartment. He would arrive, looking every bit the suave and sophisticated lawyer that he was, in a beautifully tailored suit with a tie that matched the colour of the handkerchief in his top pocket. He would greet her with a quick kiss before removing his jacket and tie, hanging it with great care on the coat rack she had bought at his request. He’d then pour two glasses of his favourite chilled Chardonnay and seat himself comfortably on her faux leather chaise by the fire in winter or on the stool in the kitchen in summer and wait while she prepared dinner. It was always the same routine. An entrée of cheese and biscuits, followed by a light meal low in fat that would not upset his diet, a short lovemaking session and then another hour sitting up in bed while he told her about his current client and the difficult case he had been defending that week.

He talked a lot about himself, but then he was very busy and she had to understand that. He didn’t have the time for idle chat. She needed to fit in with the little bit he had if they were going to have any time together. It wasn’t vital that she always went out to a nice restaurant, now was it? Well, it would have been nice if she had gone once, she had told him. When this crazy busy time was over, he promised, they would go. It wouldn’t be long, but she had to accept that clients were extremely important and there could be devastating consequences if their cases were lost. She wouldn’t want that to happen now, would she? That would be dire. She just had to be patient.

But one client became another, each case rolled into the next, unsatisfactory verdicts became appeals, special hearings were rescheduled and … nothing changed. At eleven each evening he retrieved his coat and tie and left, and she was on her own again until the next time it suited him to catch up. This had usually been a Thursday but sometimes if she was lucky it had been a Tuesday as well.

For three years she had lived with this arrangement, dreaming of the promised day and the life she would one day live. On occasions she had asked and infrequently he had reassured, but then one evening out of the blue it all went horribly pear-shaped when he suddenly announced that this would be their last time together for a little while. He was leaving for his honeymoon next week, and would be abroad for two months.

Honeymoon? What honeymoon? Since when did he even have a fiancée?

He didn’t, he told her bluntly. He had got married a few months back and the honeymoon had been delayed as his wife had a conference she had to attend and couldn’t take the time off.

Julie had been both stunned and furious and had promptly thrown him out. A wife! A wife for heaven’s sake! After all those promises!

Her friends, seeing her black mood, had quizzed her at length until she imparted her plight and then they belittled her for it. ‘How did you not see this coming?’ they had berated. ‘Did you ever meet his friends or family? No. Or meet at his place? No. Or anywhere in public? No! Why not? Because there was a reason. He had someone else!’

She’d tried to present a few feeble counterpoints, but it was a hopelessly weak defence and she was soon completely outdone. ‘He was in a relationship and you were just his little bit on the side,’ they’d told her candidly. ‘He played you for a fool, and he even thought it could all continue once he got back. You’ve been blindsided,’ they had scoffed. ‘More fool you.’

Julie had flushed at the humiliation and shrugged it all off, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. Secretly she had suspected something was amiss; he had endless excuses for why they could not go out and why he could not stay. She had known; deep down she had known it was too good to be true. But this was her dream, a handsome professional who would sweep her off her feet like the prince had with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and countless other fairytale goddesses. This was her fantasy, a lawyer especially, who was comfortably off and would shower her with love and attention. Doctors, lawyers, a head of a major corporate – someone charming, highly regarded, loaded. Was that really an unreasonable thing to seek?

But Dan was a jerk. This had all been a farce and she’d wasted three years, time that she could no longer afford to throw away. In a few months she would be forty, and her time would be nearly up.

Her friends had been right. She’d been taken for a ride again and now she was left licking her wounds and swearing just like the last time that she wouldn’t do it again. ‘Stop looking for the golden goose,’ they told her. ‘These good-looking hot shots are all the same. You’ll get burned …’

But Jason was different, she could tell. Jason was so handsome, she couldn’t resist. He looked smart, he was professional and he was probably charming and well-to-do, from what she could see. And there couldn’t be that many bad apples. He looked much too sophisticated for that.

Jason gathered his case and ventured quickly to the rest rooms. He’d wasted too much time. Rushing to the lockers now was out of the question – he would have to go as he was. He was rarely this distracted and cursed himself. Too late, it was done now. His flight would be here shortly and there was nothing he could do. He’d get himself a locker when he landed in Sydney and leave them there. He would just need to remember to pick them up on the way back. He made a mental note.

Unusually, there was a queue and he had to wait. It was Monday morning and the busiest he had seen it in a long time; it seemed as if half the population of Victoria was travelling interstate. At last he made his way out, narrowly avoiding a collision with a lanky guy in a sweater juggling a heavy backpack.

‘Hi, Jason,’ the guy remarked casually.

Jason took a step back as he recognised the familiar figure. He checked himself; thankfully, he still looked the part.

‘Lewis,’ he acknowledged. ‘Where’re you off to?’

‘Oh, I’m not going anywhere,’ said Lewis. He shrugged. ‘I’m here to fix one of the local servers. The airport’s one of my customers.’ He twisted and showed Jason the backpack. ‘PC Tools. Computers always need bloody fixing.’

‘Yeah,’ said Jason, breathing out. For a moment he had feared he would be sharing the flight with Lewis as well. ‘I’m off to Sydney as usual. My flight’s boarding, so I’ll catch you at Paul’s or the pub when I get back.’

‘You bet.’ Lewis gave a parting wave behind him and ambled off.

Jason shrugged and hurried across to the departure gate as the final call for boarding was being made. That had been close. As he approached he looked carefully about and spotted the redhead waiting at the gate counter.

‘Jason!’ Julie called as soon as she saw him. ‘Over here!’ she said excitedly. ‘I’ve got us a seat together! I hope you don’t mind.’