(2012) Evie Undercover (24 page)

She glanced out of the window again and saw that the plane was losing height. They
must be very close to
Heathrow.

She couldn’t wait to get back to Camden Town to tell
Rachel and Jess
that she was turning her back on
Pure Dirt
. The minute they heard her news, the
y’d go
back to
being the way they used to be
. Obviously, she wouldn’t tell them
what Tom had told her – she’
d never pass his secrets
on
to anyone
– but she’d
make sure they kne
w she could have given a story to
Pure Dirt
, but had chosen to quit instead. They needed to know that faced with a choi
ce, she’
d made the right one.

She gave a deep sigh. It would be a tricky couple of weeks ahead, but she’d make sure she got it right – there was too much at stake to make a mistake. She and Tom were meant to be, and that was the way it was going to stay.

The landing gear ground noisily into position. Tom opened his eyes.

She turned to him and smiled. ‘You were right earlier on, Tom. You said it had been a marvellous week
, and
it has, and I’ve got a feeling that the next few weeks are going to be even better still.’

Chapter Sixteen

From one friend to another
…

‘That’s day
one of minding Gabriela gone. O
nly one and a half more days to go. She’s turning out to be OK, though,’ Evie told Rachel and Jess as they reclined on dark brown leather sofas around a
low
table in their favourite wine bar. She leaned across and
helped herself to
the last of the nachos from the plate. ‘To be honest, I wasn’t that keen on her at first as she looks quite hard, but the more you get to know her, the nicer she is. Also, I was a bit put off when I met her in Italy as I thought she might have set her sights on Tom, but now I’m
sure I was wrong about that
.’

‘What makes
you think you were wrong?’ Jess asked. ‘You’ve hardly met her. A person’s first instinct is often spot on.’

‘Well, I’m certain mine wasn’t. Call it a gut feeling, if you like. And what makes me even more sure is that at lunch today
,
she
told me
that
she’s really keen on someone in Florence. They’ve been an item for several months, but Eduardo doesn’t know about him yet.’

‘And that’s why she’s come to England for a year, is it? Because she’s so keen on him,’
Jess said, glancing at
Rachel
in amusement
. ‘Yeah, that makes good sense.’

‘Very funny. It’s not that simple. Gabriela’s high-powered, and I bet she’s also high-maintenance. Her guy’s changed his job a few times and that’s a worry for her. Just because she loves him, it doesn’t mean she’s brain-dead. She’s put a bit of distance between them so they can find out what they really feel about each other.’

‘Quite a big bit of distance, if you ask me.’
Rachel
picked up the bottle of red wine from the centre of the table and topped up their glasses.

‘Duh! Italy’s not that far away. She
’ll
go back to Florence, and he
’ll come over here. T
hey’ll see each other – just not as often. And if they’re still together at the end of the year, they’ll know that it’s obviously meant to be. That’s the plan, anyway.’

Jess gave a derisory laugh. ‘It sounds a bit of an iffy plan, if you ask me. If you want to find out whether you can live with someone, you spend time with them – you don’t leave them for months on end. Also, absence makes the heart grow fonder – everyone knows that – so how will she know at the end of the year what’s real and what’s not?’

‘To go back to something you said before
we got on to
the love
life of Gabriela, Evie,’ Rachel cut in
,
‘
y
ou said she was nicer than you’d thought she’d be. Nice in what way? Nice as in a saintly sort of person, i.e. mega dull and to be avoided at all costs, or nice as in cool and fun to hang out with?’

‘I wouldn’t exactly say she was cool – cool’s a bit funky and she’s super sophisticated
,
not funky at all. She’s so together, always dressed to the nines and not a hair out of place – at least, she has been every time I’ve seen her so far. That’s what makes her come across as hard. She doesn’t come across as saintly and boring
, either
. S
he’s pleasant, that’s all.’

‘Where did you go with her today, you jammy individual?’ Jess asked. ‘What wouldn’t I give to be paid to wander around the shops all day?’

Evie laughed. ‘It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to do it. We wandered down New Bond Street, hung aro
und that area, had lunch in
Carluccio’s in Fenwick’s, then we got a cab to Knightsbridge and walked
a
round there for a bit.’

‘Did you go into Harrods?’ Rachel asked.

‘
Yes, but not for long
. We
wandered around the departments and had a
quick
look at the Diana memorial downstairs
, but
today was more about getting to know each other. She obviously wants t
o be friends
. W
hy, I don’t know,
but she does. Anyway, we finished up with a glass of wine at the top of Harvey Nicks.
The
only things we bought were some magazines for Gabriela and some food and drink.’

Rachel held up her hands in mock disbelief. ‘What, no shoes
?
That’s got to be a first for you.
But
to move on to something even more interesting than la bella Gabriela
–
I can’t wait to meet her, by the way
–
what’s the latest on Tom? When’s he t
aking you out? And
very important, when are we going to meet him?’

‘Give me a chance! I haven’t seen him since we got back from Italy
,
he’s
got so much work to do. H
e’s
got
a big case
starting
in two weeks’ time. And b
eing a
way for a week didn’t help
.’

‘But surely you can find a moment to be together,’ Rachel
said in disbelief
.

‘It’s not that easy. On Monday and Tuesday, he was gone before I got to the house and
he
didn’t get back till after I’d left. He
wrote
me a note each day, though, saying how much he was longing to see me a
gain
and how frustrated he was
at
having to go into Chambers so early and stay on so late
. But
now th
at I’m baby
sitt
ing Gabriela, I don’t go to
the house at all, and
I
won’t till Friday afternoon
, and he’ll still be at work then
,
anyway
.’

Jess looked at her curiously. ‘
Why don’t you
visit at night, once he’s home
?
Don’t you want to see him?’

‘Of course I do.
I can’t wait to see him
and
I think about him all day.
Despite the fact that
I feel soooo bad about the
Pure Dirt
thing
, and
a
m dreading what he’ll say when I tell him the tru
th
,
I want to spend every single minute I can with him
. But he said at the start that
he’
d be working
long days and in the evenings, and
even
on
Sundays
, and we’d probably only be able to see each other on Saturdays.
’

‘So no prizes for guessing
you’re
seeing him on Saturday then,
’
Rachel said.
‘
Where are you going?
’

‘He’s taking me out to dinner.’

‘What are you going to wear?’ Rachel and Jess asked at the same time.

‘Fuck knows! Gabriela wants to buy some new clothes tomorrow so I’ll probably look for something for myself wh
ile
I’m out with her
, though
I’m not convinced that Gabriela’s sort of shop will be mine. In fact, I’m sure it won’t be.’

‘Rachel and I
thought that the three of us could
go to Wagamama on Friday evening and then perhaps
on
to a club. Why don’t you ask Gabriela
to
come with us? I bet she likes noodles – they’re not that different from spaghetti – and
then
we can show her some London nightlife. I’m curious to meet her
. W
e both are. If we get on
well with her
, she might
be willing to
see if the company she’s with can throw some work my way. They must have events that need planning.’

‘Why not? I reckon I could put up with her for an evening. But only for the Wagamama part of the evening
.
I don’t think she’d be into clubbing, and I’m certainly not going to get wasted on the night before my first date in England with Tom
. M
y first date with him
,
period
–
i
n Italy we weren’t dating.
No,
I’ll definitely give club
bing
a miss. I’ll ask Gabriela when I see her tomorrow.’

Rachel leaned forward in her chair. ‘So, Evie,’ she said firmly. ‘We want the lowdown on
Pure Dirt
now. You’ve told us about Tom
and you’
ve told us about Gabriela. Y
ou’ve
said that you’re jacking in
Pure Dirt
,
but
that’s all that you’ve said
. We know you’ve come to your senses at last, but we want the gory details
about why
.’

‘Rachel’s right. W
e want to know what happened to your Pure intenti
on of digging up Dirt on Tom, s
o spill the beans before we explode.’

‘
It’s dead simple: both of you were right
and I was wrong. I thought I could do it
,
but
I found I couldn’t. I must have been completely delusional ever to think I could do such a
nasty
thing
to anyone
. That means that
soon
I’ll be out of a job.
And whatever I finally manage to get, it won’t be to do with magazines. I can’t even bear to think about that.
’

Jess leaned forward. ‘Wait a minute – when you say you found you couldn’t do it, does that mean that you found a story, but came to your senses and decided that it was a shit-awful thing to do to anyone? Or is it that you couldn’t
discover
anything nasty about Tom?’

‘The first. Sort of. I did find out something
, but
it was something Tom volunteered after I’d realised I could never go through with it
. I don’t think it’s that much, but my frigging editor could easily make it into more than it is. He rang yesterday and asked – and that’s a nice way to describe his tone of voice – asked me where my copy was.’

‘What did you tell him?’

‘That he originally said I didn’t have to send it in till my last day
of working for Tom
–
he’d thought I might need the two weeks in London to get more details. I told him that I need
ed
that time if I was going to
make it as good as it could be
. He bought it
.
I could hear him drooling and dribbling at the other end of the line, the pig.’

‘But why didn’t …?’ Rachel began.

Evie hunched her shoulders and held up her hands in front of her.
‘OK. You don’t need to say it
.
You’re going to ask why I didn’t tell him straight out where to stick his effing job.’

‘Hole in one.
’

‘I haven’t quit yet because before I do, I must tell Tom the real reason why I went to Italy with him. If we’ve got any future together, even if it’s only a short term future, I don’t want it to be built on top of a whopping great lie.’