The Importance of Being Married by Gemma Townley Read Free Book Online

Marcia’s desk, their eyes still on me.
    “Hi, Anthony,” Marcia breathed, and he smiled at her. I looked up at Max, caught his eye, then looked down again, quickly. He had blue eyes. Really deep blue. But it was hard to notice them because he covered them up with glasses most of the time. He was slightly shorter than Anthony—which wasn’t hard, bearing in mind that Anthony was well over six feet—and managed to make even expensive suits look somehow crumpled. Most people avoided Max if they could help it; they thought he was an obsessive workaholic who had no sense of humor, but it wasn’t true. When he smiled—which wasn’t that often, admittedly—his whole face lit up, his eyes crinkled up so you could hardly see them, and you couldn’t help grinning back stupidly at him. Not that I liked him or anything. I mean sure, I liked him. But just as a colleague. And anyway, he certainly wasn’t interested in me. Max wasn’t interested in anyone.
    I wiped my forehead, which was now perspiring.
    “You okay, Jess?” Max asked, coming over. “You look terrible.”
    “I do?” My face fell slightly. “I mean, really?” I said quickly. “Because I’m fine, honestly.”
    “So how was your weekend?”
    I took a deep breath—I could feel my chest constricting. Did he know? Was he playing with me?
    “Not so good, actually,” I said, my heart pounding. “Grace…my friend Grace…well, she died, actually.”
    Max’s eyes widened in alarm. “Oh, Jess. I’m sorry. Oh, God, that’s awful.”
    I looked at him uncertainly, then felt my entire body relax. He didn’t know. If he’d known about the will, he’d have already known Grace was dead. I was safe.
    “It’s okay,” I said breathlessly. “Thanks, Max.”
    “So, Max,” Anthony said, raising an eyebrow. “Are you going to explain to Jess why we’re over here?” His face was suddenly serious again and I felt my heart thudding in my chest again.
    “The…reason?” I gulped.
    Max shrugged uncomfortably. “Maybe now’s not a great time,” he muttered.
    “Not a great time? Max, business is business.”
    I stared at him. “Is there something wrong?”
    “Very wrong, I’m afraid,” Anthony said seriously.
    My eyes widened. “Really? What? Look, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t mean to. I…I…” I could feel my chest constricting again.
    Anthony arched an eyebrow. “That might be the case. But would you mind telling me what that bottle of Evian is doing on your desk?” he asked me.
    “Seriously, Anthony, not the time…” Max said, but Anthony silenced him.
    I looked at the bottle anxiously. “The water? It’s…I mean, it’s just for me. I…I…” The room was beginning to spin. I couldn’t see properly. Couldn’t speak properly.
    “Better hide it when the Eau Best people come around later, eh?” Anthony’s face broke into a huge smile. “Our new client! Max won the pitch last week. How about that?”
    Marcia threw her head back and laughed. “No way! God, that’s great. Really exciting.”
    I stared at Max, who rolled his eyes.
    “Um…that’s great,” I said, feeling my heart begin to slow slightly. I put the bottle in the trash bin. Then I realized how thirsty I was. “I might just go and…get some…water. From the cooler…” I said, standing up on unsteady legs.
    “Jess?” I could hear Max behind me calling, but I didn’t stop. I felt out of control. I needed to splash water on my face, to cool down. Needed to get away from people. And then I heard my phone ring. My mobile phone. Which was on my desk.
    Immediately I stopped, panic rising up through me again. Then I forced myself on again. It wasn’t going to be Mr. Taylor. Sure, my mobile phone number was on the card I gave him, but that didn’t mean that every time it rang it was going to be him. And even if it was him, no one would pick it up. It would go through to voice mail.
    And then the ringing stopped. Too soon for voice mail to have picked up.