The Road to Her by KE Payne Read Free Book Online Page B

my head as I drove, thinking what a curious thing it had been for Elise to suddenly apologise out of the blue. I guess it was even more surprising to me that she must have actually been thinking about our past conversations, just as I had done, if she felt the need to apologise for what she’d said. Embarrassment coloured my cheeks at the memory of being so offhand with her, both that morning and before. Perhaps I’d been paranoid and maybe Elise hadn’t been critical of anything I was doing, despite me taking everything she’d said to heart. Perhaps Bella had been right, and I’d simply misunderstood what Elise had been trying to tell me.
    And she enjoyed working with me as well! What was that all about? Nothing—and I mean nothing —in her behaviour or attitude towards me had ever hinted at anything other than she didn’t think much of me, and yet, there she was, telling me she enjoyed working with me. Did that mean she actually liked me? I was convinced that she probably disliked me as much as I disliked her, but her saying that was now making me question everything I’d thought about her. It was baffling, to say the least.
    By the time I entered the outskirts of London I must have replayed our conversation over a hundred times and had finally made up my mind to have a proper heart-to-heart with her about it all. Bella could be right about that as well; maybe Elise wasn’t as bad as I’d made her out to be, and I just needed to give her a chance.

Chapter Six
     
    Friday, was a day off for me, thanks to our good work Wednesday afternoon which had put us ahead of schedule. After a brief visit to my parents in the countryside, I returned to London the same afternoon, surprisingly refreshed from having a whole day away from the capital.
    While I’d been away at my parents’, I’d texted Bella, Rory, Robbie, Elise, and anyone else I could think of to arrange a time and place to meet up that night for our planned drinks, so that we could get to know Elise better, and had decided on a club called Bobby’s somewhere out in Mayfair. It was a favourite haunt of the PR cast and was very generous in doling out free drinks to us all. We loved it there and always made the most of their hospitality. Well, wouldn’t you? You’re only young once, right?
    “Free drinks?” Elise asked when we arrived that night. She followed me out of our cab and into the dark environment of the club. “As in totally free ?”
    She was dressed up to the nines—we all were—wearing a tight jade-green minidress and killer heels, which made her taller than she already was. She looked amazing, towering over me as we weaved our way over towards the bar behind Bella and Robbie.
    “Totally, one hundred percent free,” I said. “Perks of the job.”
    We arrived at the bar to find someone from our group had already arranged drinks for us all. Elise took the glass of red wine that was handed to her by Bella and raised it to me. “To Jasmine and Casey,” she said, taking a sip from it.
    “Jasmine and Casey!” I said, mirroring her action with my glass.
    I watched, amused, as Elise drained her drink and looked hopefully at the barman again. When he didn’t notice her, she placed her empty glass on the bar and turned back to me. “Dance?”
    “Sure.” I put my drink down. “You two coming?” I draped my arm round Bella’s shoulders and looked at her and Robbie. “Or is this one a bit too fast for you, Bella?”
    “You think a forty-something can’t keep up?” Bella reached up and grabbed my hand that was around her shoulder. “Watch and learn, kid. Watch and learn.”
    Laughing, the four of us headed to the dance floor, getting sucked into the swell of people in the darkness. Elise and I managed to get separated from Bella and Robbie, swept along amongst a wave of other clubbers dancing around us. It was only when the music finally slowed down, after around fifteen minutes of constant fast-paced techno music, and when I was just