Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes [142]
And then the really baffling truth dawned on Tara. Katherine wasn’t returning the blond bloke’s smile. She’d smiled at him first.
What was going on? There was an unusual slightly loose-cannonish air about Katherine tonight. She looked different, reminding Tara of someone. Who was it? A person familiar yet not. Ah! Something turned and settled into place. How unexpected. It was her mother, Delia.
On Thursday Katherine went to work with a mild hangover and soldiered on with her Joe Roth-free life. Low with disappointment, yet still oddly convinced she’d be OK.
Work was a great distraction. But in the midst of inputting a fixed assets schedule, the longing to look at Joe hurtled at her out of nowhere. She kept her head turned to the screen and resisted. And resisted. But the yearning tugged at her, until she couldn’t fight it any more. Shifting her head infinitesimally, she allowed herself the merest sliver of a glance out of the tiniest corner of her eye.
And her skin flamed when she saw him watching her. Sideways, furtively, but with great intensity. Then, his eyes locked on to hers, he smiled. Wide, intimate, meaningful.
What was he grinning at?
She turned back to her screen. In the top left-hand corner a little envelope was flashing. You have mail. She clicked her mouse and opened it. It was an e-mail.
From Joe.
52
The day of the apology Joe Roth had told Katherine he’d think about it. And Joe Roth was a man of his word. So he thought about it.
A pragmatic man, when Katherine had rejected him with her hints of sexual harassment, he’d doused his feelings for her. But he hadn’t poured the acid of bitterness on them, corroding them into something ugly and twisted. So, though considerably faded, they were perfectly preserved and ready to be regenerated at a moment’s notice.
Not only did Joe want to go out with Katherine, but he wanted to take her somewhere totally, mindblowingly special.
Somewhere magical. Somewhere meaningful. Somewhere that showed how interested in her he was. But where? Out for a spectacular dinner? Hot-air ballooning? Away for the weekend? To a country hotel? To Reykjavík? Or Barcelona?
Nothing but the very best would suffice.
He racked his brains over the weekend to no avail. Monday and Tuesday were an agony of no inspiration.
And suddenly on Wednesday he knew. In an instant it was so very clear. It was the obvious thing to do for a woman of Katherine’s calibre.
But how would he pull it off? By next Saturday? That kind of thing normally took months – even for members the waiting list was eight weeks.
He realized he needed his mate Rob’s co-operation, there was no other way around it. He just couldn’t do it on his own. That evening he called to Rob’s flat because such an onerous request merited a personal visit.
‘I’ve met a girl,’ Joe prefaced.
‘I know.’
‘No, a different one.’
‘Blimey!’
‘Her name is Katherine and she’s really special.’
‘Good for you, mate.’
‘And I need you to make the ultimate sacrifice.’
Rob’s eyes flickered uncertainly. ‘What are you on about?’
‘Saturday…’
‘Saturday!’ Rob exclaimed. Surely he couldn’t mean…?
‘Saturday,’ Joe repeated meaningfully.
‘No, mate,’ Rob beseeched, backing away from him. ‘No way, mate. It’s out of order, don’t ask me to do that. A refusal often offends.’
‘So does a smack in the mouth.’
‘So it’s like that.’
‘Only because I’m desperate.’
‘We’ve been mates for a long time. I never thought you’d do something like this to me.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m sorry. I am. But I’ve no choice.’
‘Who is this woman? Pamela Anderson?’
‘Better. So what do you say? Yes? Or yes?’
‘Can’t you take her somewhere else?’
‘No. Nothing but the best for Katherine. Go on, Rob. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll pay you whatever you want.’
‘Money is meaningless, you know that. I’m insulted.’
‘Do I have a yes?’
‘I’ll think about it.’
‘No, I need to know now.’
Rob looked in astonishment at Joe.