Chapter Two
*Jess’ POV*
PART THIRTY THREE
I woke up to my blaring alarm clock, my dream cut short. It was that dream again. The one where I relived every second of every moment when everything had happened with Aston. I don’t know why I always had that dream, but I did. And then I would be annoyed with myself for even thinking about it. We had sex once, and it most definitely was not happening again.
Pushing my bed covers off I swung my legs out of bed and dragged myself to the kitchen, filling up the kettle and grabbing down my favorite mug. While I waited for the water to boil I turned the television on in the lounge, flicking through the news channels to see if anything had happened while I’d been asleep.
“Morning,” Marnie called through to me.
“You’re up early!”
“Job interview today,” Marnie replied. Marnie was probably the least likely person in the world to be my closest friend and flatmate. We had almost nothing in common, and our personalities were complete opposites. While I was hardworking, driven and focused, she was a total flake who had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She couldn’t keep a job, and she bounced around from industry to industry on an almost weekly basis.
“With who?”
“Don’t laugh!” Marnie replied, “To be a nanny.”
I had to hide a smirk, “Sounds fitting.” That’s how Marnie and I knew each other. Her mum had been my nanny from the day I was born. She’d bring Marnie, her only child, around all the time because her husband had left her before Marnie was even born. Marnie had grown up practically as my sister, minus the whole having an Earl for a dad thing.
“I don’t know if they’ll want me,” she sighed, “My CV isn’t really that glowing.”
“Just be fun, smile a lot! Its more about personality,” I shrugged, wandering into the kitchen to fix my cup of coffee.
“I guess,” she said, “You busy today.”
“Meetings till eight,” I replied.
“Wow, I don’t get how you do it!”
“Do what? Work?” I asked, sipping my hot coffee.
“Well yeah. And for like twelve hours a day.”
“I don’t mind it,” I shrugged, “I like my job.”
“It’s just crazy how you juggle work with your family life, and now with having Aston around too.”
“Yeah…” I sighed. Aston. That taboo word.
After everything had happened things had gone a little bit weird between us. I guess it was inevitable, but it was still kind of annoying. I really didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about us. It was just for show, that was it. I was seriously too busy with work and my family to be able to fully commit to a relationship, and I’d told myself from a young age that the best way to get around being such a disappointment was to block out any sort of feelings. I’d watched my parents go through such a rollercoaster of emotions over their own marriage. I didn’t want that. So I put up a front.
As it was I’d only seen Aston three times the month of November. He was busy traveling the country promoting a new album and single, and I was in the midst of some very important meetings at work surrounding a new national healthcare law. The three times Aston and I did meet up were awkward, and we didn’t talk a lot. Luckily they were all appearances at events where we didn’t really get a chance to speak anyways. Either way, we hadn’t said anything more about that night.
“Anyways, I should get ready,” I said to Marnie, “I’ve got a meeting with someone from the Prime Minister’s office first thing.”
“Go on then,” Marnie grinned.
I wandered to my room to get ready, putting on my favorite work dress and pulling my hair back into a tight bun. Appearances mattered in my office, and I always strived to look as professional and powerful as possible.
“Jeremy?!” I called out when I walked into work.
“Miss Rego!” he replied quickly, eagerly following me into my office.
“Have you got the files I need?”
“Yes, here they are,” he said passing them to me quickly.
“Thank you,” I replied, taking them and flicking through them for a moment. He stood and waited for a moment before I gave a satisfied nod and he scooted out of my office.
Every since Aston had told me that some of my staff called me the dragon lady I had tried to tone down my curtness in the office. But not too much, just enough to seem grateful for everyone’s hard work.
The day went on from there. I found myself running all around Parliament, popping in and out of meetings, and on my mobile when I wasn’t with someone. The House of Commons had begun debating our law that day and things were getting hectic.
After declining three calls from Aston I finally gave in and answered my phone, more to get him to stop calling than anything else.
“Aston this better be really important,” I said, my eyes glued to the TV screen in our office while I watched one of the MPs attempt to rip the law to shreds.
“I’m with my mate JJ right now,” he said, “We’re booking a holiday for New Years. Dubai we’re thinking. Do you want to come?”
“You’re taking the piss right?” I asked.
“No, he’s sat right here and he told me to call you to see if you wanted to come.”
“Aston I can’t do this right now,” I replied, just as the MP said something completely off base, “What the hell man! You can’t say that!” I shouted.
“Sorry?” Aston asked.
“I’m yelling at an MP,” I said shortly, “Listen, its cute of you to call me in front of your friend and everything, but I’ve got to work.”
“So no holiday?”
“Answer that for yourself,” I replied, “Goodbye!”
I dropped my phone into my bag, my eyes glued to the TV as the MP continued on. His statements had me fuming, and I called for one of the interns in my office to start drafting a response statement, dictating the lines.
At the end of it all, my life was politics. Anything that got in the way of that was pushed to the side, hard.
PART THIRTY FOUR
“Jessica!!!” a voice yelled, causing me to run out of my office and down to my father’s.
“Yes?” I asked expectantly.
“Have you sent the statement to the BBC yet?”
“Yes,” I replied, shaking like a leaf. We were losing this whole political battle and it was making things in the office incredibly tense. The office was releasing a very important statement to the press, we were bound to be swamped with questions from every angle. We had to be on our A-game.
“Ok, and the staff is staying late tonight?” he asked me.
“Yup, everyone is going to be here till the phones stop ringing.”
“Thank you,” my father replied, “Hopefully this will do the trick.”
Major press statements weren’t normally our tactic, we preferred to fly under the radar a bit and let some of the other MPs take the limelight. But, we were so invested in this new healthcare law that we were doing whatever it took to get everyone on our side.
After speaking to my father I wandered out to the office to make sure that everyone knew what was going on, and what to say, and then I went back and sat at my desk waiting for the first call to come in.
I got a text right as I heard the first phone ring at reception. We had rigged the phones so that they rang through the office in an order. The first call went to reception, and subsequent calls went through all the interns. That way no one was sat on hold.
[We still on for dinner? 8:00?]
Shoot, I had told Aston I was going to eat with him tonight. It had been almost two weeks since we’d seen each other last, and I needed to explain to him why the whole holiday thing was a terrible idea. Hopefully he hadn't done something brash and booked it already.
“Miss Rego, I’m transferring this call to you!” one of my interns shouted out, “It’s the politics editor from the Guardian.”
“Thanks,” I replied, looking at my phone and waiting for it to ring.
We’d released the statement at three in the afternoon and at seven the phones were still ringing off the hook. I would have hoped people would have headed home for the night, but it seemed that everyone was trying to get their questions answered so they could get their articles in for print the next morning. I’d even had Sky News come round with a camera to film an in person interview of the Earl.
To say I was stressed was an understatement.
“JEREMY!” I shouted, tapping my foot on the floor as another phone rang. When was it ever going to stop?!
“Yes Miss!”
“Are you still keeping an eye on the news sites?” I asked.
“Yes ma’am.”
“And?” I demanded.
“They’re all slating the Earl, still.”
“FUCK!” I shouted, hitting my fist on the table hard.
“They’re saying that there are major holes in the new healthcare plan. They can’t figure out where the funding is coming from…”
“Haven’t they read it?!” I exclaimed, "It's all right there!!!"
“Miss…”
“Who is feeding them this misinformation?” I asked, “It better not be one of you!”
“It’s not,” Jeremy said, “Just… go sit. I’ll bring you some tea.”
“No, you go sit,” I spit out, “The phones are still ringing.”
Jeremy nodded at me and quickly scuttled off to his desk, like a dog with his tail between his legs being told off.
At half past eight the phones finally died down. I’d put myself in my office, completely riled up by the whole situation. I needed a hot bath and a glass of wine to calm myself down.
“Interns,” I said sharply, “You can go.”
“Thank you miss,” one said.
Remembering the whole dragon lady thing, I slowly took a deep breath and re-thought my tone, putting on the best smile I could muster and a more gentle voice. “Thank all of you for staying tonight. Good work.” I watched my staff gather their things and start to filter out, “Jeremy! My office!”
“Yes Miss Rego,” he said quickly, following me into my office. He looked petrified.
“Sorry about before,” I said to him once he’d sat down.
“It’s no worry.”
“I shouldn’t shout at you,” I replied, “I’m sorry. You’ve done an amazing job today.” It was true, he had. I just wasn’t the kind of boss to give good feedback. I’d need to change that if I wanted to move up to a bigger office. “Head on home then.”
“Thanks Miss Rego,” he said.
“Jessica,” I replied, “Call me Jessica please. Or Jess.”
“Yes Miss Rego.”
I gave him a stern look and then laughed. “See you tomorrow,” he grimaced when he realized what you said.
“You too,” I replied, grabbing my bag and checking my phone. Shit. Three missed calls from Aston and a few texts. I looked at the time realizing I was already forty-five minutes late for our meal. Running out of the office I grabbed a cab, sending it off towards the restaurant.
“Sorry,” I sighed, slumping down into the seat across from Aston. Half the bread in the basket was gone and his drink was nearly empty.
“I was just about to leave.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I replied.
“You could have texted.”
“I know,” I sighed, “Work sort of blew up in my face.”
“Sure,” he replied, grabbing the waiter’s attention. We put in our orders and then a silence fell between us.
I just felt exhausted. The day had not gone as planned, and I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. I was practically on the verge of tears.
“You ok?” Aston asked me after a minute, with a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic look.
“It’s just work,” I sighed.
“What about it? We never talk about your work.”
I stared at him for a moment, wondering if I should respond. We didn’t talk about my work because it wasn’t relevant to the whole deception we were putting on. I didn’t tell him things he didn’t need to know.
“Just stressful,” I said, “We released a statement this afternoon and the press just blew up about it. Its like we’re fighting a losing battle.”
“Do you ever take a break?”
“I mean, I’ll go get a coffee or something,” I replied, a bit confused.
“No, I mean, like go on holiday or something?”
“I’m going to my nan’s in Portugal for Christmas,” I replied, “Only for like three days, but still.” Aston’s eyes got a bit big when I said this; it was clearly news to him. Surely I mentioned my mum’s whole family still lived in Portugal?
“Well I booked you a sport for Dubai at New Years,” he said, “You should come and just get away from work for a few days.”
“Aston I…”
“Just think about it," he said, cutting me off, "We’ll go to the pool and relax, get some sun and that, and then we'll have a great night out to ring in the New Year. A few of my friend’s from home are going to come too. You don't need to tell me now, just, think about it,” he said.
I stared at him for a minute. I’d been totally against going away on holiday when he’d first brought it up, but how he put it made it seem somewhat appealing. I could definitely use a little sun. Still… if things were going to go like they had the last time I’d agreed to a night out I wasn’t too sure that this was such a great idea. I didn’t want him getting the wrong idea.
“We’ll see how all this shakes out,” I said, “Thank you for thinking of me at least.”
“Jessica Rego saying thank you?” he asked, “What has gotten into you?”
I couldn’t help but inwardly smirk at the innuendo behind that question. Aston clearly didn’t realize it, but it was all down to him.