Lessons in Love. Kate Lawson

       Chapter Five

      Jane very, very slowly opened her eyes, struggling to get her bearings. It was almost dark and she had the most terrible hangover. Even her eyelashes ached. Although as she looked around the room it occurred to her that that might very well be the least of her worries. Oh my God, moaned a voice in her head, when she found she was naked in a strange bed in a strange room with the headache from hell.

      Oh my God, oh my God, screamed her conscience, never one to hold back on melodrama when the occasion warranted it. Surely to goodness she hadn’t gone back to the office with Ray? Surely, even given her patchy track record vis-à-vis men she hadn’t ended up stark naked and blind drunk in the boss’s bed on her first day in a new job? Surely not.

      Jane scurried through her memories, trying desperately to recall exactly what had happened. She could remember the wine, remember eating supper, remember coffee, although that was slightly fuzzier, remembered thinking she felt sick—hopefully she hadn’t been. And then? And then…nothing.

      Surely she couldn’t have slept all night? She ought to get up. She ought to get up, get dressed and go home.

      Jane looked around for her clothes and spotted her suit and blouse hanging neatly over the back of a chair under which were tucked her shoes. Did seducers hang up your clothes? And where the hell was her underwear? Was it clean? Did it match? While her brain busied itself panicking over trivia she heard footfalls on the stairs.

      ‘Oh my God,’ whimpered her conscience. ‘Oh my God…’ It took Jane a second or two to realise it wasn’t her conscience but her whimpering aloud.

      She fought the temptation to hide under the duvet, while across the room the door swung slowly open.

      ‘So you’re awake then?’ said Gary. He was carrying a tray on which a glass of something opaque and white hissed and bubbled. Beside that stood a pot of tea. ‘You still drunk?’

      Jane was torn between resenting his tone and wanting to hug him. Gary didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Drink this and have a shower. I’ll get you something to eat. There’s a robe, and everything else you’ll need is in the bathroom.’

      ‘How did I end up here?’

      ‘Because there is a God,’ said Gary grimly, plumping the pillows behind her as if Jane was an invalid. ‘That and the cab driver dropping you off. You were completely off your face. Oh, and before you ask, you undressed yourself. I just tidied up behind you. Has anyone ever told you you’re a messy cow?’

      ‘I thought I’d gone home with Ray,’ Jane said, concentration elsewhere.

      Gary glanced down at her. ‘I must be a terrible disappointment.’

      ‘God, no—no, not at all. I just can’t believe I got that drunk. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that in my life before. I don’t know how I’m going to face him.’ And then she paused as a thought blossomed, closely watched by Gary. ‘You know, I think he got me drunk.’

      ‘You don’t say?’ said Gary, in a voice heavy with sarcasm.

      Jane stared at him. ‘Why didn’t Jayne warn me?’

      Gary shrugged. ‘Who knows? Maybe she thought you two would be perfect for each other.’

      Once Gary had gone, Jane very gingerly eased herself out of bed, head pounding, put on the bathrobe and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was all over everywhere, her skin looked awful and her eyes looked worse. Much worse. She considered the row of expensive unguents and creams lined up on the dressing table for a few seconds and then padded silently into the bathroom, turned the shower on full, hung the robe on the door and stepped under the warm bubbling torrent. It hurt. She stood for a long time in the shower, willing it to wash her hangover away.

      ‘You drowned yet?’ called a familiar voice after ten minutes or so.

      Jane swung round, instantly regretting moving so fast. Jayne’s elegant en suite had been built as a wet room, with a big daisy-head shower and a bluey green obscure glass block wall snaking across the room, separating the shower area from the rest of the bathroom. Gary, looking rather like a benign bat through the distortion of the glass, was on the far side clutching the huge fluffy white robe.

      ‘No, but I wish I had. Have you never heard of invasion of privacy? Do you know you’re worse than my mother?’ she said, reaching around the glass partition and taking the robe.

      ‘Pity you didn’t take more notice of her then, accepting drinks from strange men. Anything could have happened.’

      ‘Rather naïvely I didn’t think Ray was a stranger,’ Jane snapped right back, slipping the robe on and tying it tight. It was warm as well as being thick and velvety.

      ‘In my experience they don’t come much stranger than Ray Jacobson.’

      ‘Now you tell me,’ she said, padding out through the bubbly water. ‘He’s Jayne’s right-hand man. She said so.’

      Gary rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘Um, yes—Jayne’s got a blind spot when it comes to certain people, Ray being one of them.’

      ‘I’ve got to work with him.’

      ‘You should work from here. That way I can keep an eye on you.’

      ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence. Have you told Jayne about Ray?’

      ‘She thinks it’s just sibling rivalry. They’ve been together for so long that they finish each other’s sentences. Years. Too many years for her to have any sense of perspective.’

      ‘Romantically?’

      ‘Good God no, he likes his meat young and tender.’ As he spoke Gary lifted an eyebrow.

      ‘That is disgusting.’

      ‘He doesn’t seem to think so. His last serious girlfriend was nineteen.’

      ‘Yuck. Because…?’ said Jane, taking the towel Gary handed her for drying her hair.

      ‘Because any woman over thirty-five can see straight through him. He’s all slime, style and no substance.’

      ‘And you’re telling me this because?

      Gary shrugged. ‘Because Jayne won’t listen to me. And besides, he’s more likely to jump you.’

      Jane groaned. ‘Oh, please, don’t. I’m feeling delicate enough as it is.’

      ‘Although actually you’re probably a little long in the tooth for him,’ Gary continued, looking her up and down.

      Jane glowered at him, or at least would have done if it hadn’t made her headache worse.

      ‘Then why did he get me drunk?’

      ‘He probably pulls the wings off flies as well. Food is in fifteen minutes,’ said Gary, on his way out of the door.

      ‘I’ve already eaten.’

      He pulled a face.

      ‘What?’ asked Jane, gently towelling around her hangover.

      ‘You don’t remember being sick?’

      Jane groaned. ‘Oh, no, don’t.’

      When she had finished getting dressed Jane headed downstairs. As she crossed the landing she hesitated. Jayne’s office door was ajar.

      Jane opened the door wider still, stepped inside and looked around. The room was awash with mellow starlight.

      Although she had seen it the previous week it felt different now—calmer, more peaceful.