Page 24 of A Very Happy Easter

“Sensible. Porn star or not, I reckon I can outlast him.”

“Outlast him? You mean in?—”

“In the two-months department.”

“Oh. I mean, that’s excellent news. And I don’t even mind if you see other women as long as you’re discreet about it.” I suddenly realised I’d made an enormous assumption. “Oh, hell. I assumed you didn’t have a girlfriend. Nobody mentioned one, and?—”

“I’m single, Edie. Too busy with work to date right now.”

“Great! Okay, not great, great, because you absolutely deserve to meet a lovely lady and settle down, but…but…”

“You want me to find a ladder so you can climb out of that hole you’re digging yourself into?”

Did I sound like I was panicking? I was definitely panicking. “I’m fine.”

Heath held up a hand. “Touch your little finger to my middle finger.”

“I’m not having a panic attack.” Not yet, anyway.

“But we don’t want you getting there. Breathe, Edie.”

I touched my finger to his and focused on forcing air into my lungs. In and out. In and out.

“I’m all right.” Did I sound convincing? “Really.”

The toot-toot of my car outside made me jump, and my heart pounded. Dammit!

“Where are your shoes?”

“My parents are going to be there,” I blurted. “I just feel as if you should know that before you get into the car.”

“So I can still do a runner?”

“You might be interrogated.”

“I actually have training for that. Name, rank, and serial number.”

Huh? “Is that an Army thing?”

“Those were the three pieces of information I was allowed to give up under torture.”

My hands flew to my mouth. “You were tortured?”

“Only in training.”

“Oh. Thank goodness. Although, if the government ever wanted to extract information from terrorists, they should just call in my mama and her friends. They never give up.”

“I’ll remember that. Shoes, Edie.”

“Right. Right, of course.”

How could he stay so calm? In my silver Mercedes, I turned up the air con as Jerilyn, my driver, looked on puzzled. I made the introductions.

“Heath, this is Jerilyn. She’s been driving me for three years now. Jerilyn, this is my friend Heath. He’s accompanying me to the gallery tonight.”

Jerilyn was a no-nonsense Black woman with a protective streak, a black belt in judo, and experience with both evasive and defensive driving.

“Don’t you fuck around with my girl,” she warned him.