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For a long minute nothing happened, nobody moved. Then Jem felt her world come crashing down around her, felt the bricks fall, felt her stomach twist with nausea.

“I thought you said I’d feel better after I told them,” she said faintly.

“Oh, Jem,” said Rolly, pulling her into a hug, holding her against his warm body. “Oh, Jem, I’m so sorry.”

The tears wouldn’t come. It was like there was too much emotion, too many feelings, to feel any one thing. “Don’t be, I did this, I started it, I stupidly thought he might understand, with all this, with him loving Rosie, with… I don’t know.”

“Come on, Ms. Puddleduck, let’s get you out of here,” Rolly said. “Let’s take you home.”

She nodded against his chest and he pulled away, keeping one arm around her as he walked her down the corridor.

“Shall I ring her?” he asked as they pushed through double doors.

She knew instinctively who he meant, and knew instinctively that Ellie was the only person in the world other than Rolly that she wanted to see right now. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, please. Take my phone.”

She handed it over and listened numbly while Rolly made the call.

Chapter Twenty Four

Ellie shivered in the cool of the wind, wrapping her jacket tightly around her as she hovered in the doorway of Jem’s building. Whatever had happened, she knew she had to be there. A man she didn’t know had given her the bare details, but all she’d really heard was that Jem needed her.

So she’d come.

A mistake, perhaps, but Jem seemed to provoke that in her. Jem seemed to overcome all sensible thought and make her do things that she knew she really shouldn’t. Like right now, for example. Right now she should be refining the guest lists, checking the silverware, vetting service staff. And yet here she was. One phone call and here she was.

What was it about her? There was something magnetic about her, for sure. But it was more than that. It was, Ellie had to admit, some kind of visceral attraction. Even the first time she’d seen the woman she’d made an impression.

A handful of hours later and she couldn’t get Jem out of her mind. Despite the fact that she was the very antithesis of anything Ellie had ever known or wanted. Still though, there was a vulnerability about her, a fragility that Ellie hadn’t expected.

A car drew up and the back door opened, Jem practicallyfalling out onto the pavement, followed by a thick-set man with a worried air.

“Jem?” Ellie said, hurrying up to her.

“Are you going to be alright?” the man said.

Jem nodded, putting out a hand and grasping hold of Ellie’s arm like she needed steadying. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. And where are my manners? Ellie this is Rolly, Rolly, Ellie.”

Ellie smiled quickly at the man.

“Look after her,” he said. “Please. She… she’s more fragile than you might think.”

Jem shook her head. “Rolly is my knight in shining armor. But he does have a life of his own to get back to, don’t you?”

Rolly sighed, but nodded and turned back to the car. Jem clung to Ellie’s arm and began leading her toward the building.

“You’ll be so proud,” Jem said, brittle and chipper in a way that told Ellie something was really wrong.

“I’m sure I will,” Ellie responded, pulling Jem closer and pressing her arm against her body to feel its warmth. Whatever was going on, Jem needed to be inside, Ellie knew that she was unlikely to spill a thing until they were in private.

“Morning,” Jem said, smiling too brightly at the doorman.

“It’s afternoon by now,” said Ellie.

Jem didn’t seem to notice. They took the lift up in silence, Jem handing over her keys to Ellie with shaking hands so that she could let them both into the massive apartment. Only once they were inside did Jem let go of Ellie’s arm, practically running to the bar and pouring herself a drink.

“So…” Ellie said, approaching the bar. “Everything’s not alright.”

Jem ignored her, gulping down the amber liquid in her glass and then pouring another immediately.