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Jessica slipped out of the house at seven-thirty in the morning and made it to the site before anyone was there. There was a ton of stuff she had to get done before going back to London this evening. Putting her bag down and opening the blinds to the portacabin, she still couldn’t believe what was happening between her and Rosie. It felt like she was surrounded in a loving embrace every time they talked. Everything about last night was so beautiful. Their kiss was now burned onto her brain. She’d wanted so much more, but sleeping with Rosie was out of the question, right?

She picked up her phone, still thinking about Rosie, unsure if she’d stopped thinking about her all night. I’ve gone down to site early. Can you bring coffee on your way in?

She hit send then wanted to delete it immediately. It sounded like she was treating her like an assistant. Rosie had already seen the message, so there was no taking it back. Jessica sighed. It was so unlike her to question herself like this. Rosie made her feel like their every exchange was both highly meaningful and the easiest, most natural thing in the world.

An hour later Rosie came into the tiny office bearing coffee and pastries. Rosie’s lips had felt so soft last night. She was wearing her outdoor, on-site clothes: cargo pants, black zipped up fleece and chunky boots. Jessica imagined pulling them off and fucking her on the desk.

“Good morning, Jess.”

“Good morning.”

“I bring the essentials.”

“Thank you.”

Rosie put them down. She got out her laptop and settled herself behind the other desk.

Jessica sipped her coffee, wanting to look at her and talk and maybe get onto the fucking, but instead, she turned her attention to her own laptop. Contractors milled around outside the cabins. A new car or van pulled into the car park every few minutes. The yard was buzzing with activity outside. Jessica needed to go and speak with John soon.

“You were in early today,” Rosie said, glancing up at her.

“I wanted to get a head start on the day. Did you get a taxi okay?”

“Yep. I have an app for them on my phone.”

“Good.”

“Are you staying up for another night?”

“No. I’ll head back after work today. The project is in a good place, I don’t think I’ll need to come back for a while. You can keep me posted.” Jessica cursed herself, inwardly. Everything she said this morning was coming across like a cold and clinical boss, the opposite to how she was feeling.

Rosie ran her hand through her hair, looking off to the side. Was she disappointed? “Yeah, sure.”

“I’m going to message my cousin Martin today to see if he wants to meet up.”

Rosie looked up and smiled. “That’s amazing, Jess. Good for you.”

“It feels like the right thing to do.”

“Will you let me know how it goes? What he says and if you do meet up?”

“I will.”

Their kiss last night seemed to hang in the air. Jessica sat there, hyper-aware of the energy between them and her desire for Rosie.

Rosie typed on her laptop.

Jessica finally finished a quick email to another client.

Rosie stood and put her hard hat on. “I’m going to be in the restoration yard all morning. Message me if there’s anything important?”

God, the things she wanted to do to this woman. “Will do. Have a good morning.”

“You too, Jess.” Rosie smiled and left her alone in the portacabin.

Jessica sat back in her chair, stretching her arms out to the side and rolling her shoulders back. This connection between them was making Jessica feel things she hadn’t felt in such a long time. It was inexplicable, but every time she was around Rosie, she felt better. All Jessica could see when she closed her eyes was that smile on Rosie’s beautiful face and the affection in Rosie’s eyes. Sitting behind her laptop but not actually working, she set an alarm on her phone and allowed herself to go there in her mind, because of that kiss, because of how good Rosie kept making her feel. But after ten minutes, her alarm went and she stopped herself from thinking about her in that way. Rosie was her employee. It had to stop. Didn’t it?

***

A month later, Jessica sat in the busy coffee shop waiting for her cousin and aunt to arrive. She kept looking up every time someone came through the door, bringing the cold December day in with them, but so far not her relatives. She was early though. She was nervous. Would she and her cousin Martin still have anything in common? What would her aunt Susan be like with her? Was she going to learn something about her dad? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not used to feeling so… off balance and so eager to hear something about him.

“Jessica?”

She turned to see Martin and Susan in front of her, a mixture of smiles and disbelief and cold air behind them. Susan looked like her dad, same eyes. Like her. There was something very primal in the similarity.

Jessica stood.

Susan hugged her tightly. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“Aunty Susan.” Jessica hugged her back.

“Hey,” Martin said.

“Hi.” Jessica smiled, giving him a quick hug. It all felt so easy and familiar.

“What are you doing with yourself? Are you well?” Susan searched her eyes.

They caught up and Jessica filled her in on the broad strokes of her life, while Martin went to the counter to order.

Susan sat forward, taking Jessica’s hands in hers. Jessica felt herself let go of something inside her the instant Susan took her hands. “That all sounds wonderful, love. You’ve made something of your life. It’s quite something. I can’t quite believe how well you turned out considering…” She dropped her eyes to the hands. “I’ve worried about you over the years. I didn’t know how well your mum was and if you were basically on your own or not. But it sounds like she’s doing so much better and that is fantastic. Will you tell her I was asking after her?”

“I will.”

Seeing her family again like this made her feel so connected to her past, in a good way. It also made her miss her mum and Grace. In any case, she was sick of keeping her family at arm’s-length because when all was said and done, family was so important.

“Love, there’s a lot of us in the family who’ve been missing you. Martin, in particular. I think he missed your friendship. All his mates are very blokey, as you can imagine. But he could actually talk to you. He has his wife Diane now, of course.”

“I see.”

“I’m not saying that to make you feel guilty. I’m just letting you know that you’re loved, and you always have been.”

Jessica dropped her chin to her chest, stifling tears. It wasn’t that she held any grudges towards her extended family, she was fond of them. It was the connection to her dad and the anger that she had for him that she ran away from. Better to make a clean cut rather than have loose ties to him. That’s what she had always told herself. But she’d missed so much of their lives. The realisation shook her. “You’re going to make me cry, Aunty Susan.”

“And what would be wrong with that? Come here.” She stood and hugged Jessica again. Her perfume took Jessica way back to when she was young and staying over at her house.

“Everything.” Jessica mumbled over her shoulder.

“What’s all this?” Martin said, putting a tray on the circular table. He looked as if he wanted to join in on the hugging, but instead he sat down, legs wide and folded his muscular arms.

“I’m letting our Jessica know how much we’ve missed her.”

Jessica took a breath, feeling like a child again.

“Your dad’s been asking about you. He’s thrilled we are meeting.”

“Mum,” Martin groaned. “Too much too soon.”

Jessica sat back up straight, regaining some composure, or trying to. This was exactly why she’d kept her distance. Her aunt, while well meaning, was probably more loyal to her dad and would never respect her boundaries. Didn’t they realise she had valid reasons for leaving? Didn’t they realise that things with her dad were not good? She didn’t want to get into it, not on the first meeting and not in public. Was this why she kept her distance from people in general?

“What? It’s for the best. I want to help him make amends with Jessica.”

“It’s not your place,” Martin said, under his breath. He looked at Jessica. “Sorry, cuz.”

“It’s all right. I know you’re only trying to help. But if it’s okay, would you mind if we don’t talk about him today? I’m not saying never, but not right now.”

Susan held her eye and then acquiesced. “Okay.” She held her hands up. “Whatever you are most comfortable with.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m glad I got a large coffee for this, man,” Martin said. He took a large gulp. “Wish it was something stronger.” He laughed. “Just as well I’m teetotal,” he laughed again, awkwardly.

“Martin’s been sober for two years now. We’re all very proud. And not least for his successful business as an electrician.”

“Mum.” He turned his head away.

Jessica smiled. It was just like old times. “Congratulations. That’s awesome,” Jessica said.

“Your business,” Susan said. “What sort of work do you do?”

“My company is doing up the waterfront by the river that’s been lying derelict for years, where the old shipyards were. We’re transforming it into a recreational space for the town and preserving the history.”

“That’s you!?” Martin said, surprised. “That is so fucking awesome, cuz. That build is a big fucking deal around here right now. You must be the top dog.”

Susan went pale. She sat back in her chair, mouth falling open, as if Jessica had just said she was running for Prime Minister. “Oh my, Jessica. You’re behind all that? It’s been the talk of the town for months. We had no idea.”

“Well, it’s the local authority who are committing to getting it done, finally, but yes, it is my company that’s doing it. There have been a couple of bumps along the way. We got flooded, for instance, but we’ve got everything back on track now. It’s on schedule to be completed in about four months.”

“Nice one,” Martin said. “Some of my mates have got jobs down there. Danny McGorm from school, remember him? He’s been doing some labouring on it.”

Pride swelled in her chest at the looks on both of their faces. “I do remember him.”

Susan hugged her again, even tighter. Something clicked back into place in Jessica’s heart.

“Honestly, Mum, you’re off the scale. Leave her alone.”

“It’s all right.” Jessica gently squeezed Susan’s arm. “I appreciate it.”

Martin smiled, as if happy he had permission to join the moment they were sharing.

“Our superstar,” Susan spoke to the side of Jessica’s head. She pulled back from the hug. “It’s so wonderful. I am so proud of you.” Susan smiled. “You didn’t forget about us and your roots after all.”

“I didn’t.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you were working on it, love?”

Jessica exhaled, heavily, feeling guilty. “I didn’t want to lose focus on the project.” She paused, not feeling fully honest. “I’m sorry. I should have. I think I just wasn’t ready. It’s terrible, really.”

“You got there in the end, that’s what matters.” Susan’s eyes were so kind.

It made Jessica even more determined to get the job done well and spend more time with her extended family to make up for lost time.

Susan raised an eyebrow. “Can I tell your dad about all this? Is that something you would be comfortable with, love?”

“Tell him if you want.” Jessica shrugged.

“Thanks, love. I will. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”

They chatted for another two hours in the coffee shop, catching up on years of events: who was married, who had children and what changes had happened in the area. Jessica left them on the street outside after more hugs, with promises to meet up again soon.

Back in her car, there was only one person she wanted to tell, and that was Rosie. Jessica typed out a simple message. It went really well.

Yessssssssss!!!!! I’m so happy for you!!!!!!

Jessica smiled, wanting to call her or sit messaging her for an hour, but instead, she turned on the car engine. She was on the edge of something with this woman, desperately trying to hold back.

They’re very happy about the project. Will tell you more next time I see you.

Jessica turned her phone off and focused on the long drive home, thinking about the past, her family, her choices in life, and doing everything she could to not think about Rosie, their kiss last month and her beautiful soul. Because lately Rosie was on her mind all the time. Dreaming of Rosie was where her mind wandered when she wanted comfort, but she couldn’t let herself get used to it.

***

At work on the first day back after the new year, Jessica was sitting quietly at her desk weighing up a potential multi-million-pound contract to design a new skyscraper in London versus a contract to redesign the town centre of a rundown coastal town. They were still doing very well, financially, but could she say no to this? From growing up in a chaotic home where money was never stable and was a source of many arguments, there was still part of her that felt money was scarce and that she had to keep making more and more. It was hard to stick to this new strategy, but she could afford this risk at this point in her life and career.

And most importantly, the Clydebank project was making her fall in love with architecture again, and that was worth its weight in gold.

Things were going very well on the project and things were also going very well between her and Rosie. They’d been messaging a lot over the holidays and had even met for coffee one day while they were both out doing last minute Christmas shopping. They’d talked about their families and what presents they were getting people, and what Christmases were like at home. Jessica enjoyed listening to Rosie go on about their traditions and the eccentricities of different people in her family. She’d also laughed so much. Rosie was effortlessly funny and warm. Hopefully, they were becoming real friends and the sexual tension between them was becoming less of a thing. Although, Jessica had missed her over the holidays more than she cared to admit.

A video call pierced the silence in her office, bringing her out of her thoughts. It rang for ages until she realised it was Patrick calling. She wasn’t expecting him. After accepting the call, she sat up straighter and clasped her hands on the desk.

Patrick’s face filled her screen. He looked paler than usual and had dark circles under his eyes. “Hi Jessica, thanks for taking my call. Happy new year.” He sounded anything but happy.

“Hello, Patrick. Happy new year to you, too. What can I do for you?”

“I have some bad news, I’m afraid.”

“What news?”

“Tony Hunt is claiming the project is drastically over budget and behind schedule. It’s splashed all across national media, and locally here too. He’s quoted as saying it’s the biggest farce in the history of the town and that it’s being mismanaged by a bunch of paper-pushers who don’t know how to get anything done. He’s started a petition to have it scrapped in order to stop wasting any more of taxpayer’s money and somehow he seems to have thousands of signatures and high-profile support. Apparently, these people want it to be turned into luxury flats and high-end office spaces only. I don’t know what’s happening. It reeks of being staged. I got a call this morning from the housing developers. They’re pulling out. Said they don’t want the bad press. That alone is going to push us way behind schedule and cause the very delays he claims are going on. I’m absolutely raging that he’s done this to us and that he’s getting away with it.”

Jessica tried her best to remain calm and composed in front of Patrick while internally she was so fucking angry, too. It was strange though because she’d been expecting something like this to happen so hearing it was oddly familiar. As if she’d heard it already. Maybe she was just overtired and experiencing déjà vu.

“There’s more.”

Of course there was more. “What?”

“He’s targeting your company. He’s saying the project is being delivered by a bunch of out of touch Londoners who have no clue what it’s like for the town. He’s also saying you’ve been overcharging us and taking the piss, and that you don’t know what you’re doing. He’s quoted as saying you guys build fancy buildings and have no business redesigning public spaces. It ends by him saying that the project is being run by a bunch of women who are out of their depth.”

“He said that?”

“It’s in print and online. Online, it’s clickbait. The articles in print are much longer with pictures and quotes from the locals and a stupid picture from when we got flooded, as if it’s still in that state. It’s going to be on the national news tonight. Can you believe that? Honestly, Jessica, I don’t know if we can recover from this.”

“Is Mary informed?”

“Yes. She’s been asked for an interview. She’s weighing up whether to do it or not.”

Fuck. This was bad.

“And another thing,” Patrick paused. “I’ve heard on the grapevine that some of the contractors are worried they’re not going to get paid. It’s ridiculous because I know you are paying them and managing them well. Rosie has been, and is, amazing. I guess there’s a risk that some of them might pull out too.”

“Send me links to the articles, please, and can you send me a copy of the local newspaper in the post, too? I’ll get a copy of the others from here.”

“Will do.”

“Thank you for getting in touch.” He should have called her the moment the story went live. Getting this news half a day late was slow and frankly frustrating. It was all about damage control right now. “Leave it with me, Patrick.”

“Mary knows everything he is saying is a pack of lies. I’ve been keeping her updated. She’s as angry about this as we are.”

After the call ended, Jessica closed her eyes and forced herself to take a long and slow breath, four counts in, hold, and four counts out. Jessica had dealt with similar problems in the past, although nothing as damaging to the business nor as personal. Patrick’s words played around in her head. I’m not sure we can recover from this.

Maybe he was right.

During the early evening news, the whole team huddled around the main conference room in the office, glued to the screen, including their PR consultant, Noah, who Jessica had called in as a matter of urgency. Jessica had spoken at length with Mary and had managed to convince her to speak with the news station. It was better to get in front of this thing instead of letting it simmer and for people to fill the void with speculation. The headline at the start of the show had been: Mismanagement of new multi-million-pound waterfront redevelopment by local council. Residents want answers.

They weren’t sure when the segment was going to come on. Anxious looks ricocheted around the room as they waited for the other news stories to finish. Rosie stood at the head of the table, hands on hips, practically inside the television screen. Jessica felt so sorry for her. Rosie had done everything right. She didn’t deserve this. None of them did.

When it came on, the piece went from bad to worse. They used footage of the flooding and old pictures of the site before JF Architecture had ever been involved. They cut to worried families about the waste of public spending in the area and how money was needed for more important things like schools. Of course, Tony Hunt got the most air time. He spoke at length about the so-called concerns of local residents and the supposed exposé he had nothing to do with, peddling lie after lie. Jessica wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been behind the flooding now. Mary was given a ten-second slot where they quoted her as saying the concerns were very important to the local authority and they would take a closer look at the management of the build. It was pure carnage. Jessica trusted that Mary had put up a fight and defended the truth, but it appeared that an acknowledgement of concerns and a promise to do better made for more captivating television.

“Useless!” Rosie said, after Mary’s interview. “She’s making it sound like Tony Hunt is right and we are mismanaging it.” Her face had gone a kind of red, not from blushing. Anger, apparently.

“They’re not finished with this story,” Noah said. “They can see mileage here. They’ll be back for more soon.”

“We will fix this,” Jessica said, from the back of the room. She was standing up, arms folded across her chest. Problem was, she didn’t know how to make this better. But projecting strength and leadership was a must here.

Rosie switched off the screen and leant against the wall beside it. She folded her arms and touched her chin, as if deeply troubled.

Jessica did not like seeing her upset like this. Not one bit. She wanted to crush this Tony Hunt who seemed to have a vendetta against the project. Tara and Tom were quiet too, both looking at Jessica, lost and deflated. They’d both been working so hard on this project and taking on more and new responsibilities. They didn’t deserve to feel like this either.

Jessica stood a bit taller even though she felt crushed inside. “He must have made a deal with other developers. If they scrap the project, they could get the contract in a year or so once everyone’s forgot about it.”

“Do you want me to release a statement this evening?” Noah said.

“No, thank you. Not yet. I need to think this through before we take any action. There’s more to this situation that we’re not aware of.”

“Do you want me to put some feelers out? See who else is behind this?” Amelia said. Her pointed features seemed sharper today, and her expression was filled with fire.

“Yes. But be discreet, please.”

“Always.”

Now would be a good time to tell everyone that she was from the town, had grown up there and was feeling this personally. But she couldn’t. She’d always kept herself to herself and she hadn’t mentioned it before. It would be weird for her to announce it now.

“We need someone who knows the area inside out to give us the lowdown. Does anyone know who someone like that might be?” Rosie said, looking at Jessica, pointedly, as if reading her mind.

Jessica trusted Rosie wouldn’t out her, as it were, but there was definitely a tone to her voice. “It’s late, everyone. Thanks for staying on, especially on the first day back. You didn’t have to. Go, enjoy your weekends. Leave it with me, Rosie, and Noah, we’ll have something worked out by Monday.”

“Let me know if you need anything over the weekend,” Amelia said.

“Yeah, me too. If anything needs to be done let me know,” Tara said.

“Same,” Tom said.

“Thank you.”

Tara, Tom and Amelia left the meeting room. Noah and Rosie stayed behind.

Noah blew out a heavy breath. “I have some ideas. But today has been bad. It’s the volume of response from the locals that’s the most damaging. I thought you had engaged with them?”

“We did. It all went well. Good turn out,” Rosie said.

“When you tell people they’re being wronged, even if it’s not true, they’re going to react emotionally. That’s what we saw today,” Jessica said.

“Can’t we just tell people the truth? Show them all the accounts and the documents?” Rosie said.

Noah shook his head. “That alone won’t work. Public opinion is all that matters. He’s won the hearts and minds of this round. That’s what we need to do, ideally.”

Jessica cringed. Winning the hearts and minds of strangers was not something she was any good at.

“We’ll do that then,” Rosie said, hope returning to her voice.

Jessica’s phone rang. It was Mary. “I’d better take this. Noah, thanks for coming in at such short notice. Rosie,” the phone kept ringing, Jessica wanted her to stay but didn’t know how to ask.

“I’ll be right here,” Rosie said.

A wave of gratitude washed over Jessica. “Thank you.” She smiled, and took the call. “Mary, hi.”

Noah gave a quick wave and left promptly. Rosie closed the door gently behind herself, giving Jessica a supportive look as she did so.

“They stitched together what I said,” Mary’s voice came down the phone full of frustration.

“I know. We saw the news report.”

“This is not good.”

“I’ll fix it.”

“You must.”