Page 19

Rosie stood by the door, welcoming people and handing out leaflets. The town hall was packed, which was a very good sign. Banners and posters and project paraphernalia dominated the space and screamed that they weren’t going down without a fight. She’d made bloody sure of it.

Jessica came through the huge door into the thick of things in the foyer. She was walking with her head held high, making her high heel situation look effortless, which wasn’t unusual for Jessica Frost, but there was something different in her tonight. Yes, she was clearly projecting strength and confidence, and sophistication, but it was like she was more aligned. She was showing up as her whole self: classy, strong, and warm. She looked like someone who was comfortable heading up a boardroom and able to give you a hug now.

Jessica marched directly towards Rosie, interrupting her psychological analysis. “It’s busy, that’s good.”

“I know, I can’t believe the turnout.”

“Well done, Rosie. This is incredible.”

“How did the interview go?”

“Fine.”

“Brilliant.” Rosie took a deep breath. The chatter and buzz of the foyer played around them, bouncing off the marble floors and pillars. “Surely with a national news channel covering all this, the pendulum should swing back towards us.”

Jessica nodded, thoughtfully. “It is looking good. No one can deny the number of signatures we’ve got on the petition. No one can deny this huge swell of support. We went door to door, we put in the hard work and were visible in the town. Public opinion means everything for this.”

“You did amazing, talking to so many people.”

“We all did.”

“Yes, but you put in at least double the number of hours as everyone else. You are so driven.”

“We won’t know if it was for a good reason until after tonight.”

“I can’t wait to see your interview.”

“I just hope it will help.”

“Can we watch it on the ten o’clock news together later tonight? Back at the hotel?”

“Yes, fine.”

Rosie smiled, feeling so close to Jessica these days, like it was the two of them versus the world.

“Also,” Jessica said, as if just remembering, “Patrick got in touch to say a new housing developer submitted an application to take over the project a few days ago. He said it was a terrible application that seemed rushed through and ill thought out. Riddled with typos too. He asked me to look into it.”

“Shit, they moved quick. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I don’t think so, Rosie. You’re already so busy. I have this covered. But thank you.”

“Jess.” Rosie gently took Jessica’s hand. Jessica was going to be hosting the public meeting tonight. She’d taken heart from how well her conversations with local residents had gone, but Rosie was aware of how vulnerable she was. Rosie knew how sensitive Jessica was about this, deep down.

“Yeah?” Jessica’s eyes dropped to Rosie’s hand holding her, then lifted to meet Rosie’s eyes.

“Good luck.” Rosie let go of Jessica’s hand after a light squeeze and a rub with her thumb. A gentle buzz went through Rosie’s body. For a moment, Rosie was back in the office with Jessica discussing how to fix things, pushing Jessica to be better and to open up. She loved it when it was just the two of them.

“Thanks, Rosie. I hope I can take this to that other level. Fuck knows it feels uncomfortable already.”

“You’re already there, Jess.”

They shared a look as Jessica hovered beside Rosie with an intensity in her eyes, looking like she didn’t want to leave. Rosie pictured kissing Jessica, remembering the soft press of her lips and the feel of her breath against hers.

“Boss,” Amelia said, fast approaching out of the crowd. Her voice was loud and so distinctive among the different accents surrounding them. “We need to get started. It’s time.”

Rosie and Jessica followed Amelia through to the main room in the town hall.

“Love!” An older woman with kind eyes approached them. “There you are. What a turnout. It’s going to be okay, I can feel it.”

“Thanks, Aunty Susan, I hope so.” Jessica leaned in for a quick hug from her aunt.

“There’s a ton of us in the audience wishing you luck. We’ll be around at the end.”

Jessica and her aunt shared a look that made Rosie feel like she might cry. In an instant, Rosie could picture Jessica as a teenager, full of fire and ambition and pain.

“These are my colleagues Rosie and Amelia.” Jessica gestured to them both. “My aunt, Susan.”

“It’s so nice to meet you both.”

Rosie smiled. “And you.”

Amelia raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so it’s you who’s been causing a stir for us online. Nice work. It helped the cause massively.”

“Anything for our Jessica.”

“Rosie has been delivering the whole thing. I’ve mostly been back in London watching how well she’s been doing.”

Her aunt looked at her and then back at Jessica, as if she was thinking something. “I can tell you two make a great team.”

Amelia moved them on and stole Jessica to get set up at the lectern.

Rosie took a seat in the front row and tried to calm herself. Everything was in place. The plan had been executed to perfection. But this public showdown had to go well, or it could all be for nothing.

Jessica had been speaking for over twenty minutes to the packed town hall. She was on a roll. She’d covered all the main points they had wanted to emphasise. But there wasn’t enough of Jessica appealing to hearts and minds.

“Now I’m going to open it up for questions. There’s a roaming mic so if you do have a question, please put your hand up and my colleague will come over to you.”

Tara stood at the ready.

A ton of hands went up.

Jessica pointed to someone.

Tara went over to a woman in the front row.

She stood and spoke into the mic as Tara held it for her. “The accusations against your company are ridiculous and I want to see you continue. If it’s all right, I also wanted to say thank you for your donation to the flooding relief fund. I was part of the relief committee, and I saw you there. You helped us out that whole day, carrying sandbags and getting stuck in. When I saw the huge donation that came in later that night, I had no idea who JF Architecture was. Your donation helped the whole street handle the cost of repairs.”

All eyes turned back to Jessica. She looked like a deer in the headlights. She didn’t say anything for the longest time. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak. “Thank you for your comments. Your support means a lot. The flooding situation was highly unusual. We suspect there might have been some form of tampering with intent to cause harm. I’m just happy the homes that were affected were able to recover from it.”

A gasp went around the hall at the mention of tampering. If nothing else, the attendees were being treated to some top-class local drama.

Jessica straightened her shoulders. She looked like a fucking dream up there.

“With all due respect” —a man stood up, ignoring the queue for hands— “we need a local solution to the waterfront. You and your company being high-flying London types isn’t exactly what we’re looking for.”

Tara dashed around to get the mic to him.

Rosie wished she hadn’t.

Jessica gave the man one of her classic stares, perhaps the fiercest glare Rosie had ever seen shoot out from her.

The man grabbed the mic from Tara. What a dick. “Why we can’t just throw up some new flats and be done with this, I’ll never know. All this commotion and money on a park is beyond my comprehension. Did you even ask people what they wanted?” He remained standing.

Rosie wanted to punch the guy. Instead, she shot to her feet, turned around to face the audience and spoke as loud as she could. “We were here, we listened, and we sent out a survey. The people we spoke to, and there were many, many of whom are here tonight, said that the most important thing was for the town to save the waterfront. They wanted a greenspace. A nice place to live. With all due respect, sir, we’ve been over this. If you felt this strongly, you should have said last year.”

“Thank you, Rosie,” Jessica said, resuming control. “If I may, I have something to add, and it also speaks to your concern about the intention of JF Architecture.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “I am the founder and CEO of JF Architecture, and I grew up here. This is where I am from, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

A silence fell around the hall.

“Both of my grandfathers worked at these shipyards. There was so much pride when they launched the QE2. And the whole town watched it sail down the river when it left, apparently. When the yards closed years later, people didn’t know what to do. There was no more work. I remember the sense of hopelessness in the eighties and nineties, the unemployment. People moved away. The space lay derelict. I’ll admit” —she waved her hands in the air— “my friends and I used to sneak onto the site. Sometimes we played rounders and the ball smashed the windows of the gorgeous old red brick warehouses. Sometimes I used to sit in the bandstand and imagine the summer galas they used to have in the old days.”

A chuckle went around the room. Rosie also found it hard to picture a young Jessica Frost trespassing and vandalising.

“What I’m trying to say is that this project is extremely personal to me. I moved away. I made my life in London. To be very honest with you” —Jessica paused for a few moments— “I forgot who I was and where I came from. But doing this project and being the person to regenerate the site and make you all proud is the best thing I’ll ever do in my working life. I consider it my life’s work. So no, sir, this isn’t some far away company who doesn’t care about the town and wants to sell it short. I strongly believe that our original plan is worth saving. And you all do too, based on the real people we’ve spoken to and who’ve signed the petition.” Jessica paused, looking emotional. “I also want to say thank you to my family who have rallied around us too. Some of them are here tonight. You are the best.”

The guy sat down as if stunned by Jessica’s revelations. Rosie was too, in a way. It was far more personal than she thought Jessica was going to get.

Jessica continued. She seemed totally exposed up there. It was so beautiful and raw. “Please let’s keep going with what we’ve started. Sign the petition before you leave, if you haven’t already. Or go online and do it right now. Tell your neighbours. We need all the support we can get.”

The rest of the questions were more straightforward. It was like a frenzy of emotion inside the hall; there was so much support for the original project to go ahead and a lot of anger over the level of involvement and meddling from the MP, who was felt to be in no way listening to his constituency and not very much liked.

When it was all over and the audience were exiting the hall, Rosie went to Jessica who was talking to a member of the public beside the lectern, wanting to hug her, but she held back. The woman was all over her, talking passionately and praising Jessica a lot. Jessica was polite through it all and even hugged the woman as they were saying goodbye.

“Any more surprises for us tonight?” Rosie spoke to Jessica as Jessica took a deep breath after the woman departed.

“Who knows? I’m surprising myself.”

Rosie put her hand on Jessica’s upper arm. “You were brilliant.”

“I don’t know what got into me.”

“I loved it. I think everyone else did too.”

“Let’s hope it helps.”

“I’m sure it will.”

An older man walked up to them. He looked like he’d propped up a bar for thirty years. “Aren’t you Jimmy Frost’s daughter?”

Jessica hesitated. “Yes. I am.”

“Ah, there you go, you look just like him. When you said you grew up here it finally clicked into place. I knew I knew you from somewhere. I worked with your dad years ago. I saw you at the garage a few times when you were this high.” He held his hand out to demonstrate the height of a child. “Great guy, your dad. He helped me and my family when we were struggling for money. Never met a more decent man.”

Jessica stared at the man, as if lost for words.

“I’m sorry your dad fell in with the wrong crowd. At least he was able to come through it. It’s not often people bounce back from doing time behind bars.”

“True. Uh, well that’s good to hear.”

“He must be so proud of you.”

Jessica smiled, awkwardly.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you back. I hope we can save the waterfront. Take care of yourself now.” The man walked away.

“You too.” Jessica called after him, giving him a long look.

Rosie felt like she’d witnessed a key moment in Jessica’s life. “He probably is, you know. Very proud of you.”

“Well, tonight, like all my other achievements and football matches growing up, he didn’t show up, so he can’t be that proud.”

“Jessica.” Rosie hated hearing how cut up she was about it, and wished there was something she could do to help.

“Sorry.” Jessica shook her head. “Today has been a lot.” Jessica picked up her papers and bag, as if keen to get out of the spotlight.

Rosie followed her to the side of the hall, near where the team were standing, by the information stall. While the majority of the crowd had left, there were pockets of people who’d stayed and were talking. Jessica’s aunt was in the middle of the hall, surrounded by a group of people in an intense conversation. It looked like Rosie and Jessica were going to have to walk a gauntlet of meet and greets and probably weren’t going to get away for another hour or so.

Jessica took a sip of water, surveying the situation alongside Rosie.

Rosie turned to Jessica. “How do you feel?”

“Like I want to get the hell out of here.”