“Hey,” says Paige as she dashes across the departures concourse toward Rachel, with her husband Noah following. “Where is everyone?”
Rachel throws an arm around Paige’s back as she pulls her friend in for a brief hug. “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
Paige furrows her brow. “Is everything all right? Where’s Jack? And weren’t you picking Ali up?”
“No; likely to be halfway around the M25; and yes, we did.”
Noah looks perplexed as he kisses Rachel’s cheek. “So, what’s going on?”
“Ali seems to have mislaid her passport,” says Rachel. “They’ve gone back to find it.”
Paige rolls her eyes. “Oh God, has it started already?”
Rachel smiles and nods. “It’s a bit early in the proceedings, even for Ali.”
“What did I tell you?” says Paige, turning to Noah. “I said to him on the way down here that something would happen … that there was bound to be one crisis or another.”
Rachel looks to Noah, who rolls his eyes theatrically.
“But you know what men are like,” Paige goes on, as Noah’s mimicking her behind her back. “They’re completely oblivious to it all.”
Rachel nods in agreement, knowing that when her friend is on one of her rants, it’s best to let her get on with it.
“As long as she bats those long eyelashes of hers at them, they let her get away with murder,” Paige goes on.
Noah exaggerates a fake yawn and Rachel struggles to keep a straight face.
“I’m going to get a coffee,” he says, walking off toward Costa. “Anyone else?”
Paige tuts and smiles. “Honestly, what do we do with them?”
Rachel puts her arm through Paige’s. “Actually, I’m pleased I’ve got you on your own,” she says, following Noah as he free-wheels Ali’s cases across the tiled floor.
Paige stops walking and turns toward Rachel with a concerned expression. “What’s up?”
“It’s nothing really, but do you remember me telling you a couple of months ago that Jack was being really short with Ali?”
Paige nods. “Yes, you were hoping he was going to snap out of it by the wedding.”
“Well, it seems to have gotten even worse and it feels like I’m forever treading on eggshells. I’m worried he’s going to say or do something that’s going to put a spanner in the works this weekend.”
“That’s normally my job,” says Paige, smiling.
Rachel laughs. “I’ve come to expect it from you, but it’s so unlike Jack to have a bee in his bonnet, especially with a woman who’s not done anything wrong.”
Paige raises her eyebrows questioningly. “You sure about that?”
“Not on purpose, at least,” says Rachel. “You know what Ali’s like; she can be infuriating, but she doesn’t mean any harm by it. She’s just one of those people who needs drama to survive.”
“Well, as long as it’s her drama and she doesn’t go sucking any of us into it, then she can live it up all she likes.”
“Exactly,” says Rachel. “But that’s not a reason for Jack to get so riled all of a sudden. She’s always been like this—even when they were working together. He seemed to like her then, so what’s changed?”
Paige shrugs her shoulders. “Maybe he’s pissed off because she left his company to go and work for David Friedman.”
Rachel wonders if that could be what’s getting to Jack. Friedman’s entertainment company is a direct competitor to the record company Jack is A&R director at, but with a much higher profile. Maybe seeing his brother’s fiancée, a member of his own family, changing sides has dented his pride.
She thinks back to the dinner she and Jack had with Will and Ali at the Groucho Club a few weeks ago. Jack hadn’t wanted to go and was unusually quiet all evening until Ali started talking about a new client the company had just signed.
“He’s so talented,” she crowed. “Every one of his songs makes the hairs stand up on my arms. He’s going to be huge.”
“Uh-oh,” said Will, turning to Jack. “Looks like you missed out there, bro.”
“I know who she’s talking about,” said Jack tersely. “It’s no great loss to us.”
“Are you sure about that?” said Ali, tilting her head to the side. “I heard you were going after him with all guns blazing.”