Can You Keep A Secret?

he isn't there. Just carry on.'

There's silence. Mum and Dad are giving each other surreptitious looks, and I can see Mum

mouthing something. She stops abruptly as she sees me looking at her, and takes a sip of

coffee.

'Let's just… have a conversation!' I say desperately. 'So, Mum.'

'Yes?' she says hopefully.

My mind is blank. I can't think of anything. All I can think is that Jack is sitting four feet

away.

'How's the golf?' I say at last.

'It's… er… fine, thanks.' Mum shoots a glance at Jack.

'Don't look at him!' I mutter. 'And… and Dad?' I persevere, loudly. 'How's your golf?'

'It's… also fine,' says Dad stiltedly.

'Where do you play?' asks Jack politely.

'You're not in the conversation!' I cry, turning furiously on my chair.

There's silence.

'Dear me!' says Mum suddenly in a stagy voice. 'Just look at the time! We're due at the… the

… sculpture exhibition.'

What?

'Lovely to see you, Emma-'

'You can't go!' I say in panic. But Dad's already opening his wallet and placing a ?20 note on

the table, while Mum stands up and puts on her white jacket.

'Just listen to him,' she whispers, bending down to give me a kiss.

'Bye, Emma,' says Dad, and squeezes my hand awkwardly. And within the space of about

thirty seconds, they're gone.

I ca

'So,' says Jack, as the door pings shut.

Determinedly I shift my chair round, so I can't see him.

'Emma, please.'

Even more determinedly I shift my chair round again, until I'm staring straight at the wall.

That'll show him.

The only thing is, now I can't reach my cappuccino.

'Here.' I look round to see Jack has moved his chair right up next to mine, and is holding out

my cup to me.

'Leave me alone!' I say angrily, leaping to my feet. 'We have nothing to talk about. Nothing.'

I grab my bag and stalk out of the coffee shop, into the busy street. A moment later, I feel a

hand on my shoulder.

'We could at least discuss what happened…'

'Discuss what?' I wheel round. 'How you used me? How you betrayed me?'

'OK, Emma. I appreciate I embarrassed you. But… is it really such a big deal?'

'Such a big deal?' I cry in disbelief, nearly knocking over a lady with a shopping trolley. 'You

came into my life. You fed me this huge amazing romance. You made me fall in lo-' I halt

myself abruptly, panting slightly. 'You said you were gripped by me. You made me… care

for you… and I believed every single word!' My voice is starting to wobble treacherously. 'I

believed it all, Jack. But all the way along, you had an ulterior motive. You were just using

me for your stupid research. All the time, you were just… using me.'

Jack stares at me.

'No,' he says. 'No, wait. You have this wrong.' He grabs my arm. 'That's not the way it was. I

didn't set out to use you.'

How does he have the nerve to say that?

'Of course you did!' I say, wrenching my arm out of his grasp, jabbing the button at a

pedestrian crossing. 'Of course you did! Don't deny it was me you were talking about in that

interview. Don't deny you had me in mind.' I feel a fresh spasm of humiliation. 'Every detail

was me. Every bloody detail!'

'OK.' Jack is clasping his head. 'OK. Listen. I don't deny I had you in mind. I don't deny you

filtered into… But that doesn't mean…' He looks up. 'I have you on my mind most of the

time. That's the truth, I have you on my mind.'

The pedestrian crossing starts bleeping, telling us to cross. This is my cue to storm off and

him to come ru

body isn't doing it. Somehow my body wants to hear more.

'Emma, when Pete and I started the Panther Corporation, you know how we worked?' Jack's

dark eyes are burning into mine. 'You know how we made our decisions?'

I give a minuscule, tell-me-if-you-like shrug.

'Gut instinct. Would we buy this? Would we like this? Would we go for this? That's what we

asked each other. Every day, over and over.' He hesitates. 'During the past few weeks, I've

been immersed in this new women's line. And all I've found myself asking myself is… would

Emma like it? Would Emma drink it? Would Emma buy it?' Jack closes his eyes for a

moment, then opens them. 'Yes, you got info my thoughts. Yes, you fed into my work. Emma,

my life and my business have always gotten confused. That's the way I've always been. But

that doesn't mean my life isn't real.' He hesitates. 'It doesn't mean that what we had… we

have… is any less real.'

He takes a deep breath and shoves his hands in his pockets.

'Emma, I didn't lie to you. I didn't feed you anything. I was gripped by you the minute I met

you on that plane. The minute you looked up at me and said, "I don't even know if I've got a G

spot!" I was hooked. Not because of business… because of you. Because of who you are.

Every single tiny detail.' The flicker of a smile passes over his face. 'From the way you pick

out your favourite horoscope every morning to the way you wrote the letter from Ernest P.

Leopold. To your exercise plan on the wall. All of it.'

His gaze is fixed on mine, and my throat feels tight, and my head is all confused. And for an

instant I feel myself wavering.

Just for an instant.

'That's all very well,' I say, my voice shaking. 'But you embarrassed me. You humiliated me!'

I turn on my heel and start striding across the road again.

'I didn't mean to say so much,' says Jack, following me. 'I didn't mean to say anything. Believe

me, Emma, I regret it as much as you do. The minute we stopped, I asked them to cut out that

part. They promised me they would. I was…' He shakes his head. 'I don't know, goaded, I got

carried away…'

'You got carried away?' I feel a renewed surge of outrage. 'Jack, you exposed every single

detail about me!'

'I know, and I'm sorry…'

'You told the world about my underwear… and my sex life… and my Barbie bedcover and

you didn't tell them it was ironic…'

'Emma, I'm sorry-'

'You told them how much I weigh!' My voice rises to a shriek. 'And you got it wrong!'

'Emma, really, I'm sorry-'

'Sorry isn't good enough!' I wheel round furiously round to face him. 'You ruined my life!'

'I ruined your life?' He gives me a strange look. 'Is your life ruined? Is it such a disaster for

people to know the truth about you?'

'I…I…' For a moment I flounder. 'You don't know what it was like for me,' I say, on firmer

ground. 'Everyone was laughing at me. Everyone was teasing me, in the whole office. Artemis

was teasing me-'

'I'll fire her,' Jack cuts me off firmly.

I'm so shocked, I give a half-giggle, then turn it into a cough.

'And Nick was teasing me-'

'I'll fire him too.' Jack thinks for a moment. 'How about this: anyone who teased you, I'll fire.'

This time I can't help giggling out loud.

'You won't have a company left.'

'So be it. That'll teach me. That'll teach me to be so thoughtless.'

For a moment we stare at each other in the sunshine. My heart's beating quickly. I'm not quite

sure what to think.

'Would you like to buy some lucky heather?' A woman in a pink sweatshirt suddenly thrusts a

foil-wrapped sprig in my face, and I shake my head irritably.

'Lucky heather, sir?'

'I'll take the whole basket,' says Jack. 'I think I need it.' He reaches into his wallet, gives the

woman two ?50 notes, and takes the basket from her. All the time, his eyes are fixed on mine.