‘Friends. The course. Independence,’ said Zoe promptly.
The waiter arrived and they ordered.
When he left, Jay said, ‘Your course. What did you like about that?’
She chuckled. ‘Oh, chemistry is wonderful. So elegant. Everything fits, if you know what I mean. The boys used to like it because they were licensed to blow things up. But I just loved the ideas. I used to draw patterns of chemical structures. And I’d work on an experiment for weeks if I had to, until I got it right.’
He smiled, ticking off on his fingers. ‘Okay. No violence. Plenty of order. Plus patience. And persistence. Sounds good.’
She pulled a face. ‘Not very marketable. I mean, I’d have quite liked to go into food chemistry, but you need a second degree and I wasn’t good enough for that.’
‘Don’t put yourself down,’ he said. ‘There is a very strong movement to offer you a full-time job at Culp and Christopher.’
Zoe was genuinely astonished. ‘You’re joking.’
His mouth tilted with wry self-mockery. ‘On the contrary. I’m fighting it off with all my might.’
‘Oh.’ She did not like that. But her curiosity was too great for her. ‘Why?’
His look was ironic. ‘You’re seriously asking me why I don’t want you working for me?’
She winced. ‘No,’ she said hastily, ‘I think I’ll pass on that. Tell me why the fans—my few fans,’ she added acidly, ‘want to take me on in the first place. What have I got that would be any use to you—er—Culp and Christopher?’
He hesitated.
‘See?’ She tried not to let her disappointment show. She did it well. So Performance Zoe was not quite dead yet, then. ‘Nothing. It would be just another job making the tea and running around after everyone else.’
‘It wouldn’t.’
She was disbelieving. ‘Really? So—hypothetically—what can you seriously see me doing at Culp and Christopher?’
Jay’s eyes danced. ‘Actually, you’re not going to like this.’
Zoe’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t like making the tea, but it doesn’t kill me. Come on. Tell the truth and shame the devil.’
‘Well, I—that is they—the others—Tom and his cohorts— want you because you’re ordinary.’
He was right. She did not like it. She narrowed her eyes at him in a glare.
‘See? I told you you wouldn’t like it.’
‘Ordinary—how?’
‘Well, we’ve got a bunch of specialists at the moment.’ Jay gave her that sudden blazing smile that kept even the most cynical employee on his side when times got rough.
She mistrusted it deeply, even under normal circumstances. Here, this morning, she thought, He’s hiding something.
He went on, ‘Actually, they’re all oddballs. Though we don’t say it, of course. Molly is nearly as weird as the rockers she hangs with. Or she was until she found herself a regular guy. And the Fab Ab, of course. Our token upper class bird and Interpreter to the Seriously Rich. Lady Abigail, no less. Does good work, too, in spite of the handle. Then there’s Sam—she knows movies, and quotes the screenplay of everything Harrison Ford’s ever done. But there isn’t one regular soap-watching, romance-reading, family-running woman in the whole bunch.’
Zoe sat very still. What is he hiding?
The smile intensified until she thought she would burn up in it.
‘I don’t call you Discovery for nothing. That’s why.’
Zoe nodded slowly. What doesn’t he want me to see?
She said aloud, ‘I’m not ordinary. I woke to bells, the sun is shining and I’m in love.’
His blazing smile flickered, seemed to freeze for moment.
She gave a soft laugh. A soft, false laugh. Oh, Performance Zoe was back with a vengeance. So much for hello to the rest of her life!
‘Relax, Jay. With Venice, I was going to say. I’ve fallen in love with Venice.’
‘Of course you have,’ he agreed.
Their coffee arrived, and with it eggs and a great bowl of fresh fruit.
Zoe picked up her knife and fork and attacked her scrambled eggs with gusto.