‘I thought the answer was obvious,’ she said. ‘I’m an image consultant. You need your image to be made over—quickly—so, tada! Here I am. Image consultant at your service.’
He was a little in awe at her unflappable demeanour. Oh, he knew she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. He’d seen the flicker in her eyes when he’d stepped too close.
But she was determined to give nothing else away.
‘What’s with ignoring the elephant in the room, Eleanor?’ he said. ‘Don’t play games. We’re not strangers.’
No, definitely not strangers.
But certainly not friends. The room hummed with uncomfortable tension.
She shrugged. ‘I fail to see how our past is relevant. I’m a professional. You’re a professional. I can see no reason why anything but the here and now would be of any importance.’
However, what was relevant was his sudden urge to end this meeting—and this whole image consultant debacle. Immediately.
‘Eleanor—’
She groaned and shook her head. ‘Really? You think the fact I had a crush on you—when I was a very silly and very angst-ridden teenage girl, no less—would matter now? I assure you, I’m not secretly carrying a thirteen-year-old torch.’ A pause. ‘Don’t worry, you’re safe. You’re in no imminent danger of further declarations of love.’
That hadn’t been what he’d been thinking at all. He’d been thinking that there was a woman in his boardroom who made him feel …
Lord, he didn’t know. Made him feel as if he didn’t want to be in the same room with her any more.
The issue didn’t need any further analysis than that.
The benefit of being very wealthy—and known for being, well, surly, as Eleanor had said—was that he didn’t need to do any of this. He didn’t even need to worry about a carefully polite excuse. He could tell her to leave, give no explanation, and that would be that.
A very silly and very angst-ridden teenage girl.
Jake had no idea why her words were echoing in his brain.
She was wrong, too. He remembered strength. And pain. And …
Need.
She’d needed him.
Just like …
The words he’d had piled up and waiting on the tip of his tongue—to end this unwanted, awkward meeting—stalled.
Jake watched her watching him. Had she guessed what he was about to say? He thought so.
And she wouldn’t just meekly leave; he knew it, absolutely. She was different—and it wasn’t just her clothes, or her hair. This Eleanor studied him with a hard edge he never would’ve imagined her capable of.
He couldn’t even begin to reconcile his memories with the woman standing before him now.
It was as if she were a different person. Certainly not Eleanor, his best friend through those awkward high-school years when they’d both been painfully stereotypical social pariahs.
They’d been straight out of Central Casting. Jake was The Geek, while Eleanor had been The Wallflower.
With no other friends, they’d initially banded together through necessity, the only two students on scholarships at their fancy private school—low socio-economic ones, too, just for that added stigma. The only two students who lived in government-subsidised housing, and the only two students with eccentric new-age parents—hers—or a drug-addled verging-on-neglectful mother—his.
Eleanor’s words still hung in the air between them.
‘So what you’re saying is that you’re not interested in a walk down memory lane. As far as you’re concerned, we met five minutes ago.’
That wasn’t even close to what he’d meant to say. Those words, waiting too long, had evaporated.
She beamed—but was her smile brittle? ‘Exactly.’
‘That’s kind of nuts.’
This was kind of nuts.
She blinked, but smiled on, undeterred. ‘That’s your opinion. Personally, that’s what I’d call dwelling on our past as—clearly—we’ve both moved on. I don’t remember either of us sending Christmas cards.’
Touché.
Yet, he still didn’t know quite what to make of this situation.
He wanted her to leave—but didn’t.
His confusion bothered him—after all, Jake Donner thought in black and white. Binary ones and zeros.
He’d never thought he’d see her again. It was a shock … no. Not even that. A surprise. Combined with the recently completed board meeting, it was hardly unexpected that his thought process would be a little … muddled.
But, one thing was clear.
‘Here,’ he said, ‘I’m going to make this easy. I don’t want an image consultant. So I’ll tell Cynthia, and—’
‘No!’
It was by far and away the most expressive word she’d uttered so far.
He watched her as she took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders slightly. ‘I mean, that’s unnecessary. I’m an experienced image consultant, Jake, with one hundred per cent positive feedback from my clients,’ she said. ‘My firm isn’t the biggest, but my track record is outstanding. As you know, Cynthia is one of my clients. But I’ve also assisted some of the most famous and powerful people in Sydney.’
She listed a few names, from singers, to television journalists to chief executives.
‘I assure you, you won’t find anyone better qualified than myself to help you,’ she said, finishing her little pitch.
‘That’s all well and good,’ he said, ‘but what if I don’t think I need an image consultant at all?’
She laughed, the first time her expression had diversified from its mask of professionalism.
Jake crossed his arms defensively, but he refused to ask for the cause of her mirth. He had no doubt she was about to tell him.
Just as soon as she—finally—stopped laughing.
Ella did her very best to silence the last little hiccups of laughter, frankly appalled at her reaction.
What had happened to Jake being ‘just another client’? As if she’d ever fall into fits of giggles with anyone else.
It was basically Image Consultant 101: Don’t laugh at your client. Ever.
Not exactly the ideal way to build up someone’s self-confidence, was it? And that was kind of the whole point of her job.
More importantly—he already didn’t want anything to do with her. It radiated from him in waves.
So, yeah, hysterical giggles were far from the most intelligent way to change his mind.
She cleared her throat. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘That was uncalled for.’
Jake was obviously waiting for her to elaborate, watching her with an oddly contradictory intensity—as if he was pushing her away while simultaneously filing her somewhere for future reference. Whatever it was, it did all sorts of unwanted things to her equilibrium.
Which just wasn’t acceptable. She’d learnt years ago how to present herself at her absolute best in all situations. The old Eleanor would’ve ducked her chin, and slouched, and blushed under the intensity of Jake’s attention.
It bothered the new Ella that her body was trying