Lisa?’
‘Over five years, I guess.’
‘And how long since you’ve had a night out in Sydney?’
‘About the same.’
Just as he had thought. She had to be one of the loneliest girls in the world. And ripe and ready for some male attention.
‘What if we don’t call tomorrow night a date? Would that help? What if you think of it as a favour to a business client?’
‘A favour?’
‘A big favour. You’ve no idea what it’s like going to these dos alone, Lisa. Which is what I’ll have to do if you don’t come with me.’
‘Why would you have to go alone? There must be scads of women of your acquaintance who’d be only too happy to go with you.’
‘Believe it or not, I’m not that social a guy. Or I haven’t been, since buying this place a couple months back. I’ve had my nose to the grindstone for weeks, finishing that damned book. Hardly been outside the door, except for the occasional surf, or shop. Trust me when I say there’s no one I could ask.’
‘I find it hard to believe you don’t have a little black book with loads of phone numbers in it.’
He did, actually. But he didn’t want to ring any of them. All of the women in that book paled in comparison to the very lovely, very intriguing and very challenging Mrs Chapman.
‘I think you’re mixing me up with Hal,’ Jack said. ‘He’s the one with the little black book.’
‘Oh.’
‘People do that a lot. Confuse me with Hal. Which is another reason why I want you to come with me tomorrow night. I get besieged by female fans at these awards dinners. He’s a very popular guy, old Hal. Now, if I have a beautiful blonde on my arm, I just might survive the night in one piece. They’ll take one look at you and know they don’t have a hope in Hades of getting my personal attention.’
‘I don’t know, Jack.’
A rush of adrenalin charged through his blood. She was wavering.
‘I promise I’ll be a perfect gentleman all evening. You won’t have to fight me off at the door.’
No answer.
‘Think of the five-star food,’ he went on seductively. ‘And the five-star wine. Not to mention the five-star surroundings. This restaurant is top drawer, and right on the harbour, overlooking the bridge and the opera house.’
Her sigh this time sounded much closer to a sigh of surrender.
‘You do know how to tempt a girl.’
‘You’d be crazy not to come. I’ll pick you up and deliver you home to your door. Minus the grope-fest.’
She actually laughed.
‘It’ll be a truly fun evening. How long is it, Lisa, since you’ve had fun?’
‘Too long, my mother would say.’
‘Your mother sounds like a wise woman. You should listen to her.’
‘My mother wants me to get married again,’ Lisa said drily.
‘Mothers are like that.’
‘Does your mother get on your back to get married, Jack?’
‘My mother’s dead,’ came his rather curt reply.
‘Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I mean…you’re not that old.’
‘Both my parents were killed in a car accident when I was fifteen.’
‘Oh, how tragic.’
‘It was. The truck driver who killed them was unlicenced, driving an unsafe, unregistered vehicle. He got a miserable twelve months for murder.’
‘Jack, that’s appalling! You wonder what these judges are thinking of, giving light sentences like that.’
‘Yeah, but it doesn’t really hit home till it happens to you. Injustice is just a word till you experience it for yourself.’
‘I suppose so,’ Lisa murmured, thinking how dreadful to lose both one’s parents like that. Her parents had been divorced, but it had been an amicable enough parting. Her perfectionist father hadn’t been able to stand her mother’s sloppy ways, and had bolted as soon as he found someone more to his liking.
He’d never come back.
Lisa might have resented his defection more if she’d been able to remember him. Or if she hadn’t understood full well why he’d left. She’d left home, too, as soon as she could.
‘I think we’re getting too serious here,’ Jack said. ‘Back to tomorrow night. I presume you don’t want to tell your mother you’re going out with me.’
‘If she found out I was going out anywhere with any man, she’d nag me to death. If she finds out I’m going to a fancy awards dinner with the famous Nick Freeman, I’d never hear the end of it.’
‘She’s a fan of Nick Freeman’s?’
‘Unfortunately. I introduced you to her a couple of months back.’
‘Then don’t tell her. It’s not as though this dinner is going to be on TV, or anything like that. The only media coverage it’ll get is in the Australian Writers Monthly. And who reads that, except the literati? I certainly don’t.’
‘You’re very persuasive.’
‘Is that a yes?’
‘Yes. But…’
‘No buts, Lisa. You’re coming and that’s that.’
‘I was just going to say that I’ll have to tell my mother I’m going somewhere with someone. She’s the one who’ll be minding Cory. I won’t leave him with anyone else.’
‘You’re a woman. You’ll think of something.’
‘I don’t have your imagination.’
Jack didn’t think he had that great an imagination. Lots of things which happened in his books were things which had really happened. But he wasn’t about to tell her that.
‘Always stick as close to the truth as possible when you’re being sneaky,’ Jack suggested, thinking to himself that he had been doing just that. ‘Why not say that a girlfriend of yours has been given two free tickets to the awards dinner and wants you to go with her? That way you can talk freely about your night out and not have to make anything up.’
‘That’s brilliant, Jack!’
‘I am brilliant.’
‘And so modest.’
‘That, too.’
‘But are you a man of your word?’
‘Do you doubt it?’
‘Hal’s not always a man of his word.’
‘I’m not Hal.’
‘I’m not so sure. Your books are told in the first person.’
‘That’s just a tool to create immediate empathy with the reader. And a more intense emotional involvement with Hal’s character.’
‘You succeeded very well.’
‘Thanks. Now, let’s get off Hal for a moment. At the risk of offending you again, are you set, clothes-wise, for tomorrow night? It’s black tie.’
‘Do I have to wear a long evening dress?’
‘Not necessarily. A cocktail or party dress will do fine.’
‘I’ll buy something tomorrow.