How to Get Over Your Ex Read Free Page B

I...’ What could she say that wouldn’t sound pathetic?
Nothing. ‘I’m working my way up to my phone messages.’
    He grunted. ‘I figured the personal approach would serve me
better.’
    Maybe so; she was here, wasn’t she? But her patience wasn’t
good at the best of times. ‘What can I do for you, Mr Rush?’
    ‘Zander.’ He glanced at her sideways. Then, ‘How are you doing,
anyway?’
    What a question. Rejected. Humiliated. Talked about by eight
million strangers. ‘I’m great. Never been better.’
    His neat five o’clock shadow twisted with his lips. ‘That’s the
spirit.’
    Well, wasn’t this nice? A walk in the forest with a total
stranger, making small talk. Her feet pressed to a halt. ‘I’m so sorry to be
blunt, Mr Rush, but what do you want?’
    He stopped and stared down at her, his eyes creasing. ‘That’s
you being blunt?’
    She shifted uncomfortably. But stayed silent. Silence was her
friend.
    ‘OK, let me get to the point...’ He started off again. ‘I’m
here in an official capacity. There is a contract issue to discuss.’
    She knew it.
    ‘He said no , Mr Rush. That makes
the contract rather hard to fulfil, don’t you think? For both of us.’ She hated
how raw her voice sounded.
    ‘I understand—’
    ‘Do you? How many different ways do you hear your personal
business being discussed each day? On social media, on the radio, on the bus, at
the sandwich shop? I can’t get away from it.’
    ‘Have you thought about using it, rather than avoiding it?’
    Was he serious? ‘I don’t want to use it.’
    ‘You were happy enough to use it for an all-expenses-paid
wedding.’
    Of course that was what he thought. In some ways she’d prefer
people thought she was doing it for the money. That was at least less pathetic
than the truth. ‘You’re here for your pound of flesh—I get that. Why not just
tell me what you want me to do?’
    Not that she would automatically be saying yes. But it bought
her time to think.
    Grey eyes slid sideways as his gloveless hands slid into his
pockets. ‘I have a proposition for you. A way of addressing the contract. One
that will be...mutually beneficial.’
    ‘Does it involve a time machine so that I can go back a month
and never sign the stupid thing?’
    Never give in to her mother’s pressure. Or her own desperate
need for security.
    His head dropped. ‘No. It doesn’t change the past. But it could
change your future.’
    She lifted her curiosity to him. ‘What?’
    He paused at an ornate timber bench and waited for her to sit. Old-school gallantry . Even Dan didn’t do old
school.
    She sat. Curious.
    ‘The media is hot for your story, Georgia. Your...situation has
sparked something in them.’
    ‘My rejection, you mean?’
    He tilted his head. ‘They’ll be interested in everything you
do. And if they’re interested, then London will be interested. And if London is
interested, then my network will want to exploit the existing contract however
they can.’
    Exploit? He was happy to use that word aloud? She tried not to
let her surprise show.
    ‘Georgia, under its terms they could still require you to come
back for follow-up interviews.’
    Her stomach crimped. ‘To talk about how very much I’m not
getting married? How I suddenly find myself alone with half my friends siding
with my ex?’ And the other half so determinedly not talking about it. ‘Not exactly perky radio content.’
    He shook his head. ‘It’s what they could ask. But I have a
better idea. So that the benefit is not all one-way.’
    She waited silently for his explanation. Mostly because she had
no idea what to say.
    ‘If you agree to seeing the year out, EROS is willing to
redirect the funds from the engagement, wedding, and honeymoon to a different
project. One that you might even enjoy.’
    She frowned. ‘What kind of project?’
    He took a breath. ‘Our listeners have connected with you—’
    ‘You mean your listeners feel sorry for me.’ Pity