Page 6 of Polo Fever
‘You have ruined everything. Everything!’
‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen. No one was supposed to know.’
‘Oh, that makes it okay then!’ he cries, pushing himself away from the desk to go stand by the window. ‘No one is talking about my clothes. No one,’ he says, spinning around to look at me accusingly. ‘I finally get someone as big as Chris Courtney to put his name with mine and no one gives a flying fuck! All they care about is that he’s screwing my assistant!’
I wince at the blunt language, my hands trembling in my lap.
‘What were you thinking?’ he hisses. ‘Were you drunk last night? Is that it?’
‘No, no, I wouldn’t… I was working,’ I say hurriedly. ‘This thing with Chris, it’s not…nothing. We have something together. Something real.’
He stares at me, looking more perplexed than before. ‘What?Ashley, he’smarried.’
‘No, he’s not. Er, I can’t go into too many details, but he’s separated. No one knows; it’s still a secret.’ I swallow, my heart racing. ‘Ren, I’m so sorry about last night. It was unprofessional and… stupid. I promise I’ll talk to Chris and we can work out a plan to ensure that this whole thing blows over and the focus is fully back to your clothing line.’
Ren exhales and slumps against his desk.
‘Ashley, you know I have to fire you,’ he states with a wave of his hand, like he’s swatting away a fly that’s come too close to his face and is becoming distracting.
‘Fireme?’ I repeat in disbelief. ‘I understand you’re cross and I’m sorry that I went behind your back, but if—’
‘I can’t work with you anymore, Ashley; I can’ttrustyou,’ he emphasises. ‘You have humiliated me, you have humiliated my brand, and you have humiliated yourself. Your actions have been deeply unprofessional. You can’t possibly carry on here.’
My jaw hanging open, I don’t know what to say.
‘I recommend you go home and… keep your head down for a while,’ he continues wearily. ‘I imagine things will get worse for you before they get better.’
I should fight back and remind him how much I’ve done for him, how heavily he and this entire office relies on me,but I think I’m still in too much shock over the picture. I wasn’t prepared for the story to break yet and I’m finding it difficult to process the consequences. Rising slowly and shakily to my feet, I exit his office without saying another word. On autopilot, I pick up my bag and coat from my desk and begin the embarrassing walk back to the lift, trying to ignore the whispers and pointed looks that follow me as I go, my face on fire. In the lift, I muster the courage to check my phone to find hundreds of messages waiting for me across WhatsApp, email, text and my social media platforms. I can’t believe how fast this has spun out of control. The photograph wasn’t posted that long ago, but in the time it took for me to leave my flat and get to work, my life has blown up. Amongst the growing list of unread WhatsApps from friends and family, there’s one name I look for but it’s not there. No messages from Chris yet.
When I walk out onto the street, I suddenly feel overwhelmingly vulnerable, terrified that anyone who looks my way has seen the picture and knows who I am. Deciding I can’t handle the Tube, I order an Uber and once it arrives, I get in and start scrolling through social media, the horror of it all beginning to sink in. As I read through what people are saying, I sink lower in my seat, wanting to disappear altogether.
Gold-digging slut. Homewrecker. Pathetic social climber. No integrity or morality. Shame on her! Not a girl’s girl. She’ll get what she deserves.
It’s not fair. They don’t know the truth. It looks bad, but it’s not. I usually consider myself to have quite thick skin, but some of the comments filtering through are personal attacks that no one would be immune to. A tear rolls downmy cheek as I exit social media and lower my phone to my lap. I comfort myself by thinking about how remorseful all these people will feel once they know the truth. I feel bad that Chris will have to talk about his divorce publicly before he’s ready and I honestly am sorry that he and his ex-wife will have to suffer the attention they were hoping to avoid, but once that’s out in the open, at least Chris and I won’t have to put up with these unwarranted attacks on our characters.
‘We haven’t done anything wrong,’ I whisper out loud to myself, gazing out the window as my Uber driver battles the city’s traffic.
Once everyone knows that, everything will be okay. Ren may regret firing me so quickly. He’s definitely going to regret losing me when he realises how much I dealt with every day.
My phone vibrates with a phone call and my heart jumps, but it’s not Chris. It’s my mum. I can’t face her questions, not now, so I let it ring out. I want to turn off my phone completely, but I want to hear from him. He’ll have seen this by now, or at least his publicity team will have. I message him, asking him to call me.
When I get back to my flat, he still hasn’t replied. He hasn’t read it. I send him another. When I check a bit later in the day, the messages remain unread. Looking again late morning, I find his profile picture has disappeared from his WhatsApp. I message him to ask what’s going on, but it only shows one grey tick. My messages aren’t delivering. I call him but it doesn’t connect. I try again. It still won’t connect.
He’s blocked me.
*
The next day, Chris Courtney uploads a statement to his Instagram:
I have taken the time to reflect on my actions, so I can come to terms with everything that has happened in the last couple of days.
First and foremost, I would like to apologise to my wife, who I love more than anything in the world. I am so sorry for putting her in this situation. One incredibly stupid, spontaneous and drunken moment has caused the person I love to suffer unbearable pain and undeserved embarrassment, and I deeply regret my irresponsible and selfish behaviour. I am so ashamed that I have hurt Rachel and those close to us.
I would like to apologise to her and everyone who feels let down by my drunken, foolish mistake. We will continue to deal with this in our own way and we kindly ask for you to respect our privacy. Thank you to all my fans for the love and support. You have no idea how much it has meant to me during this difficult time for my family.
Chris x
Three
