Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
As I walked into the tube station, I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, and I ignored it. I sat down in the hairdryer-like heat of the underground carriage and tried to calm myself. I was trembling. I’d been relatively calm when I was talking to Sean but now the numbness had worn off. I’d messaged Rose on the way to the tube and she’d insisted on meeting for an emergency debrief, but I didn’t want to dissolve into a jelly the moment I saw her.
My phone had hooked onto the underground’s wifi and I could feel it blowing up. What on earth? Sean wouldn’t be this persistent. Were seedbomb manufacturers really sending me excited emails at half seven in the evening?
TOBIAS Fi’s turned off her phone and I need to tell you guys something or I’m going to burst. It’s not life-threatening but it’s .
Anna hon pls call .
Anna please .
Banana .
BANANA BANANA BANANA
The moment I was outside of the underground station, I called Tobias. He answered in two rings. ‘ Thank you! I was about to combust.’
‘What’s wrong? Has something happened?’
‘ Er, yes .’ I heard the crunch of gravel; he must be outside Stonemore. He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘I’m working late,’ he said. ‘I wanted to get the rotas done for the next three months to surprise Fi.’
‘You sound like a spy,’ I said. ‘Do you have to whisper?’
‘Yes, I do!’ he hissed. ‘She could be anywhere!’
‘Do you mean Lucinda?’
‘Yes!’
He continued: he’d been working late, Tally had been absent most of the afternoon after her run-in with Lucinda, etc, ‘that creep’ Darren had been working on one of the minor paintings.
‘They didn’t know I was there,’ he said. ‘I went up to check that the gift shop was locked, and there they were, in the grand salon.’
‘Who?’
‘Lucinda and the creep. By the Caravaggio. Kissing.’
I almost dropped my phone. ‘What the fuck?’
‘You see,’ said Tobias triumphantly. ‘You’re whispering now!’
I was walking down one side of a Georgian square. I spotted a bench on the other side of the railings and went to sit down, swearing under my breath.
‘So what do we do?’ said Tobias.
‘I don’t know,’ I said.
‘Ask Fi. She’ll know.’
‘No.’ I instinctively wanted to protect Fi. ‘It’s too much. She’s tired and stressed.’
‘We have to tell someone, and whoever that someone is they have to tell Jamie.’
I looked at a pair of urban seagulls fighting over a half-eaten sandwich. London was so picturesque these days. ‘Do we?’ I said.
‘Anna, that woman has just ordered an eight-foot wedding cake. What a bitch! Cheating on him and bankrupting Stonemore at the same time. Are we going to let her get away with that?’
‘It’s none of our business,’ I said lamely.
‘ Really?! ’ Tobias was definitely not whispering now.
‘Tobias,’ I said. ‘Go home, have some dinner, relax. You’ve told me. I’m going to think about what to do.’
‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘It’s true, I haven’t eaten. I’m feeling extra hangry.’
‘So trust me,’ I said.
‘’kay.’
‘Speak tomorrow. Night night.’
‘Humph. Night.’
My mind was whirling as I put the phone away and headed for the pub I’d agreed to meet Rose at. I saw her from a distance, looking impossibly stylish, with her camel-coloured raincoat tied at the waist and the most glorious bag I’d ever seen tucked under her arm. My heart swelled at the sight of her; my sister was what I missed most about London. I crossed the road and trotted straight into her arms.
She squeezed me then searched my face with her eyes. ‘How was it?’ she said.
I gazed back at her and shook my head. ‘I don’t know where to start.’
I tried to come into the apartment as quietly as I could, but I had the feeling my entry was about as subtle as breaking a window. The Art Deco front door needed a full-strength shove to close it.
Seeing Rose had helped, but afterwards I hadn’t felt ready to go back to the apartment. Instead I’d found a bench by the river for half an hour. Long enough to feel a bit weird and vulnerable, sitting alone in a city.
I wondered now if it would disturb everyone if I made a cup of tea. Sod it. I needed one.
‘Hey Cinderella.’ It was Jamie.
I swore and put my hand to my chest. ‘Couldn’t you have made a noise or something, rather than creeping up on me?’
‘There are four of us staying here,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t likely to be empty.’
I filled the kettle and turned it on. ‘Sorry. I’m a bit jumpy.’
‘Good evening?’
I looked at him. There was a half-smile on his face, but his eyes were blazing with a strange warmth. Jealousy . My mind told me it, even as I tried to logically deny it (‘He’s not jealous. Why would he be? Don’t be ridiculous, Anna’). But he was. And there was a part of me that was thrilled about it. Ridiculously thrilled.
I looked into his eyes. I hadn’t allowed myself a look like that for a while, but I drank him in with my eyes. Screw it, if Lucinda was going to cheat on him, I was allowed to look at him. As I looked, I remembered the way he had touched me; I remembered how lost we had been in each other, the way he had said my name in a voice rough with desire. He stared at me; I saw in that look exactly what he wanted to do. He took a step back and I saw him catch his breath.
‘It wasn’t a great night,’ I said, thinking of Sean. ‘But it was necessary. Some ends to tie up.’
He nodded, looking at the floor. ‘I hope you’re okay,’ he said softly.
‘I am. Tea?’
‘Best not. Much as I’d like to sit up and chat.’ He turned away.
‘Jamie.’
He turned back. Tobias’s words were echoing around my head. Why on earth would Lucinda cheat, when she had this man? But perhaps she didn’t have him, not really. It would be so easy to tell him – just to say the words. But how much would I be telling him for my own sake? It would be easy to fall into his arms, into his bed, right now. But telling him would be like flicking a domino over in rows of dominoes, and send circumstances spiralling off in all directions. It wasn’t the time or the place.
‘What’s wrong?’ he said.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘It’s nothing that can’t wait. Just a work thing.’
‘Right.’ His expression faded to blankness. ‘Goodnight.’
I heard him go to his room, closing the door softly behind him. I checked the kitchen for comfort food, but it seemed it had all been hoovered up by Fi, Richard and Jamie. The only thing left was the bottle of champagne sitting forlornly in the fridge, waiting for something to celebrate.