Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
A nna spent three nights in a row at Warren’s place. On the third morning, she woke with his arm draped across her. From his shallow, even breaths, she was sure he was fast asleep, but the moment she tried to slip out of bed, his arms clamped around her waist, drawing her to him.
“Where are you going?” he murmured into her neck.
“I was going to get a drink and then have a shower. It’s already mid-morning.”
“Where do you need to be today?”
“Nowhere,” she said, grinning.
“Then there’s no need for you to get up.”
“I’ll make drinks and come back to bed,” she suggested, but he kissed her earlobe and then her neck.
Suddenly, getting up didn’t seem at all important.
Half an hour later, they were propped up against the pillows, with Warren teasingly suggesting more places she might want to get a tattoo when her phone rang.
“It’s my mum,” she said, reaching over and checking the screen .
“Don’t answer it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want your mum knowing we just had sex.”
Anna snorted a laugh. “Weirdly, I wasn’t planning on mentioning that.”
“She’ll know. She’ll hear it in your voice.”
Shaking her head, she pushed him off her and suggested he go and make coffee. Then she swiped the screen and greeted her mum.
“It’s a bit late in the day to still be in bed.”
In a panic, Anna moved the phone to check it wasn’t a video call.
“How do you know I’m still in bed?” she asked, then caught Warren’s smug look as he pulled on a pair of jogging bottoms.
“You just sound as though you’re still in bed. It’s not like you to sleep so late.”
“I was about to get up.”
“You’re not working over the next few days, are you?”
“No,” she said slowly, slightly concerned her mum was about to rope her into something she didn’t want to do – which was pretty much anything other than spending time with Warren.
“Maybe you can do something with your sister. Check she’s okay.”
Anna frowned. “Why wouldn’t she be okay?”
“She stayed at our house on Christmas Day. Overnight, I mean. Said she felt like sleeping in her old bed. And then she stayed another night, and another… didn’t leave until this morning.
And I think she’d have stayed longer if she didn’t have to work.
She’s just been lounging around on our couch, looking miserable. ”
“That’s weird.” Usually, Carla had a social life that was hard to keep track of. If she wasn’t working, she was out with one of her various groups of friends .
“She said she’s tired from working so much over the last few weeks, but she seemed down. Not herself.”
“She’s been fine whenever I’ve seen her over the last few weeks.” Which admittedly hadn’t been often since they’d both been working a lot, but she really hadn’t got the impression there was anything unusual going on with her.
“She acts tough. That’s Carla’s trouble. If she has a problem, she keeps it to herself rather than let anyone see her vulnerable.”
“Unless the problem is a spider in her shower,” Anna said with a small smile.
“What about spiders?”
Anna chuckled. “I was just thinking about her freaking out about the spider in the shower.”
“When was that?”
“I don’t know,” Anna said. “Whenever she called you to help her get rid of it.”
“She’s a wimp when it comes to spiders, but thankfully she hasn’t quite reached the level of calling us to remove them for her.”
“But she said…” Anna’s insides tightened. “She didn’t call you?”
“I think I’d remember that! Did she call you? ”
“No, I just… she said… never mind. I might be confused…” Except she was fairly sure she wasn’t confused. “I’ll call her and check she’s okay.”
“Thanks, love. Where are you, by the way?”
“What do you mean, where am I? I already told you I’m still in bed.”
“You just don’t sound as though you’re at home…”
Anna opened and closed her mouth a couple of times.
“Never mind,” her mum said. “You’re not back with Hayden, are you?”
“No.” She shook her head, desperate to insist she was at home, but not actually comfortable with the outright lie .
“I’ll leave you to it, but call me if you get anything out of Carla.”
“Okay.” She ended the call in a daze. “How the heck did she know I wasn’t at home?” she muttered.
“Did you tell her you were here?” Warren asked, appearing in the doorway.
“No. But apparently I didn’t sound as though I was at home.” She frowned. “There isn’t any background noise, so how could she possibly know that.”
“Fiona knows everything.”
“She didn’t know about the spider,” Anna said under her breath.
“What was that?”
She massaged her forehead. “I have to go and see Carla.”
“How come?”
“Mum’s worried about her, and now I am too.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know for sure. I have an inkling, but I’m really hoping I’m wrong.”
“Would you like to share? You’re being cryptic.”
“Sorry.” Pushing the duvet aside, she scrambled for her clothes. “I have to go.”
“Now?” He moved in front of her. “I rearranged things so I don’t have to start work until later.”
“I really have to speak to Carla.”
“Okay.”
“Can I shower here?”
“Of course.” He stepped out of the way. “Are you okay?”
“I will be if Carla is.”
Twenty minutes later, she gave Warren a hasty kiss goodbye and stepped out into the freezing cold. In the car, she pulled the seatbelt around her with one hand, and called her sister with the other. Carla answered after a few rings.
“Are you at work?” Anna asked.
“No, I’m at home.”
“Are you going to work soon?”
“No, I’m not working today. Why?”
Anna turned the engine on and twisted the dial to put the heat on full blast. “Mum said you’d been at their place and had only gone home to go to work.”
“I was supposed to work today, but I found someone to cover for me.”
“Are you ill?”
“I’m okay,” Carla answered ambiguously. “What have you been up to for the last few days?”
Anna winced. “Can I come over?”
“Now? Why?”
“ Why not? I’d like to see you. I’m going to come over now.”
“Fine,” Carla muttered. “Just promise not to make comments about how much of a mess my place is.”
“Promise,” Anna said, and ended the call.
That promise meant she had to bite her tongue when she walked into Carla’s flat in Bourton-on-the-Water, not too far from their parents’ place.
“It’s not that bad,” Carla said, swiping a bunch of clothes from the couch to make space for Anna to sit.
“No,” she said, eyes scanning over the collection of plates and mugs on the table, which must have been there a while since Carla hadn’t even been at home for the last few days. “It’s not so bad.”
With a spark of amusement in her eyes, Carla flopped into the armchair, her legs hanging over the arm. “What’s going on with you?”
Anna opened her mouth to make small talk before thinking better of it. “Have I upset you? ”
“No. Why?”
“Because of Warren. I told you I liked him, and you didn’t get in touch to see how that had turned out.”
“I tried to ask how that turned out, but when I called you told me you were going on a date with Hayden.”
“It wasn’t a date.”
She nodded. “I got that update from Lewis. He also seemed to think you were getting together with Warren.”
“But you didn’t get in touch to find out…”
“No, because it all seemed pretty obvious. If things hadn’t worked out, you’d have been in touch.”
That was true. Which now meant she felt even worse for not checking in – she wouldn’t have hesitated to call Carla if she’d needed a shoulder to cry on.
“Do you like Warren?” Anna asked.
Carla gave a slow nod. “Definitely prefer him to Hayden. Not that I ever had a problem with Hayden, but I think there are better perks to you dating Warren. The food thing. We’ll get well fed.”
Anna eyed her sister sadly. “That’s not what I meant, and I’m fairly sure you know that’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carla said, but shifted in her seat, bringing her legs in front of her.
“You told me you only called Warren to help you with the spider because you couldn’t get hold of anyone else, but you didn’t actually try to call anyone else, did you?”
“Oh my god!” Carla’s eyes bulged. “You checked with Mum and Dad to see if I was telling the truth.”
“No. I made a joke about it to Mum, and she didn’t know what I was talking about.”
“I can’t believe you! Why would you talk to Mum about it?”
“I didn’t intend to, but I’m glad I did. Tell me what’s going on?”
“Nothing is going on,” Carla said wearily .
“The spider was just an excuse to get him to come over, wasn’t it?”
“I really don’t want to have this conversation.” Carla pressed her head back into the chair.
“If I’d known you had a thing for Warren…”
“ What? ” Carla’s eyes filled with tears. “You’d have stayed away from him?”
“Yes.” Anna’s heart squeezed. “Of course I would have.”
“That would have been stupid.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me about this before?”
“Because I knew things would get weird. And for the record, I don’t have a thing for him. I don’t have any issue with you getting together with Warren. I’m happy for you.”
“But I got together with Warren on Christmas Day, and since then you’ve barely left Mum and Dad’s couch. Is that really a coincidence?
“Sort of.” She wiped her fingers under her eyes to catch her tears.
“Carla!” Anna sat forward in her seat. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s so embarrassing,” she sniffed.
“What is?”
“That I called him that night.”
“You didn’t actually need him to get rid of the spider?”
“No. That was just an excuse.” She sat bolt upright.
“But bear in mind, this was months ago. Maybe I had a bit of a crush on him, but I think mostly I was just lonely. It seemed like a good idea after a couple of glasses of wine, but he laughed at me, and I was mortified. And it’s not as though I really liked him or anything.
I swear I have no problem with you dating him. ”
“Then why are you so upset?”
“Because I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. You and Lewis have everything together, and I…”
“You what?” Anna asked, confused .
“I spent most of the last month dressed as an elf,” she said with a small smile.
“So? You enjoy doing that, don’t you?”
“Yes. But I feel as though I just bounce from one job to the next, doing anything that seems fun, but with no proper plan. I don’t know what I’ll do long term. I need a career plan, but I don’t have a clue what I want to do.”
“You’re twenty-three. You don’t need to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. At some point, you’ll figure it out.”
“I feel like I’m drifting through life, and it’s getting tiring. Plus, I’ve been on a spate of terrible dates recently, which is depressing.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“No. Because I didn’t have the energy to make them into entertaining stories.”
Anna felt a pang of sadness – her sister did tend to make everything into a quirky anecdote. “You could have just told me.”
“I didn’t feel like bringing you down. Especially not when everything is going so well for you.
I think it’s great that you’re going to look at the premises for your shop.
And I really am happy for you and Warren.
” She pressed her hands to her face. “Does he know the spider thing was just me trying to get him to come over? Because that’s really embarrassing. ”
“No. He really thought you just wanted him to play exterminator.” She grimaced. “Sorry he laughed at you.”
“I actually think that was an entirely fair response. Can you please not tell him? I’d never be able to face him again.”
She shook her head and moved to perch beside her sister. As she pulled her in for a hug, her eyes swept the room.
“What are we going to do about the state of this place?” she asked eventually.
Carla shoved her so hard she almost fell off the arm of the chair. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about the mess.”
“It’s hard to ignore,” she said gently.
“Not for me. I’d planned on spending the rest of the day ignoring it while I watched TV.”
“How about we tidy up and then spend the day on the couch?”
“You’re hanging around?” Carla asked. “Don’t you have anything planned with Warren?”
“No. He’s working.” It might not have been entirely true, but she was sure Warren would go to work as soon as she told him she was busy for the day.
He sent her a few messages over the course of the afternoon, obviously keen to know what was going on with Carla, but she kept her replies vague. At least he was in touch regularly. After his lack of contact the week before, it was reassuring that they seemed to be on the same page now.
When he messaged and asked if she wanted to come to the hotel for dinner, she told him she was going to hang out with Carla for the evening and would see him the following day. An hour later, the doorbell rang, and Carla hit pause on the TV remote.
“Who’s that?” she asked, eyeing the door dubiously.
“How would I know?” Anna asked, shaking her head. “Maybe one of your friends checking on you since you’ve gone AWOL.”
“I hope not.” Carla hopped off the couch and headed for the door. She sounded a little confused as she spoke into the intercom but buzzed whoever it was up.
“Who is it?” Anna asked, joining her at the door.
“Food, apparently,” Carla said, looking confused.
A moment later, Will, one of the hotel kitchen staff, appeared. “Warren said I could leave early if I dropped this off.” He handed a bag to Carla and disappeared before they could thank him.
“This smells amazing,” Carla said, sticking her nose in the bag. “Told you there’d be good perks to having him as your boyfriend. You can never split up with him. You know that, right?”
“I have no plans to,” Anna replied happily.