Chapter 39
Sarah
London
“How on earth did you get a table?”
Sarah smiled at Rebecca. “All part of my mystique.”
“Well however you did it, thank you.”
The truth was that with joint ownership of a couple of restaurants in London if Sarah didn’t know who to call to get a table, she at least knew who to call who’d know who to call.
Tonight was a treat for Rebecca… she’d celebrated her birthday at the weekend and, while Sarah couldn’t go to her birthday night out on Saturday night (for reasons both of practicality, given that she’d been back home for the weekend, and common sense, because people would ask questions at why she’d turned up), she was determined to still celebrate.
Monday night, granted, not the biggest party night of the week, but this was one of the hottest restaurants in the City right now and it was buzzing.
She’d kept the restaurant a secret and Rebecca’s reaction had been worth it…
she’d actually gone pink in excitement when she realised where they were going.
She looked across the table at Rebecca studying the menu.
Rebecca… thank God at least one of my mentees wanted to keep something going, she thought.
Well, one and a half plus, of course, Camila, half because Amy was kind of on the fence.
Wednesday was the big day there, but Sarah had been getting more confident that there was still something between them as the weeks had passed since she went to LA.
The tone of their messages had been getting warmer, more playful, and that was something to hold on to.
Still, tonight wasn’t about Amy, it was about Rebecca, and Sarah was realising the benefit of breaking that link between the personal and the professional relationships they had.
It was freeing, relaxing, to spend time with Rebecca knowing that the weight of work had nothing to do with it, and she could tell that Rebecca was finding the same.
Her interactions with Rebecca had always been the heaviest dominant leaning of all her mentees, and she knew that she was the only person that Rebecca did that with and had ever done that with.
It was fun, more fun without the quid pro quo.
And tonight, after dinner, Rebecca was going to get the second half of her birthday treat… she wouldn’t get any say in the matter, which, Sarah knew, was exactly how Rebecca liked it.
Rebecca was in good form that night and, once they’d ordered, she’d launched into gossip about a partner who’d been caught sending wildly inappropriate emails to someone in the Geneva office, the sort of story that would have scandalised Sarah in the past but now, after Amy's home truths, just made her think about glass houses and stones.
“Apparently he signed off with three aubergine emojis,” Rebecca said, grinning. “Three. As if one wasn’t damning enough.”
Sarah laughed. “What happened?”
“Sensitivity training, which he’s apparently treating as a networking opportunity. You couldn’t make it up.”
Rebecca suddenly sat up straighter, looking past Sarah towards the front of the restaurant.
“Oh… is that Amy?”
Sarah’s stomach lurched. She turned, and got a second surprise.
It was Amy, yes, but she was with a woman, a beautiful, stylishly dressed, slim woman.
Sarah had seen that woman once before, at the airport in LA when Amy and Sarah had flown back from their joint business trip.
Sarah had gone through to security already but had glanced back and seen a surprisingly emotional and tender farewell… Amy and Luisa.
What was Luisa doing here? She lived in LA, that was a given for Sarah, and suddenly it all started to fall into place…
why Amy couldn’t see Sarah until Wednesday, why she’d taken the end of last week off.
Sarah had assumed it was Amy playing hard to get, but that wasn’t it at all. She had a visitor.
Before Sarah could say anything, Rebecca was already out of her seat. “I’m going to say hi, I haven’t seen her since before she went to LA.”
“Rebecca, maybe we should…”
But Rebecca was already weaving between the tables and Sarah had no choice but to follow, not without giving away to Rebecca that there was something deeper going on with Amy. She forced her expression into something that she hoped looked casual and pleased rather than blindsided and confused.
Amy saw them coming. Sarah watched her face go from happy surprise at seeing Rebecca, through a look of alarm when she noticed Sarah was with her, and then finally a carefully composed smile. “Rebecca! Hi. And Sarah, what are the chances?”
“I know, small world,” Rebecca said brightly. “How was LA? You look amazing, you’ve got a tan.”
“It was great, thanks. Really productive.” Amy’s eyes met Sarah’s briefly over Rebecca’s shoulder and Sarah saw the tension there, the awareness of how layered this moment was. “This is Luisa, she’s visiting from LA. Luisa, this is Rebecca and Sarah… we all work together.”
“Lovely to meet you both.” Luisa’s smile was open and genuine, her voice accented. She stood and shook Rebecca’s hand and then Sarah’s, her grip firm, her eye contact steady. There was nothing in her manner that suggested she knew anything about who Sarah was beyond a colleague of Amy’s.
“I love your dress. Are you in fashion?” Rebecca said and Sarah couldn’t help but smile to herself, because Luisa did look amazing and Rebecca didn’t have much of a filter.
Luisa laughed. “Modelling, yes. How did you guess?”
“Oh, just a hunch,” Rebecca said, grinning.
Sarah forced herself to smile and contribute something. “How are you finding London?”
“I love it. Amy’s been showing me around. Although the weather is…” Luisa made a face that was charmingly diplomatic, and Rebecca laughed.
“There’s a reason it’s all we ever talk about.”
The conversation was only brief and very normal.
Amy and Sarah’s eyes met one more time, a look that lasted a fraction longer than was natural and somehow carried the weight of nearly a month apart from each other.
Sarah could see Amy’s jaw tighten almost imperceptibly, could see the effort it was taking her to stand there making small talk while the two halves of her life collided in a City sushi restaurant.
“Well, we should let you enjoy your evening,” Sarah said, finding an exit at the first opportunity. “Lovely to meet you, Luisa.”
“You too. Both of you.” Luisa’s smile was warm and unsuspecting, and Sarah felt something complicated…
like she should dislike Luisa, but she couldn’t because there was nothing to dislike.
Jealousy? Maybe a little. But as much as anything an awareness that Luisa was real in a way that had only been abstract before, that she was nice and beautiful, that she was the woman that Amy had spent the last three weeks with and had brought to London while Sarah had been tearing up her mentoring system and working out what to do about her family life.
They retreated to their table. Rebecca picked up her drink as if nothing had happened. “She’s stunning. Like, wow.” She grinned. “You think they’re on a date?”
“I… I’m not sure.” Sarah might have been many things, but she wasn’t in the business of gossiping about Amy’s sexuality with anyone else. As far as most of the world still knew Amy was straight and living with her boyfriend. “I doubt it.”
“You think Amy would mind if I asked Luisa out?” Rebecca had been openly lesbian for a while now, since not long after Sarah had started mentoring her in fact. And she’d never been shy.
“I’d leave it. It sounds like Luisa is only in town for a bit.”
Rebecca pouted a little. “Are you telling me not to?”
Sarah grinned, her mood lifting. This was a game she liked. “You want me to?”
Rebecca was blushing. “Yes.”
She fixed Rebecca with her sternest look. “You are not to ask Luisa out. And…” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “For even asking, I’m going to need to punish you later.”
The grin on Rebecca’s face was priceless. “You promise?”
***
Thankfully Sarah was sat facing away from Amy and Luisa, so it didn’t take long for her to put them out of her mind and focus on what was a very enjoyable meal with Rebecca.
She glanced over at one point while Rebecca was in the bathroom and immediately wished she hadn’t.
They were sat close together, Luisa’s hand on the table near Amy’s, and they were laughing about something.
Luisa leaned in to say something into Amy’s ear and Amy smiled in a way that Sarah recognised, a smile that had been directed at her plenty of times…
not least during that fateful Saturday lunch.
Seeing it directed at someone else felt, just a little, like someone reaching into her chest and pulling out her heart.
Sarah quickly turned away.
Towards the end of the meal, Sarah had gone to use the bathroom herself and had just opened the cubicle door when she stopped… Amy was stood at the sinks, ostensibly touching up her makeup, but her eyes were focused in the mirror on Sarah, not her own reflection.
“Hey.” Amy smiled as she said it.
“Hey.” Sarah walked over to the sink next to her. The bathroom was empty except for them. They stood next to each other in silence as Sarah washed her hands and Amy re-applied her lipstick.
Eventually, Amy turned to face her. “So Rebecca… you told me you’d done what we discussed with your other mentees.”
Sarah turned and looked at her. “I did. The others, it’s done. Rebecca wanted to continue.”
Amy nodded slowly. “Good.” She hesitated then smiled weakly. “I’m sorry… I was sat there thinking you’d not done it.”
“It’s ok.” Sarah paused. “You look good. The tan suits you.”
“So do you. You’ve got a little tan yourself.” There was a long moment where they just looked at each other. “I should get back to Luisa…” Amy turned to go.
“Wait.” Amy stopped and Sarah desperately tried to work out what her brain had planned to follow wait. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. We’ll talk Wednesday? Luisa leaves in the morning.”