Chapter 25 Cursum Perficio
CURSUM PERFICIO
Ispent the first two weeks of the summer break helping Dad around the Daltons’ estate.
After a stressful semester of exams, it was a relief to relax in Dad’s easy company.
Not much conversation passed between us, but we always reached to turn up the same songs on the radio and never disagreed about the best biscuits to dunk in our tea.
The start of August delivered a blisteringly hot day.
Dad and I spent the morning mending the dry stone wall on the northeast corner of the estate.
Sweat trickled down my back, plastering my shirt to my skin.
Now and then, I’d pause, wipe my brow with a dusty forearm and glance towards the cool, inviting blue of the swimming pool in the distance.
The work was slow, painstaking, and had me craving an icy beer in a cool bath.
As Dad pulled the Defender up to the cottage, Jane came trundling down the path from the main house, a broad smile blooming on her face. Her sundress billowed in the slight breeze, and her coiffed blonde hair bounced with each step.
“Yoo-hoo,” she called out. “Catherine, I have the best news!”
My heart sank. I loved Jane, but I’d made every excuse to avoid her since my return from university.
On the few occasions I’d run out of luck, she’d ambushed me, peppering me with details about Jeremy and Francesca’s trip, how healthy they looked, and how loved-up they were when she and Jasper had met them for lunch on the Cote d’Azur last month.
I couldn’t bear it.
Yes, time had passed and my wounds were no longer raw enough for the salt to sting, but still I couldn’t quite bring myself to be happy for them, especially when it was likely a facade. Francesca might be able to fool the Daltons with her calculated charm, but she couldn’t fool me.
I jumped out of the Defender and pushed my hair back behind my ears where it had come loose from my ponytail. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Jeremy phoned. They’re coming home!” Jane almost bubbled over with the news.
“Oh, right.” My stomach dropped. I tried to force a smile, but my face wouldn’t comply.
I hadn’t seen Jeremy or Francesca in over two years, and I had no desire for that to change.
If I’d realised they’d be coming back this summer, I would’ve planned to be anywhere other than on the Daltons’ estate.
“Isn’t it exciting?” she asked with eyes so wide they looked set to pop out. “I haven’t spoken to Jasper yet, but I thought I’d throw a welcome-home supper. What do you think?”
I shifted my weight, feeling the uncomfortable prickle of sweat between my shoulder blades. I could almost hear that cold beer and bath screaming my name. Jane’s gaze flittered over to Dad, who was tinkering around with something by the shed.
“Just the six of us, or should I invite the Beaumonts, too?”
“No,” I said a bit too quickly. “The six of us would be… nice.” I blinked, thankful she’d asked and not just invited them. It was bad enough having to face Francesca and Jeremy, without the hassle of Handsy Hugo in the mix too.
“Good, okay. Well, that’s settled then.” Jane rubbed my arm.
“I wish you’d have let us get you that plane ticket, Catherine.
It would’ve done you good to relax in the sun with your friends,” she said, referring to the generous offer they’d made to fly me out to see Jeremy and Francesca.
The Daltons meant well, and it was a kind offer, which I’d politely declined by saying I’d agreed to help Dad over the summer break.
The reality was, I couldn’t imagine a torture more terrible than time alone with Jeremy and Francesca.
“There’s plenty of sun here.” I swept my arm out at the cloudless sky. “Besides, I’ve been enjoying catching up with Dad, and mainly been making myself useful, I think.”
Dad stood by my side now. He bumped his elbow into mine and smiled down at me.
“When do they get back?” I asked.
“Tomorrow.” Jane clapped and exhaled a happy little hum.
I drew a breath. There wasn’t much time to prepare myself, but equally it meant less time to spend worrying. Dad and I watched as Jane skipped back to the house.
“Are you going to be okay, kiddo?”
I looked up into his face, his eyes crinkled with concern. Something unspoken passed between us. He knew; somehow he knew.
I tried to speak, but the words caught in my throat.
Dad crushed me into a hug I didn’t know I needed as much as I did.
Even after all this time, thinking about Francesca was like pressing a bruise.
The last time I’d seen her, I’d screamed in her face and shoved her.
In the time and distance that had stretched between us, I’d grown — older, wiser, and far more resilient.
I’d built walls Francesca wouldn’t be able to tear down.
Or at least I thought I had.
But as Jasper opened the front door, there she was, descending the stairs with the aura of a fresh breeze off a warm ocean. My mouth went dry.
Gone was the vampy dark hair; now it fell in soft chestnut waves to her shoulders.
Gone was her pale skin; now she radiated a sun-kissed glow.
Gone were the ripped black clothes; now she wore a gold dress that dripped over her slender frame like hot caramel, the neckline dipping dangerously between her breasts.
Gone, gone, gone was the goth girl I’d fallen for.
In front of me stood a woman, refined and expensive-looking.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away, and the corner of her mouth ticked up as she noticed me gawking.
Glancing down at the loose blouse and dark jeans I’d paired with my scruffy Converse, I conceded the point.
I may as well have been bare under her penetrating gaze.
I swallowed and reminded myself that I wasn’t here to impress her. I was here because Jane had invited me. I was here to welcome my oldest friend back from his extended trip. I was not here for Francesca.
“Michael.” Francesca kissed each of Dad’s cheeks. “So lovely to see you again.”
Dad murmured something that sounded like, “Oh right.” She smiled and turned to me, her eyes flickering with amusement. “Catherine, it’s been too long.”
Not nearly long enough, I wanted to say; instead, I reciprocated her air kisses, trying not to inhale her perfume; even that had changed, deeper now — smoky and resinous. We’d barely touched, yet her scent clung to me.
She led the way to the dining room as if she owned the place. I glanced over my shoulder to see Dad and Jasper disappearing into one of the rooms, leaving me alone with her.
“Trusty!” Jeremy bounced out ahead of us. Freckles peppered his nose, and he emanated the sort of serenity only someone who’d been on a two-year holiday could. He wrapped me in a hug, laughing when I stiffened.
Stepping back to take me in, he ruffled a hand through his floppy sun-bleached hair.
He looked radiant. As radiant as she did.
Far too fucking radiant.
I wanted them to have been at least a little bit miserable. I’d hoped for dark shadows under their eyes and a prickliness spiking between them, but no, they were every bit as happy as Jane had described.
Francesca drifted through the open French doors into the courtyard, where Jane was tinkering with the table setting. The two of them stood in conversation; Jane looked as smitten with her as Jeremy did.
I stood by as Jeremy wrestled with a wine bottle, uncorking it with a squeaky pop and pouring two large glasses.
“So you’re really back then,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah. Looks like it. It’s been bloody great, but a chap’s got to get his head back in the real world sooner or later, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. “I’m coming back to uni in September.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Ma and Pa want to put some money into a practice, you know, invest in our future.”
“Great. You two have it all figured out. Good for you.”
“No, Trusty. You and me.” He traced a finger in the air between us.
“They want to invest in both of us. You know they’re very fond of you too; they see you as a daughter of sorts.
Plus, they think you keep me on an even keel.
So they’re putting up the money for…” He swept a hand through the air as if envisioning a sign over a door.
“Dalton it’s still years away. You’ve caught up to me at uni, so we’ll be in the same class. We can help each other along, qualify together, and then we’ll set up shop.”
My gaze drifted back to Francesca, who still held Jane rapt in conversation.
Jeremy draped a heavy arm around my shoulder. “This was all Francesca’s idea, actually.”
Even though she couldn’t possibly have heard it from outside, she spun around at the mention of her name and hit me with a sultry smile. My stomach lurched, and I glanced away.
“What do you mean it was her idea?”
“Exactly what I said. She came up with the whole pitch to Ma and Pa. I’ll go back to uni and finish my doctorate if they lay down a path for me. She told them I work better when I have an incentive to pull me along.” He chuckled. “She’s not wrong.”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to think about the sort of incentives Francesca might offer Jeremy to get him to do what she wanted.
“Why did I get brought into it?”
Jeremy leaned in close. “I think it’s a peace offering, Trusty. She’s sorry for how things ended between us all. I am too. It’s all water under the bridge now though, right?”
My mind whirred into overdrive. I swallowed, trying to wet my parched mouth. I grabbed one of the glasses of wine Jeremy had poured and took a large gulp.
Jeremy’s eyes bulged. “Oh, that was for… never mind.”
The wine tasted bitter and wrong, and now my mouth was too wet.
“Trusty, are you okay? You’ve gone awfully red.”
My face burned. “I, er… I just need to…”