Chapter Sixty-Two
Emme sat idly looking at the television but not watching it.
The Holiday was on, and the children were asleep.
It was Bill and Lexy’s eleventh wedding anniversary, and Bill had come back from Zurich an hour earlier than usual – a show of enthusiasm he was trying to muster – so they could have a few sundowners at the Kristall Palace before the table he’d booked at an Italian restaurant in the middle of town.
She thought she might text Tristan, to see what he was up to, but she didn’t want to come on strong and she was seeing him for brunch in the morning anyway.
She looked at her phone and hovered over the newness of his name in it; appraising his picture in a small circle when the name TOM LARNER flashed up, almost making Emme jump.
Shit.
Emme and Tom had exchanged pithy messages over the past month, but not many, especially not since she had first kissed Tristan. Was she really that fickle? Or was this crazy mountain bubble complicit?
Emme answered. None of this was Tom’s fault. And actually, she had been a bad friend to him. Friends didn’t just move overseas and not call each other.
‘Tom!’ she said, cheerily. ‘How are you?’
‘Emme, at last!’ he said. ‘I’ve been trying to catch you for ages …’
She really had been a bad friend.
‘I’m so sorry, it’s so full-on here,’ she said, as she looked around the tranquil living room.
Another lie. An audiobook was blaring from Bella’s room so Emme went to turn it down.
Bella was fast asleep so she tiptoed in and turned down ‘Gustav’ with three clever swipes before shutting the bedroom door behind her.
‘How are you? How’s London? How’s married life?’
She wanted to sound as neutral and as normal as possible.
She was fine!
She was over it!
She had been having the sex of her life!
And that felt good.
‘Yeah great – all fine here. We miss you at ConCore! I miss my bitch buddy …’
Hmmm, Emme thought. Tom was skirting something. Although they both worked together and enjoyed venting over lunch at Pret, ConCore wasn’t what defined them. They had all manner of shared pursuits.
‘Hey bitch away, any time,’ Emme said, looking at the television. Jack Black and Kate Winslet were goofing around in a video shop.
‘No, it’s all good …’
Tom told Emme how he had seen Dominique Henry’s PA in reception, getting a ticking off because she’d messed up a car booking. He also said he was going to Switzerland skiing with his team in February, and wouldn’t it be funny if the trip was to Kristalldorf?
Would it?
Emme wondered. She tried to imagine riding Tom, on a stolen few days in the mountains – was it the town that made her horny or Tristan? But she couldn’t picture it, because suddenly, the thought of being with Tom was all wrong. Maybe it would be different if she saw him.
‘Hey, I was wondering …’ Tom finally cut to the chase. ‘Are you coming home for Christmas?’
‘No – I’m here through to April. Why? Is everything OK?’
Tom was silent for a beat.
‘Oh it’s just … it would have been great to see you.’ It seemed like a lifetime ago when they last spoke, from the poolside of the Steinherrhof spa.
‘Yes,’ she said, feeling conflicted.
‘And there’s something I need to tell you.’
‘Oh right. Can’t you tell me now?’
‘It’s better in person …’
Tom sounded cagey now for sure.
She’s pregnant.
Emme groaned internally. Perhaps she wasn’t over him. This obsession with Tristan was all just suspended reality.
She took a deep breath, which was interrupted by a shout.
‘EMME!’ Harry bellowed.
Emme gasped.
On the television, Jack Black sang the notes of the Jaws theme tune as he clutched the DVD box.
‘What’s the matter?’ Tom asked.
‘Oh, I have to go –’
‘Emme!’ Harry shouted again, sounding more scared than princely.
‘Harry needs me –’
‘Harry? Who’s Harry?’ asked Tom.
‘I’ll call you back.’
Emme ended the call and rushed to Harry’s bedroom, just as he came out of it, sobbing. He saw Emme and ran into her arms, clinging onto her for dear life.
‘Shhh, hey it’s OK, I’m here …’
‘There were monsters, and I wasn’t allowed to look at them … and I feel sick …’ Harry grasped for air between sobs.
‘Hey, it’s OK,’ Emme said, rubbing Harry’s back in her embrace. ‘Sounds like a bad dream.’
‘I feel dizzy.’
He rested his head on her shoulder.
‘Shhh …’
Emme held him for a few minutes crouched in the hallway and then said she’d get him a glass of water and a thermometer, before leading him back to bed. She checked his temperature as the thermometer beeped.
‘Hmmm, 37.4, a little on the high side but I think you’re OK, buddy. Have another sip of water,’ she said, passing him the glass from the bedside table.
‘Will you sit with me?’ Harry sighed.
‘Yes,’ Emme said, wedging herself in.
Emme sat propped up next to Harry until he fell back asleep and as she watched his eyes flicker, she realised how far they’d come in a few weeks. The boy who had disdainfully cast aside his ‘lame’ Paddington bear clearly needed her in his hour of need.
Emme was starting to drift off herself when she heard a gentle knock at the front door and opened her eyes. Never a dull moment, she thought.
Emme checked Harry’s brow with her free hand and, reassured by its temperature, she carefully unlooped his arm from her waist so she could extricate herself.
The knock sounded again. She’d left her phone in the living room so couldn’t see who had got through the downstairs entrance and up to the front door on the BUZZ app.
‘Coming,’ she stage whispered, as she padded down the warm hallway.
Emme opened the door to see Cat on the other side of it.
‘Oh, hey!’
‘You’re lovely,’ Cat declared. ‘Thank you.’
She got the flowers.
‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course you can, I’ve just got the little man back down as he was feeling poorly, but I think he’s OK now,’ Emme said quietly. ‘Come in, I was watching The Holiday …’
‘What’s The Holiday?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Emme said in mock horror.
‘Come in and sit down, there!’ Emme commanded. But not before Cat gave her a huge hug.