Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Two weeks.
Fourteen days.
Three hundred and thirty-six hours.
Billie had felt every one of them.
Her sleep had never been great, but lately, it had turned into restless stretches and her appetite had vanished.
And work, the one constant she could rely on, felt like wading through fog.
She’d started arriving a little earlier than usual, but this morning was the earliest she’d arrived in years.
This morning, she’d unlocked the door before the sun had even risen over Savile Row.
She’d reminded herself that today was going to be a good day as she flicked the lights on and straightened displays, but the moment she’d pressed her palms to the front desk and waited for her racing heartbeat to settle, she knew it would be another terrible day.
The door swung open at eight-thirty and Nina slipped inside. She was as punctual as ever, but her expression shifted the moment she saw Billie.
“Morning, Miss Brown.”
“Nina.”
She stopped in the middle of the shop and studied Billie. She wouldn’t usually do something like that, but her lips were pressed together in concern rather than irritation. “You’re early…again.”
Billie adjusted her cuffs. “There’s work to be done.”
“There’s always work to be done, but I don’t think that’s why you’re here earlier and earlier every day.”
Billie paused and looked up at the woman who dared to question anything she chose to do. “I didn’t realise my arrival time required justification.”
Nina set her bag down behind the counter. “It doesn’t. I’m just noticing things lately.”
“Well don’t. Do the job I pay you to do and notice the stock levels instead.”
Nina didn’t move from behind the counter. “You haven’t been yourself recently.”
Billie’s spine stiffened. “And who exactly do you think I am?”
Nina swallowed this time, searching Billie’s face. “Someone who used to walk in here with purpose. Lately you look like you’ve run out of it.”
Billie’s throat constricted. She briefly considered whether Nina was the right person to discuss Debra with, but decided against it. Nina had no right to her personal life, just as Billie had no right to hers. “This conversation is pointless and inappropriate.”
Nina took a cautious step closer. “Miss Brown, you don’t have to pretend. Whatever happened—”
“Enough!” Billie’s voice cut through the room, controlled but trembling beneath the surface. “Stick to your role.”
Nina held her gaze, unflinching for the first time since she’d joined Brown Billie had made her feelings clear with her absence.
Maeve continued gently. “You need someone who actually wants to show up. Someone who cares if they hurt or upset you. Someone who doesn’t practically ghost you.”
And there it was. The truth she’d been skirting around.
Maeve was right in everything she had just said.
Yes, Billie had been exactly what Debra wanted just a few weeks ago, but now?
Now she was beginning to understand that Billie’s priority was herself and nobody else.
She had the talk, and she knew how to make you feel as though you were the centre of her world…
but then she turned her back and left you wondering what on earth you’d done to deserve it.
As Debra sat here today, she could admit that she’d done precisely nothing to deserve the way Billie had treated her.
“Set it up.”
Maeve’s eyes widened. “R-really?”
Debra shrugged. “I can’t sit here waiting for someone who’s already walked away.”
Maeve’s smile burst across her face. “Deb, this is amazing. I’ll get in touch with her today. Maybe I could suggest Friday? Saturday?”
“Saturday works better for me. Caleb is travelling in to visit me on Friday morning. We’re spending the afternoon with one another before he tackles some assignment he has at uni.
” Debra hadn’t spent much time with her son lately, he was out there in the big wide world making friends and connections.
She didn’t want to cut their visit short to have a drink with another woman.
“What will be will be. Just let me know if there’s a plan. ”
“Oh, I’ll let you know. Don’t you worry about that.”
With a contented sigh, Debra brought her cup to her lips and enjoyed the caffeine hit.
She wasn’t over Billie, maybe she wouldn’t be for a while, but she wasn’t going to be broken by her either.
Perhaps letting someone new step into her world would remind her that she had so much to offer…
to someone who wanted to receive it. Billie Brown was not that person and Debra understood that now.
Maeve raised her cup in a toast. “To new beginnings.”
“Hmm.” Debra lifted hers. “To remembering we deserve them.”