Chapter 12
They worked hard through the next two days, but there was still too much to do.
On Friday, Leo told Vidya that he and Caleb would be working through the weekend to get through more of the backlog.
He presented it to her as an option, with time off in lieu the week after, but she didn’t have to.
Since she wasn’t going home, she agreed to work the overtime.
Over the past four days, they had settled into a pattern of eating sandwiches for lunch, sometimes on the hotel balcony or, if the weather permitted, in the town itself.
In the evenings, they ate at a pub. Vidya was no closer to finding out if Caleb was the guy Udeni had slept with, but she was getting to know both guys pretty well.
She had reached a level of companionship with them where she was relaxed while still remaining professional.
This helped, because the work was tiring.
She glanced at Leo. Since that moment in the file room, she made sure she was never alone with him.
While she still found him attractive, it would be awkward in the extreme to let herself feel anything more.
Even though they’d eliminated Leo from the list of possibilities as the father of Udeni’s child, he was still Caleb’s best friend.
If it turned out Caleb was the one and Udeni decided not to inform him, being close to Leo would make things very difficult for Vidya.
If they discovered that Piotr was the father …
then … Vidya closed her eyes and shook her head.
Then what? She could allow herself to fancy Leo?
Ask him out? She was pretty sure he would turn her down.
So far, he had given no indication he might want them to become more than colleagues.
Even the moment in the file room had probably just been her overheated imagination.
Vidya sighed. It was nearly noon and she needed a break. She volunteered to go and buy a round of sandwiches from the shop they’d found the day before. As she left, Leo reminded her to get a receipt.
The sandwich shop was in the opposite direction to the beach, which meant walking uphill. The steep climb made her thighs burn. She stopped halfway to catch her breath and turned to look back at the spectacular view.
The sea was a shifting mass of blue, sparkling under a lighter blue of the cloud-brushed sky. A few boats bobbed in the distance. Those blasted gulls were, of course, everywhere. She took in a deep breath and smelled the saltiness in the air. This would be such a nice place to come on holiday.
Except, she reminded herself, she wasn’t on holiday right now, was she?
She was working … overtime, no less, and she was on a secret mission to find out about the guy who may be the father of her sister’s child.
She was still working on the assumption that it was Caleb, even though she still hadn’t confirmed he had the tattoo.
Maybe this weekend would provide her with an opportunity.
Vidya turned and continued her march up the hill.
She had to be more careful. Leo was suspicious, she was sure of it.
Yesterday, when she’d asked Caleb about his time at uni, she could sense Leo’s interest. He had been watching her, his face inscrutable.
When she turned to him, he’d looked down at his drink.
She needed a cover story for her questions.
Leo was quicker on the uptake than Caleb, she decided. Even though everyone thought Leo was socially awkward and unable to read a room, she felt he got the measure of people fairly quickly and she was worried about what he thought of her.
At the sandwich shop, she took a welcome rest, sitting next to a couple of other customers on a low window ledge while her sandwiches were being made. On the way back down the hill, she decided to call Udeni and catch up.
‘I think Leo is getting suspicious,’ Vidya said, once she’d checked that her sister was okay and was still managing to eat, despite the morning sickness. ‘I need a cover story.’
‘Couldn’t you just tell him you’re a very nosy person?’
‘I could, but I’m not sure that’s going to be good enough.’
‘Angie is here. Hang on, I’ll put you on speakerphone.’
Angie came straight in with, ‘It’s the weekend. There must be more opportunities to get Caleb to take his shirt off.’
Vidya shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Oh, come on, you need to be more positive than that. You’re at the seaside. You could go to the beach. Prime shirt-removing territory!’
‘It’s March!’ Vidya glanced at the sky – it was almost sunny today.
The weather was improving. So, maybe it wasn’t a completely mad idea.
Her thoughts drifted towards Leo. For a second, she tried to imagine him in swimming trunks and her brain short-circuited.
No. He would never agree to that. ‘I’m pretty sure Leo would object. He’s a very serious guy.’
‘Serious, huh?’ said Angie. ‘Sounds very much like your kind of person.’
Vidya reached a particularly steep bit and shifted the phone to her other hand, so that she could hold the handrail. It meant the bag of sandwiches was hanging uncomfortably from under the crook of her elbow. ‘Oh, shut up.’
‘Wait, wait. What’s going on? Have I missed some Vidya gossip?’ Udeni asked.
‘Well,’ said Angie, theatrically. ‘While Vidya was doing all this research for you about your man … she’s developed a crush on the wing man.’
Udeni squealed. ‘You have? Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I didn’t want you to think I was slacking on my assignment.’
‘That’s so stupid.’
‘Is it though?’ A gull swooped overhead and Vidya instinctively clutched the sandwiches to her chest. She carried on, with a cautious eye on the birds. ‘What if you decided you don’t want to have anything to do with the father of your child … assuming it is Caleb, which I haven’t confirmed yet.’
‘Assuming it is,’ said Udeni.
‘Okay. Well, Leo’s his best friend. Even if the best-case scenario happens and he likes me back, how is that going to work? You don’t want Caleb to know about the baby, and I’m terrible at lying. I can’t go out with Leo and still keep your secret. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.’
‘Oh.’ Udeni’s voice was quiet.
‘No,’ said Angie. ‘I don’t think you should hold back from flirting with a guy you like just because it might get awkward.’
‘You think I should just jump in and hope nothing goes wrong? Like that worked so well for Udeni.’ It came out snappier than Vidya had intended.
There was a sharp intake of breath from both the other women on the other end of the line.
‘I’m … I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,’ Vidya said.
‘Except you did,’ said Udeni. There was a tremor in her voice. ‘You think I’m being incredibly stupid for keeping this baby. And you’re judging me because I made a mistake and got pregnant.’
‘I’m not—’
‘Because you’d never do that, would you? Sensible, sensible Vidya who never does anything wrong.’
‘Udeni—’ Angie said.
‘No. It’s always like this. I can’t do anything right, and Vidya judges my choices every single time. Just because she doesn’t understand spontaneity and joy. She wouldn’t understand an opportunity if it came and bit her in the face.’ Udeni sounded like she was crying.
Vidya rolled her eyes. This again. If Udeni didn’t want people to judge her thoughtlessness, maybe she should stop doing things without thinking about them.
This argument happened every so often. Now was not the time.
Vidya simply didn’t have the energy for it.
‘Nangi,’ she said, patiently. ‘I’m not judging you. I’m trying to help.’
‘You absolutely are judging me. Oh, you don’t say anything, but I can sense it. And then you go around with your holier-than-thou attitude. My sister has screwed up again and I have to fix it. Poor old me. Like you’re such a martyr.’
A martyr? Seriously? Vidya stopped walking and glared out at the shifting sea. Here she was, trying to help, and this was the thanks she got?
‘Ladies, please—’ Angie tried again to keep the peace.
Both sisters said ‘shut up’ simultaneously.
‘Just because you’re too afraid to go and get something that you want,’ said Udeni, ‘you don’t need to judge me when I do.’
Then Udeni hung up.
‘Ude—? Hello?’ Vidya stood very still, her heart pounding. How dare Udeni? After all she was doing.
The phone buzzed in her hand. It was a message from Angie: She’s hormonal and overwhelmed. I’ll deal with it. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.
Vidya didn’t bother to reply, just pocketed her phone and resumed her journey back to the hotel.
By the time she got to the entrance, her anger at her sister had reduced to a low simmer.
After all, Udeni was pregnant and overwhelmed as Angie had said.
Hell, Udeni’s emotions were close to the surface at the best of times.
And she had no self-control. That’s how she got herself into these situations.
That’s why, as the big sister, Vidya had to keep digging her out of them.
It had started with small things – like forgotten lunches, so that Vidya had to share.
Or that time Udeni slept through her alarm and nearly missed her A-level exam.
Or when she left it too late to work out how to get to an interview and Vidya had to pay for a taxi.
That interview had led to the job she had now, for heaven’s sake.
She didn’t mind doing it, but Udeni didn’t seem to appreciate it, or even notice.
It sometimes felt like Udeni floated through life, not taking responsibility for any of it.
Sure, she paid rent towards the mortgage on the flat, but Vidya did all the organising.
She was the one who made sure the bills were paid, the plumbing got fixed when it went wrong.
She even made sure the bins went out on the right day. And what thanks did she get?
She pushed the door to the meeting room with a harder shove than she’d intended. The door banged as she entered, and Leo and Caleb looked up. She put the bag of sandwiches on the table.
‘Vidya?’ Leo said.
She snapped out of her angry contemplation back into the here and now. Both the men were staring at her, Leo’s brow furrowed, Caleb’s eyes wide.
‘Um. Sorry. I was … miles away.’
‘Are you okay?’ Leo sounded genuinely worried.
Vidya realised she was still scowling and tried to relax her face a bit. ‘Yes. Yes, I’m fine. I just had an … awkward phone call with my sister. It’s fine. Nothing to worry about.’
Leo’s eyes narrowed briefly, then he nodded. ‘Let’s stop for lunch then.’ He closed the file with a slap and pushed himself up to standing. ‘Shall we eat on the terrace? I’m sick of this room.’
She was pretty sick of it too. She took the bag of sandwiches and followed Leo out.