Chapter 18
It was fully dark now and there was a chill in the air. Vidya removed her handbag from around her neck, stuck it between her knees and zipped up her jacket.
‘Would you like me to hold that for you?’ Leo asked. He had done up his long coat too, but the ends of it flapped like an angry gull.
How inelegant she must look, with her bag clamped between her knees, in a half crouch.
Ah, well, if she’d wanted to appear elegant in front of Leo, that ship had well and truly sailed.
She pulled the zip up to her chin, retrieved her bag and slung it across her body again.
‘All done,’ she said, with a cheer she didn’t feel.
‘Shall we walk the back way? Or go down to the promenade and walk by the sea.’
‘Oh, sea,’ she said. Why would she want to walk through damp dark streets, when the promenade was available? She couldn’t see the sea at home. Besides, it was a longer walk and she got to spend more time with him.
They set off. Both with their hands deep in their pockets.
The thought that Caleb had gone off for another one-night encounter bothered Vidya.
It’s not like he was connected to Udeni in any way, but …
it felt wrong. Udeni might be an annoying and ungrateful little minx, but she was at home, with her digestion and emotions thrown into chaos, because of his baby, and he was off having fun with some random woman he’d met in a bar.
This gave Vidya a problem. Should she tell Udeni?
What good would that do? Seeing as Udeni had been a random woman he’d met at a party when they slept together, Udeni knew what he was like.
Getting to know Caleb in the past week, Vidya realised that she’d started thinking of him as Udeni’s potential partner. If he knew about the baby, he would care. She was sure of it.
‘Does he do that often?’ she said. Leo turned his head. It was too dark to see his expression clearly. ‘Caleb. Does he regularly go off with random strangers?’
Leo was quiet for a few minutes. They reached the seafront and crossed the road so that they were walking parallel to the sea.
‘Not … often,’ he said, finally. ‘When he’s had too much to drink or …
if he’s upset about something, then yes.
’ In the yellow light of the streetlamps, she could see his eyes glitter.
Leo looked sad. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I dunno.’ She couldn’t exactly blurt out everything. ‘I guess I didn’t realise he was the sort to … shag around like that.’ Then, realising how it sounded, she added, ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that.’
‘No. He’s single. If the lady is a consenting adult and also single, then no, there’s nothing wrong.’ He shook his head firmly.
‘Yes. Exactly.’ Vidya was pretty sure that was the view Udeni would take too.
At least, it was what she would have said before.
Did she feel the same way? Now that there had been consequences to her one-night stand.
Really, did Udeni even fully appreciate that there was going to be a baby at the end of all this?
It wasn’t a fun game. It was a life. Two – because Udeni’s life would never be the same either.
Her phone call to her sister hadn’t gone well.
Udeni had simply refused to answer. Vidya had ended up talking to Angie instead.
Thank goodness for Angie, who was keeping an eye on Udeni and making sure she ate.
Angie was doing her best to stay out of the argument between the two sisters, but it couldn’t be easy for her.
Vidya sighed. So many things to worry about.
‘Are you upset about Caleb running off like that?’ Leo asked. His eyes were on the path ahead.
What? Oh, right. That’s what they’d been talking about. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Just surprised, that’s all.’
Another few minutes of silence. The easy atmosphere between them had gone. Leo seemed distant and tense again. Perhaps he didn’t approve of Caleb gallivanting about when they had work the next day. Or perhaps she had somehow upset him.
‘Thanks for walking me back,’ she said. ‘I appreciate it.’
A brief smile. That was a good sign. She couldn’t believe she’d once thought he was cold and robotic. Once you knew how to read him, he was really quite expressive.
‘I’m heading back to the same place,’ he said. ‘It’s hardly an imposition.’
‘All the same.’ The wind blew Vidya’s hair in her face and she pulled her hand out of her pocket to push it back. ‘And thanks for letting us have half the day off.’
‘Ugh,’ he said. ‘You make me sound like a tyrant.’
‘You did make us work on Saturday.’
‘I said you didn’t have to.’
She scoffed. ‘Right. Like I could have swanned off while you sat in that room, poring over documents.’
‘Some might have done,’ he said. ‘But you’re conscientious. I appreciate that.’
Talking about work was a safer topic. ‘Do you think we’ll get everything done in time?’
‘Potentially,’ he said. ‘If not, we’ll have to get Stella to scan everything we haven’t read. It’ll take her quite some time to do that.’
‘Did you find anything in the land stuff?’
‘A few things will need negotiating, but nothing that’s a deal breaker. You?’
‘A few penalties if they change suppliers, which I think they intend to do because they’ve got brand deals in place already. I’m manually listing those.’
‘Your whizzy AI didn’t catch them all?’
‘It caught most of them, actually,’ she said. ‘But not all of them and it’s too important not to check.’
His nod suggested that he approved of this assessment.
‘Two more days to get it all read,’ she said. ‘It’s a shame we can’t extend it a couple more days.’
‘Caleb and I fly out to Europe on Wednesday night, so there’s not much choice,’ Leo said. ‘We have to leave here on Wednesday morning at the latest.’
They approached the hotel and started up the steep slope.
A car drove up, which meant they had to step off the road into the rock-lined border.
When the car had gone, they resumed their trek uphill.
Vidya, who was less fit than Leo, was soon out of breath.
He slowed down to keep pace with her, but the difference in the levels of effort was so embarrassing that she pushed herself.
By the time she got to the top, her thighs were burning and she was so hot that she’d unzipped her coat.
It flapped around her in the most irritating way.
Leo had stopped a short distance ahead and was waiting.
She resumed walking, without paying attention to her feet.
Something underfoot turned over and pitched her into the rocky border by the road.
She went over with a shriek and landed with her hands in the middle of the plants and gravel.
Her knee hit one of the rocks and sent a stab of pain through her.
‘Shit. Are you okay?’ Leo was by her side.
Oh, God, how embarrassing! She couldn’t even walk up a road competently.
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘I’m fine.’ There was no graceful way to get up apart from pushing her backside first out of the shrubbery and slowly getting back to her feet.
Her knee stung, so did her hands. She tried to brush herself down.
As if all this wasn’t mortifying enough, the car returned, illuminating her in her soil-stained, scuffed-up glory.
‘You’re bleeding,’ Leo said.
She looked down at her knees. A small bloom of red had appeared on the denim over one of them.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘It’s just a scratch.’
Leo offered her his arm. ‘Let’s get you inside and see if we can find a first-aid kit.’
‘No. Really, I’ll be fine.’ She took a step and sucked in her breath at the pain.
‘Can you put weight on it?’
She tried again. She could. ‘I don’t think I’ve broken anything.’
Reluctantly, she took the arm he offered.
They walked up the hill slowly. Her knee hurt, but more insistent was the closeness of Leo.
She was holding on to his arm, which meant that her own arm was tucked close to his body.
Her fingers dug into his bicep every time she took a step on her injured leg.
If it weren’t for the pain, she would have easily melted into the warmth of him. So, yay, pain.
Once they entered the hotel lobby, Leo made her sit down on one of the plush chairs and disappeared to locate a first-aid kit.
Vidya rolled up her trouser leg to look at her knee.
It was oozing blood, but at least the jeans had kept the wound clear of soil and other debris.
Her hands, however, were streaked with mud and dotted with tiny cuts.
Leo reappeared with a green box and knelt at her feet.
‘It’s not that bad,’ she said.
He gave her a stern look that did really odd things to her stomach and inspected her knee. ‘May I?’
He waited until she nodded before he touched her.
He was only touching the back of her calf in a very practical way, but she still felt the contact through her whole body.
Leo opened a pack of Steriwipes and cleaned the wound efficiently.
‘It’s nothing terrible,’ he said, while covering it with a non-adhesive bandage.
‘Now, let’s look at your hands.’ He held them, palms up, in his big hands.
‘You’ve got some small stones in this cut.
’ He fished out a pair of tweezers and started to remove them.
‘You’re very good at this,’ Vidya said to the top of his head.
Leo didn’t look up. ‘I used to be a first aider,’ he said.
‘Used to be? You mean you’re not anymore?’
‘I didn’t renew my training. There. I think that’s got everything.’
‘I used to do a lot of cleaning wounds and scratches,’ she said.
‘Because you were looking after your sister?’ He wiped her hands with an alcohol wipe.
‘Ow. Yes.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Leo finished wiping and held her palm up to look at it closely. He ran his fingertips down the side of her palm and she forgot how to breathe. His eyes flicked up to meet hers. ‘And who looks after you?’
In that moment, looking into his eyes, it felt like he was offering. The pain in her knee and her hands faded away and all she could feel was the thunder of her heartbeat and the roar of her blood. No one looked after her. Except that wasn’t true. Right now, he was.
Vidya wanted to say something pithy or meaningful, but all she could do was look into his face and wonder what it would be like to be held by him. To kiss him. As if he had read her mind, his hand tightened gently around hers and she felt the smallest of tugs towards him.
‘Oh, my!’ said a voice. ‘I think he’s proposing.’
They both looked round. Leo dropped her hand.
The two older ladies, Jill and Linda, were standing a few metres away.
‘Oh, no,’ said Jill. ‘She’s hurt herself.’
‘That’s disappointing,’ said Linda.
‘I … I fell, just outside,’ Vidya said. ‘Leo was taking a look at my injuries.’
‘Is that what we call it these days?’ said Jill, beaming.
Leo started packing things away.
‘Where have you ladies been?’ Leo asked.
‘We’ve been to York for the day.’
‘Oh, lovely,’ Vidya said.
‘I’ll just return this,’ said Leo. He stood up and glanced at Vidya. ‘Are going to be—’
‘I’m fine.’ She made a shooing motion with her hands.
Once he had set off, she carefully stood up and tested her knee. ‘I genuinely am fine,’ Vidya said to the ladies, who were watching her with concern.
The three of them started towards the stairs.
‘He seems like a good one,’ said Linda.
‘Practical as well as handsome.’
‘Oh, there’s definitely nothing like that going on,’ Vidya said, laughing.
‘No?’ Linda glanced back to where Leo was talking to the concierge. ‘Are you sure he knows that?’
What was that supposed to mean? ‘I’m pretty sure, yes.’
‘Pity,’ said Linda. ‘Because I think he would like there to be more than just a working relationship.’
Vidya felt the heat rush to her face. ‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.’ When they had reached the bottom of the stairs, Vidya said, ‘I think I’ll take the lift. So … good night.’
‘I hope your knee doesn’t bother you too much,’ said Jill.
‘Thank you.’
Vidya hobbled over to the lift and hit the button to summon it. She turned to look for Leo and saw that he was walking towards her. She felt an irrational surge of hope.
‘I’m … heading up,’ she said. Oh, nice, Vidya. State the bleeding obvious. In the back of her mind, a tiny voice said, Come with me, come with me, but she didn’t say that out loud. ‘Thank you for patching me up.’
‘I’m glad you’re okay,’ Leo said. He didn’t meet her eye. ‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Um. Yes.’
The lift arrived and the doors opened. She put her hand out to stop them closing. She didn’t want the evening to end just yet. ‘Good night, Leo.’
He was moving his weight from one foot to another. He clearly had more he wanted to say. Vidya’s heart picked up. Maybe …
He raised his head. ‘Vidya—’
A movement behind Leo distracted her. It was Caleb, coming back in. She noticed but returned her focus to Leo. He turned to see what she was looking at.
‘Oh,’ he said, and took a tiny step back, away from her.
Wait, no! Why was he stepping back? Damn. Caleb had terrible timing. What was he even doing here? He was supposed to be off hooking up with the woman from the bar.
Leo took another step away from her and said, ‘Good night, Vidya. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
Vidya stepped into the lift. ‘Tell Caleb I said good night too.’
As the door closed, she watched him turn around and greet his friend. Alone in the privacy of the lift, she leaned against the wall and willed her heart to calm down. She wasn’t sure which would kill her first – embarrassment or frustration.