Chapter Six
Lissa prods at a lump in her neck as she walks along the high street. It’s been there for two days now – just a tiny little thing. It probably isn’t anything serious. A cyst, according to Google, is the most likely option.
‘What are you doing?’ Darcy asks, eyeing her.
‘Nothing,’ Lissa says quickly, dropping her hands to her sides.
Misty rain settles around them, tiny droplets clinging to Darcy’s hair, tied into its signature knot.
It’s still light outside, but a grey sort of light, the cloud cover thick and dense above them while a chill holds the air.
A week to go until the clocks change, and it’s like the weather has accepted its fate, given up the good fight.
‘There’s nothing there,’ Darcy says, glancing at Lissa’s neck.
‘It feels like there’s something there.’ She lifts her hand to prod at the lump again.
‘Stop it,’ Darcy says, taking Lissa’s hand and lowering it. ‘You’re just nervous.’
Lissa frowns. ‘Why would I be nervous? It’s a pub quiz, not the University Challenge final.’
Darcy goes quiet and Lissa narrows her eyes. ‘Why would I be nervous, Darcy?’ she repeats, more suspiciously now.
The pub comes into view, further down the high street.
It’s one of the oldest pubs in Bath, apparently, with rumours that Charles Dickens once stayed there.
As they near the blue exterior, nestled into the Georgian buildings either side, Lissa spots Mia waiting underneath the hanging sign, her red hair falling in waves around her heart-shaped face.
Darcy still hasn’t answered her. And she knows Darcy. Knows that the casually innocent expression she has fixed in place is a sure sign she’s up to something.
‘Darcy,’ she says firmly, as Mia waves and comes towards them.
Darcy curls a strand of her glossy dark hair back into place behind her head, then sighs. ‘All right, but don’t hate me.’
‘No promises.’
She faces Lissa. ‘I invited Mark.’
‘Mark?’
‘Yes, Mark. You don’t have to sound so incredulous – you’re the one who’s been sleeping with him.’
‘Slept with him,’ Lissa corrects. ‘One time.’ There have been vague promises to do something soon, some overly polite conversations at work – thankfully helped by the fact that Mark is really invested in the project he’s currently working on, meaning he doesn’t have all that much time for small talk in the kitchen – and some awkward, lingering eye contact across the Monday meeting table.
Lissa had just about decided that this was all for the best, that she’d let things fizzle out on their own, and now Darcy has to go and bloody ruin it.
She opens her mouth to ask just what the hell she was thinking, but Mia has closed the distance between them, hoop earrings bouncing in her ears.
She’s smiling, a light dusting of freckles framing her nose, and Lissa makes herself smile back.
She invited her cousin because she’s seemed a bit down recently, and Lissa figured an outing might cheer her up.
Darcy bends to give Mia a hug – and she really does have to bend, because Mia is only about five foot tall, whereas Darcy is somewhat of a giant, especially in the heels she insists on wearing.
Darcy once told Lissa that she’d put walking in heels on her CV – Lissa still isn’t sure whether to believe her.
‘So nice to see you!’ Darcy says.
‘You too.’ Mia grins back. ‘I only just got here. I wasn’t sure whether to go in – I’ve never done a pub quiz before. Are there, like, allocated tables?’
‘I don’t think there’s a seating plan,’ Lissa says, ‘but it’s a good thing you didn’t get us a table for three, because Darcy here has invited a plus-one.’ She tries to keep her voice mild. Doesn’t quite succeed.
Mia raises her eyebrows at the tone. ‘Okay …’
‘For me,’ Lissa adds.
‘Ah.’ Mia purses her lips, then glances at Darcy. ‘Ohhhh.’ She draws out the word. ‘Mark?’
Lissa sighs. ‘Yes.’
‘Good idea,’ Mia says to Darcy.
Darcy gives a gracious little bow. ‘Thank you.’
Lissa throws her hands in the air at the two of them.
‘You’re not trying hard enough, Lissa,’ Mia scolds. They’re only a few months apart, but Mia has scolding down.
‘How do you know? And you’ve never even met him.’
‘Well now’s the perfect time, isn’t it? Come on.’ She links her arm with Lissa’s, steers her towards the pub. Lissa resigns herself to being overruled as she slips her phone out of her coat pocket.
‘Looking for an excuse to get out of this?’ Mia asks.
Lissa rolls her eyes – okay, so you can still do it at her age – and looks down at her screen.
‘I’m not that immature. I like Mark. I just don’t like being ambushed on what’s supposed to be a nice quiet Sunday evening.
’ No new messages, no missed calls. ‘I’ve done the food shop for Mum,’ she explains, at Mia’s questioning look.
‘Sometimes they ring me rather than her when they’re there, and then she misses the delivery. ’
Mia raises her eyebrows and Lissa pre-empts her. ‘Stop it. I know what you’re thinking.’
‘No you don’t.’
‘I do. You don’t think I should still do that for her.’
Mia shrugs. ‘Your words, not mine.’
A burst of warmth greets them as they step through the blue oak door and into the little pub with its low timber-beamed ceilings. There’s a crackling fire in the main room, its flickering light dancing off the old plaster walls.
‘Oh look,’ Darcy says, indicating a table a few feet from the bar. Lissa follows the direction of her gaze to see Mark on one side of the round table, hand around a pint, talking to …
‘Who’s the hottie?’ Darcy asks.
Lissa frowns. ‘That’s Ash. You invited Ash?’ There is no reason her voice should sound this panicked. What’s one more person in the grand scheme of things?
‘Seeing as I have no idea who Ash is, I’m going with no. I told Mark to bring a friend if he wanted. Thought it might make it seem less weird.’
‘Did he know I was going to be here?’
Darcy hesitates. ‘I said it was a group of us.’
‘Oh for God’s sake, Darcy,’ Lissa snaps. ‘Bad enough that you set me up, let alone him.’
Mark looks over then, and a flicker of surprise crosses his face before he smiles, waves.
‘There we go,’ Darcy says, clapping her hands in satisfaction. ‘I told you he’d be happy to see you.’
‘No you didn’t,’ Lissa mutters. Mia gives her a sympathetic pat on the back.
‘Well I thought it. Come on. I’ll get us drinks.’
Mia and Lissa make their way over to the table while Darcy heads to the polished bar.
Ash is looking at them too now, and for a second Lissa’s gaze snags on his as the corner of his mouth turns up in greeting.
She forces herself to focus on Mark instead as they come to a stop.
There are pens and paper already in the centre of the table, and the smell of beer and fried food fills the air.
Lissa takes a seat next to Mark, smiles as best she can. ‘Mia, this is Mark and Ash. And this is Mia, my cousin.’
‘Your cousin?’ Mark cocks his head in surprise, then holds his hand out to Mia across the table.
‘Doesn’t talk about me much then, does she?’ Mia asks wryly, shaking Mark’s hand.
Mark gives Lissa a small smile. ‘I take it Darcy played you too?’
Lissa shakes her head. ‘Don’t know why I’m surprised, really. Not that I’m not happy to see you,’ she adds quickly. Although she’d been all set to start phasing out their interactions at work as of tomorrow, and put the whole one-night-stand thing firmly behind them.
‘Well that’s something then.’ His voice is low, his gaze very focused on hers. She wishes she had a drink to distract herself with. Instead, she glances down, sees a motorbike helmet under the table. Very unlikely to be Mark’s. And of course Ash is the bloody motorbike-riding type.
‘I got us all chips,’ Darcy announces as she joins them at the table, handing Lissa a white wine and Mia a cider. She takes the remaining seat next to Lissa, forcing her to move up slightly so that her thigh brushes against Mark’s under the table.
Darcy pulls the piece of paper over to her. ‘It’s about to start,’ she says, with enough command in her voice that they all go quiet. Then she smiles at Ash. ‘I’m Darcy, by the way.’ She’s giving Ash a very direct look – one that Lissa recognises as, in Darcy’s own words, her come hither look.
Ash’s lips twitch. ‘Ash. A friend of Mark’s.’ His gaze slides over to Lissa’s. God, his eyes are really bloody blue, aren’t they? ‘Also saver of lives, stealer of scooters.’
Lissa laughs around a mouthful of her wine, coughs it down in a way that makes her eyes water. Way to go, Lissa. She tries to shrug it off. ‘Or saver of scooters, I suppose, depending on how you look at it.’
His lip twitch gives way to a fuller smile. Although is it just her, or does that smile look a bit sad today? ‘Hi, Lissa.’
‘Hey, hero.’ It comes out before she can think better of it, but thankfully she’s rewarded with another smile.
‘So what do we get if we win?’ Mia asks loudly.
‘Money behind the bar,’ Darcy says.
‘To spend in here?’ Lissa asks.
‘No,’ Darcy says with an eye-roll. ‘To spend down the road in Pizza Express.’
‘I better get us another round then,’ Mark says, placing a hand on Lissa’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze. A pleasant prickling runs up the inside of her leg at the contact – that’s a good sign, right? ‘Don’t want to get thirsty halfway through.’ He nods at Ash’s half-empty glass. ‘Same again?’
‘Sure, mate. Thanks.’
Mark gets to his feet, leaving a gap between Lissa and Ash, while Mia and Darcy chat about tactics – or Darcy does, while Mia nods. Lissa glances sideways at Ash, finds him looking back her way.
‘So. Passing through again?’ she asks him.
‘Yep.’
‘How’s Belgium?’
‘Good.’
‘Monosyllabic today, I see,’ she muses. She sips her wine. ‘Okay, I can take a hint.’
‘Sorry.’ He pulls a hand through already messy brown hair. ‘I’m just having a bit of a …’
‘Bad day?’
He gives her a small smile as she provides the same excuse she gave him. ‘Yeah.’ He sighs. ‘Bad day.’