Chapter Five
Lucy climbed into the back of the people carrier, originally booked for six people, but now only carrying two.
She’d hoped the seating would be configured so she and Nate could sit comfortably apart, but no such luck – it was set up like a London cab with two rows of three seats facing each other.
Lucy chose the row that would be travelling forwards, on the basis that facing backwards made her feel sick, and it was no surprise that Nate chose a seat on the same side – he was still looking a bit pale and stressed after their turbulent descent in high winds, and a landing that had made Lucy’s teeth rattle.
His silence had continued as they made their way off the plane and through passport control, only breaking it to acknowledge Lucy’s updates from Jonno that they were on a flight three hours behind Lucy and Nate.
It meant that they’d miss dinner but would be there for late drinks.
‘I’m sorry if I was weird on the plane,’ said Nate as the car navigated its way out of the airport. ‘I really struggle with flying.’
‘Right,’ said Lucy, finally realising why he’d been so uncommunicative in the airport, then spent most of the flight wearing headphones with his eyes closed. ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’
‘Because it’s easier just to grit my teeth and get through it.
’ He looked out of the window and wiped his hands on his jeans, as if they were clammy.
Lucy wondered what it must be like to put yourself through something that actively made you scared.
She’d stayed in her comfort zone for so long it was difficult to imagine, but on the rare occasions she flew somewhere, it was no big deal.
‘What’s the issue, specifically? The people? The weird noises and bouncing about? Or the unlikely physics of aviation?’
Nate half-smiled, colour slowly returning to his cheeks. ‘All of the above. Given the choice, I’d rather get the train.’
‘Me too,’ said Lucy. ‘Not ideal for a long weekend, though. Why did you say yes to coming, if you don’t like flying? You didn’t have to be here.’
‘No, I guess not. But Sasha called and—’
‘Hang on, let me guess,’ laughed Lucy, holding up her hand. ‘She told you it was time to step up, and that this was a fantastic opportunity to raise your profile with the client without Fran stealing your thunder.’
Nate gave a hollow laugh. ‘Almost word for word. Did you write that speech for her?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘No, I’ve just worked with her for a very long time.’
‘Well, that was pretty much it,’ said Nate, pulling a face. ‘And she’s right, obviously. I’m just . . . it’s . . .’
‘Look, it’s fine,’ said Lucy, not wanting to get into sharing mode with someone she worked with and currently didn’t like very much. ‘You speak fluent French, right?’
Nate nodded. ‘Yeah.’
‘The Titan Marketing Director is a French woman called Thérèse. I’ve done a few calls with her and she’s lovely. Just chat to her about their strategy or something, tell her about all your trips to Paris.’
Nate turned to look at her, his brow furrowed in confusion. ‘How do you know I’ve been on trips to Paris?’
Lucy froze, wondering if he could hear the squealing brakes in her head. ‘Oh, I just assumed. You used to live there, right?’
‘Yeah,’ said Nate. He gave her a knowing smile, and she knew she was busted.
‘And I looked at your Instagram,’ she added casually.
Nate laughed and shook his head. ‘Why would you look at my Instagram?’
‘I was looking at the socials of everyone on this trip. Getting to know everyone, finding conversation starters, that kind of thing. I’m not a stalker, honest.’
‘But you didn’t know I was coming until you got to the airport.’
Fuuuuck, thought Lucy, the panic-cogs now spinning at a hundred miles an hour. ‘Yeah, that’s where I looked. While we were waiting to get on the plane.’
‘Right,’ laughed Nate, and Lucy dared to breathe for a second. ‘Fair enough. With those kind of research skills, you should work on Rachel’s strategy team.’
‘I’d rather boil my head,’ said Lucy, gratified that she’d apparently got away with her stalker behaviour AND made Nate laugh. ‘Have you seen Kristoff’s TikTok?’ If in doubt, deflect.
‘I try not to look at TikTok too much,’ said Nate, waving his phone feebly. ‘It sucks away too much of my day. Will it make this road trip go faster?’
‘Probably not,’ said Lucy quickly, relieved she didn’t have a social media presence so Nate could stalk her the way she’d stalked him. ‘But worth looking for some common ground in case he corners you later. He’s Kristoff the Titan.’
‘Of course he is,’ said Nate, putting his headphones on and losing himself in his phone as Lucy watched the landscape fly by.
She’d looked at Google Maps a couple of weeks ago and knew that the journey from Geneva to Zermatt followed the north side of the lake, but they were sat on a busy highway, surrounded by traffic, so she couldn’t enjoy the view.
Instead she thought about the pictures she’d received from Anthony last night; she occasionally sent him a reply, but there weren’t many angles on a woman that didn’t look like a nurse was about to approach with a giant speculum.
‘I’m all up to speed on Kristoff’s TikTok,’ said Nate twenty minutes later, pulling off his headphones. ‘You don’t seem to post at all, though. Or on Instagram.’
‘No,’ said Lucy, a little taken aback that he’d looked. ‘I’m a consumer, rather than a creator.’
‘Shame,’ said Nate airily, peering out of the window at the blurry grey vista.
Lucy said nothing, feeling slightly blindsided by his change of tone. There was nothing for Nate to find, other than an ancient private Facebook account from her teens that she never used, but didn’t want to delete because of all the photos of Leo.
Why do I even care? she thought. She was considerably more senior than Nate in the LUNA hierarchy, so there was no professional benefit from earning his approval.
And even though she was willing to acknowledge he was undeniably hot, she definitely wasn’t interested in having sex with him.
She barely knew him and wasn’t really sure she liked him, for a start, so why shit on your own doorstep?
And if she wasn’t trying to impress Nate or get him into bed, what did it matter what he thought of her?
There’s something about him, thought Lucy, leaning her head against the curved headrest and sinking into the heated seats.
He doesn’t say much, and what he does say is kind of rude, but it feels like he can see through me.
Right now that definitely didn’t feel like a good thing, but they were only stuck with each other for a few more hours, until the fun people arrived.
When Lucy woke up a while later, two things immediately occurred to her.
Firstly, that her head was no longer on the headrest, but was now on a strong, ski-jacketed shoulder that presumably belonged to Nate.
And secondly, she’d been having a mildly erotic dream about Marco’s strong legs that somehow morphed into Anthony’s penis, and her left hand was now very evidently on Nate’s leg.
Oh God, have I been stroking him? she wondered in horror.
There had definitely been some robust stroking in the dream.
Lucy kept her eyes screwed tight shut, trying to work out how to extract herself from this situation with her dignity intact.
Maybe she could gently remove the hand, then flip her head back to her side of the car without appearing to have woken up.
Or maybe Nate was asleep too, and he’d be none the wiser.
‘Hi,’ whispered Nate, so close that she could feel his breath in her hair. ‘You OK?’
‘Mmm,’ said Lucy sleepily, snatching her hand away and trying to rub the creases from her face as she sat up. ‘Apparently I’ve been using you as a pillow. I’m really sorry.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Nate mildly. ‘Your head was flopping about a bit, so I moved over to provide support before you snapped your neck.’
Oh God, thought Lucy. This is mortifying. She yawned and wiped a bit of crusted saliva from the corner of her mouth and hoped she hadn’t been actively drooling on him, like a hungry Labrador. ‘Thanks,’ she muttered.
‘What were you dreaming about, out of interest?’ asked Nate. ‘At one point you were gripping my leg so hard I thought you were going to crush it.’
Giving a handjob to one of my not-boyfriends, thought Lucy, wondering if she could just open the car door and throw herself into the evening traffic.
‘Sorry about that,’ she said vaguely, checking her watch. ‘I was trying to hold on to something, but I can’t remember what. Wow, I was asleep for nearly two hours.’
‘Yeah, we’re not far away now,’ said Nate. ‘You can’t see much out there, but we’re definitely gaining some altitude.’
Lucy peered out of the window, but it was pitch black beyond the lights of other cars and roadside homes.
She checked her phone – a message from Jonno saying their flight was more or less on time, so hopefully they’d be there by nine.
Nate had shuffled back to the other side of the car so she stretched out her arms, wishing she could get out of the car and walk around a bit.
A trip to the bathroom wouldn’t go amiss, either.
Nate leaned forward and spoke to the driver in French, which Lucy understood enough to know that he’d asked how long before they were in Zermatt, and could they take a break.
She smiled to herself, thinking about how good Leo had been at tuning in to what she needed without her having to say anything.
Maybe Nate had the same talent, or maybe he just needed a wee and she was overestimating the power of her womanly energy.