Chapter Eight #2
‘I wonder how Olly and Maya are getting on with Thérèse at the spa,’ he mused.
‘Hello,’ said the waitress, beaming at them both as she shovelled all the dirty plates and glasses onto a tray and swiftly wiped down the table with a damp cloth.
‘My name is Chantal, what can I get you?’ She was in her twenties and heartbreakingly pretty in a wholesome, mountain-girl way, with huge brown eyes and similar colouring to Gunther and Ulrich, which made Lucy wonder if she was Gunther’s daughter.
Kristoff had said something last night about this place being run by a family, so that would make sense.
They ordered pizzas, then Chantal gestured to their empty wine glasses. ‘Another glass?’ she asked, her gaze fixed on Nate like Lucy wasn’t even there. Lucy ignored her, instead watching a small child clomp across the room in ski boots and open a cupboard full of board games.
‘Maybe a bottle?’ replied Nate with a shrug.
Lucy smiled, and decided that this afternoon might actually be OK.
‘Do you have any family?’ asked Nate, clearly trying to make small talk and picking the worst possible question.
Lucy had navigated it many times before, but today it felt like an extra kick in the guts.
Maybe this was why she’d always spent Leo’s anniversary with her parents – to avoid conversations like this.
‘My parents live in Croydon,’ she said, trying to sound upbeat and normal.
‘I have a brother, but I don’t see much of him.
’ Time had taught Lucy not to deny having a sibling, because being an only child prompted a whole other conversation that quickly descended into outright lies and fabrication.
An estranged brother was pretty common, and not very interesting.
‘You’re not close to your brother?’ asked Nate, his eyes widening.
No, thought Lucy, her head spinning as she took another slug of wine. This absolutely cannot be the thing we talk about.
‘It’s no big deal,’ she said dismissively, not wanting to raise a red flag that would prompt further questions. ‘We don’t have much in common.’
‘He’s not like you?’ asked Nate.
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Lucy, looking up at him sharply. Did Nate know about Leo? That she’d had a twin? She felt cornered, and a hot feeling of panic rushed to her cheeks.
‘Oh,’ said Nate, clearly taken aback by the forcefulness of her response. ‘I . . . just wondered if you and he were alike.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Lucy. ‘What am I like?’
He glanced at her for a moment, clearly trying to work out how to answer when the conversation had taken a weird turn. ‘Interesting,’ he said, lowering his eyes to his glass and blushing a little. ‘Talented. Beautiful.’
Lucy laughed in surprise, not sure if Nate was taking the piss. He barely looked at or spoke to her from one day to the next, and now she was talented and beautiful?
‘I’m serious,’ said Nate. ‘You’re a really interesting woman.’ Lucy noted that he’d dialled back on beautiful and talented, which made her wonder if he’d actually ever said those words out loud in the first place. Maybe her inner narcissist had subconsciously added them in?
‘And yet you’ve never shown the smallest amount of interest up to now,’ she said, giving him a challenging look. ‘That’s more interesting, don’t you think?’
‘Maybe,’ said Nate. ‘I guess we’ve never had the chance to get to know each other. You know what the office is like. You spend more than five minutes a day talking to a colleague, and everyone assumes you’re sleeping together.’
That’s rich, coming from you, thought Lucy, wondering if he’d used this guileless, just-making-conversation charm offensive on Sasha.
It didn’t feel like he was feeding her lines, but that was all the more reason to be on her guard.
She’d always had a friendly and mutually respectful relationship with Sasha, but you definitely wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
‘Like you and Jonno, for instance,’ added Nate.
‘We’re definitely not sleeping together,’ replied Lucy quickly, rolling her eyes.
‘I know that,’ said Nate patiently. ‘But people gossip about it anyway. It’s something to talk about.’
‘Well, it’s absolutely not true.’
‘I’m just saying that you’re not easy to get to know. If I tried, everyone would assume I had an ulterior motive.’
‘And you don’t?’ Lucy raised her eyebrows in question.
‘No,’ said Nate, draining his glass and reaching for the bottle. ‘I definitely don’t.’
‘Do you play board games?’ said Lucy, conscious this was a whiplash change of subject but needing a way out of this conversation. ‘We could play one while we’re waiting for our food.’ And avoid talking, she thought.
‘Sure.’ Nate slid out of the booth and opened the door to the games cupboard. It was well stocked and orderly, with lots of games that Lucy had heard of, plus a few she hadn’t. ‘No word games though,’ he said emphatically. ‘I am not playing Scrabble with someone who writes for a living.’
‘Can you play Rummikub?’ said Lucy, leaning over to peer into the cupboard. ‘I haven’t played for ages.’
‘Sure,’ said Nate. He carefully extracted the box from the stack and sat back at the table. ‘This is numbers. I can do numbers.’
It was Leo’s favourite, thought Lucy, as Nate opened the box and started to lay out the tiles.
They’d played a lot as kids, but Lucy had more focus and patience than her brother, and she usually won.
Leo would make up extra rules in the hope of beating her by stealth, but that rarely worked.
She looked out of the window at the swirling snow, wondering if it was a more respectful honouring of Leo’s memory to let Nate beat her, or to kick his arse six times in a row.
‘Lucy?’ asked Nate.
She turned to look at him, realising she was smiling. ‘Sorry, miles away.’
‘You ready?’ He handed her the stand to put her tiles on.
Lucy took a deep breath. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I’m ready.’