Chapter Fifty-Six
Emme walked into the Harrington home, sad at Tristan’s turn in tone and in desperate need of a change of clothes and a shower. She was crushed to see the family were all sitting around the table eating a late breakfast. She had hoped for some peace and some headspace.
‘Did you go to a sleepover?’ Harry asked, a perplexed crinkle in his ginger freckled face.
‘Those are funny pyjamas,’ Bella observed in a matter-of-fact way.
Bill looked up from his newspaper.
‘Morning,’ he said, cheerily.
Lexy looked like she might have a nosebleed and feigned a smile.
‘Oh, Emme’s home,’ she said, behind clenched teeth. A silent how nice of her hung over the pancakes the maid had been in to make.
‘Morning!’ Emme said, as warmly as she could muster, her head held high, as she grabbed a glass of tap water and went to her room.
The slump hit as she got into her bedroom and closed the door, leaning on it behind her and shutting her eyes.
She felt like a teenager who had stopped out illicitly, not a twenty-eight-year-old woman who had just had the most explosive sex of her life.
What had happened to turn Tristan like that?
Was he that sensitive about his father? What darkness was Lexy alluding to? The same nefarious motives as Cat?
‘Fuck,’ she said quietly, cursing herself for even mentioning Lexy’s psychodrama.
Emme walked across the bedroom, sat at the dressing table and scrutinised her reflection in the mirror.
She looked tired but not as bad as she’d feared.
She was running on adrenaline and good sex.
She leaned in and examined her slightly red eyes.
She must have only had a couple of hours’ sleep, such was the long slow passion of the night.
She sighed, before there was a knock at the door, which made her jump.
‘Yes?’ she called, but Lexy was already standing in the doorway.
‘Rule three. No overnight stays out of the chalet unless previously agreed,’ Lexy stated, her arms folded. ‘Is that crystal clear?’
Emme turned around and looked at her boss. She was wearing her Sunday casuals. Blue jeans restraining her ample bottom; a white shirt that hugged her small waist. Emme took a deep breath, trying to disguise her contempt. Surely Lexy’s creepiness last night had led to extenuating circumstances.
‘Did you need me last night?’
‘Bella was sick.’
Emme’s heart sank.
‘Oh dear.’ Emme wracked her brains. She had eaten a lot of canapés at the party. ‘Is she OK?’
‘She is now.’
She had looked it just now, cheerily eating her breakfast.
Emme rubbed her temple.
‘Sorry, it won’t happen again.’
‘Apology accepted,’ Lexy said, turning on her heel. Then she stopped and looked back.
‘Oh and what’s all this about an expense from the iPad? I had a mystery hundred-franc bill from BUZZ, and someone bought a Netflix film.’
Emme ran her fingers through her hair. She just wanted a shower; to be alone.
‘Oh, sorry, I meant to say …’ Emme wracked her brains. ‘I don’t know about the Netflix one but Bella accidentally pressed something when she was playing on the iPad, I meant to follow it up …’
‘So she’s just using my credit card, and you’re not noticing?’
‘Do you not have a PIN to protect purchases?’ Emme asked.
They both knew it was probably 1212, which both children would know too. Lexy didn’t like being questioned. Her mouth shrunk to a lined circle.
‘You should be monitoring them better,’ she admonished.
Emme looked at her. She wanted to scream, but knew she was on a knife edge. Lexy was her bread and butter, her home. For now.
She stood up, rubbing mascara and sleep from the corner of her eye.
‘Sorry. I will.’
Lexy paused, a supercilious expression on her face as she looked Emme up and down, still wearing another man’s clothes. What was wrong with her?
‘Do you want me to do something with the kids today?’ Emme offered. She didn’t usually take them out on their own on a Sunday, but she had to do something to offer an olive branch, or this was going to be unbearable.
‘No,’ Lexy said swiftly. ‘We’re accompanying Bill to Zurich today. To see the Christmas decs. Bella is just about up to it. But I want you back on it, with a clear head from tomorrow. Do you understand?’
‘Crystal clear,’ Emme said, with her own, forced smile.