She laughs. ‘I might even like him in time.’ Then her face turns serious. ‘Look, he makes you happy and you’re no fool. I just want you to be careful, okay? Don’t get yourself hurt.’
‘I’ll do my best.’But at the moment, that seems highly unlikely.
‘Has he told you how he feels yet?’ She asks the question with her attention focussed on her cardboard cup, then takes a sip of coffee.
‘You mean, do I think he’s in love with me?’ I sigh and lean back into my desk chair, taking my latte with me. ‘I wish I knew, Amanda. He hasn’t said as much but then when we’re together, especially when we’re… you know… it’s like I’m the only important thing in the world to him. He says things like he’s under my spell and he can’t let me go but he’s never told me he loves me. And there are other things he’s not telling me. There’s always something lingering that he either can’t or won’t share with me.’ I try not to think about the Dubai conversation and whether there’s part of him that wants me to leave.
It’s my own doubt. I caused that situation.
‘He certainly looked like a man in love on Saturday. He was crazed, Scarlett.’
I shrug, feigning impassiveness but beaming inside. ‘Time will tell, I suppose.’
‘And what about the case? Ed said there’s still no charge; that’s a good thing, right?’
‘The KC thinks so. The police questioned Lara and Sandy so they’re obviously considering the strength of Gregory’s motive versus self-defence.’
‘But it was self-defence, right?’
I shoot her a warning stare. She’sstillquestioning Gregory’s motives. ‘Amanda.’
‘No, I know, I?—’
‘Let’s leave that there, okay?’
‘Well, they obviously don’t consider him a threat to society. Otherwise they’d hold him.’
‘True. Hopefully, it’s all a good sign.’ But there’s a tightness in my chest and an increasingly heavy ache at the base of my skull.
‘Scarlett?’
I rub my breastbone. ‘Hmm, sorry, what was the question?’
‘Dubai.’
I exhale slowly, exasperated, and rub my aching temple. ‘I’ve decided not to go but I haven’t told Neil yet.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really. Don’t look at me like that and please don’t say whatever it is that you’re thinking.’
She pulls an invisible zip across her pursed lips. ‘Neil isn’t going to take that well.’
‘Not at all. And he really hasn’t pushed me for a decision even though the proposal has to be with the client by Friday.’
‘Because he thinks you’ll go.’
I nod. ‘Precedent says I never refuse, so I guess he’s assumed I’ll drop everything for work, like I always do. Right, enough about me; did you and Williams spend the night together on Saturday?’
‘Yes. No. He stayed over at my apartment and we shared the same bed but we didn’t sleep together.’ She slips a red peanut M&M into her mouth. ‘It was nice, actually. We spooned. He cuddled me all night and it felt right somehow to wake up with him on Sunday.’
‘Are you together?’ I ask across my cardboard cup, then sip the milky coffee.
‘Hmm, we haven’t really said. We’ve just decided to date. Start again and see whether there’s something else.’
‘Besides just fun?’
She smiles. ‘Besides just fun.’
