‘I feel like I do, and I want to explain.’
When Frank appeared in the corridor, Hudson followed after Nadia as she went into her own office. He closed the door behind them.
‘I lied to you,’ she said.
‘About being single?’
‘What? No! I’m very much single, not seeing anyone at all.’
‘Who was the guy?’
She hesitated. She may as well come out with it. If she didn’t, she’d only be delaying the inevitable. ‘Archie was once my boyfriend. He’s now my sister’s husband.’
‘You have a sister?’
‘I have a sister. Yes. I never told anyone that, for reasons that might take me a while to explain.’
He leaned against the wall. ‘Wow, it seems…’
‘Ludicrous? Weird?’
He smiled across at her. ‘Not words I’d necessarily use, but why have you never mentioned your sister? I asked you in the pub outright whether you had any siblings and you said no.’
‘I felt terrible lying to you.’
‘So why did you?’
‘There’s so much about my life that I’ve pushed away and not told anyone about because I prefer not to think about it.’
He said nothing.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘No need to apologise. You know you ran away from the hotel and missed out on an exceedingly good breakfast, don’t you?’
Did the attempt at normality mean they were okay?
He took a seat in the chair opposite her desk as she sat down on the other side.
‘I’m not proud of myself for lying to you,’ she said.
‘I’m assuming there must be a deep reason why you didn’t admit to a sister.’
His sympathy almost undid her. ‘There’s a lot of history, my family was… is… complicated.’
‘I just wish you’d felt able to confide in me or someone else. I assume nobody else knows either?’
She nodded.
‘So why is your sister’s husband here? Is he local?’
‘No, he lives in Switzerland, where I grew up.’ She steepled her fingers, elbows on the table, and rested her head against her fingertips. ‘He thinks that Monica, my sister, might have come looking for me.’
They were interrupted by a knock at the door – Brad looking for Hudson. ‘The Turner family are here with the photographer.’
‘Thanks, I’ll be right there,’ Hudson told him.
Hudson was good at his job and had set up this publicity opportunity with the family. Their story had a happy ending and they’d agreed to share it. There’d be a lot of emphasis on the role played by The Skylarks, which would help promote what the team did here and hopefully go some way to raising more funds as a result.
