Jen shook her head. ‘This is all too complicated for me. Goodness. It’s like some kind of weirdo game you two are playing. Mind you, you always were good at games.’
‘Still am.’ Lucy lifted her chin. ‘I left, called his bluff and he has no choice but to come grovelling back to me. You’ll see.’
Her phone dinged. Jen burst out laughing and crowded in beside her, looking over her shoulder.
‘It’s not, is it?’
Lucy turned the screen to her triumphantly. ‘He’s on his way over. He’s obviously been stewing on it. I think I’ve got him, sis.’
She glanced through the café to the street and saw Oliver already striding towards the door. He hadn’t even waited for her reply.
He really must be more desperate than she’d imagined.
‘Hey, Jen, when he comes in, can you direct him through the alley to the garden? Tell him I’m out there?’
‘The alley we don’t use?’
‘Yes, that’s right. The one with all the cobwebs.’
It might be petty, thought Lucy, but it made her happy.
* * *
It was going from bad to worse, Oliver thought, following the waitress’s vague directions along the side of the café and into a narrow alley.
The place smelled of damp and rot. Something brushed against his face — cobwebs, maybe a spider. He swore under his breath and kept going.
At the far end, a gate was set into a brick wall. As he approached, there was a soft click and it swung open.
Beyond lay a garden. Overgrown, wild, tangled with wisteria and herbs and climbing things that had long since escaped any idea of order. Light filtered through the leaves in greenish shafts. At the far end, Lucy sat at a small wrought-iron table.
She lowered a remote in her hand and looked at him coolly.
He stepped through the gate just as a low-hanging vine, caught by the breeze, swung into his head. She didn’t move.
‘Lucy,’ he said, slapping the vine away. ‘Thanks for inviting me over.’
‘Please, take a seat, Oliver.’
He glanced at the chair she indicated. The wrought-iron seat looked both uncomfortable and vaguely lethal. He could already imagine rust marks across his trousers. He hesitated, then sat anyway.
She folded her arms. ‘You wanted to see me.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you walked away from me again.’
Her mouth curved. ‘Funny how that keeps happening.’
He leaned forward. ‘The truth is…’ The words stuck. He took a breath. ‘I need you.’
That earned him her full attention at last.
‘I thought as much,’ she said. ‘So this is a negotiation?’
‘Call it what you like.’
