‘I’m not sure a labrador counts, Ev,’ Ollie mumbled.
‘We have money, we have our health.’ She looked pointedly at Ollie. ‘We have so much more than so many people, Nick. I know you know that. It’s what you have always told us.’
‘So is Ev right? You are in love with Abbey?’ My brother can’t open his mouth without it making his skull ache, and his voice sounds strange.
‘I do not love her. Nothing is going on.’
My siblings shared a look that screamedour brother is full of fucking shit. I sat down next to Ollie and changed the subject.
And though we talked of other things, I was still thinking about how I would not have survived the last couple of days if it wasn’t for Abbey.
Chapter Eleven
Abbey
I simply do not know how I managed to drag my arse out of bed on the Monday morning. No, strike that, I do know – I lived in Sydney, and I had a mortgage.
Kate walked into my room without knocking as I was staring at my open wardrobe. ‘You know you can call in sick, right?’
‘I’ve got stuff to do for Oliver.’
‘You looking in there for something slutty to wear?’
‘Professional but slutty … yeah.’
‘Pencil skirt and that white blouse you own. Your boobs look great in it.’
I considered, and then nodded.
‘Oh … wait.’ She ran out and came back with a pair of stockings.
‘Seam down the back?’ I asked.
‘Yep, he’s going to be looking at your legs all day.’
I kissed her cheek. ‘You are amazing.’
Dressed, I grabbed my lunch from the fridge and she looked me up and down. ‘Damn, Abs. There is something decidedly Cavendish about you today.’
I was insanely pleased with the compliment. ‘Thank you, my lovely sister.’
***
I wiggled into the office, my feet already killing me from the additional heel height of the shoes I’d chosen to wear. The amount of eye contact men wanted to make with me in this outfit was, quite frankly, alarming. Still, a sweet old guy at the train station barrier had stopped in the peak-hour crowd and said to me ‘ladies first’, which was kind of lovely.
Coming into work felt odd. Ollie was this ball of energy and even in the short amount of time he’d been there his absence felt like a void. It was my job to look after things for him while he recovered, and it felt good to recognise that as another reason why I’d got up that morning.
It had nothing to do with the other one. The other Northby. He was an inconvenience, nothing more, someone I would simply have to put up with. In three months Ollie would be back, and I would be Nick-free.
I would manage my feelings for him during that time by locking them up. Putting them away. If I had taken anything away from our relationship, perhaps it was simply the lesson he’d provided me on compartmentalisation.
The elevator chimed, and I ignored my traitorous little heart as it beat at the sight of him.How many fucking bespoke suits could one man own? Suit whore.His grey suit was one I had not seen before. It had been cut by a master and clung to his legs indecently. He looked outrageously good, and I wondered, not for the first time, why I was cursed to be so attracted to this guy.
I mean, he was just everything I never even imagined in a man. Smart, attractive, quietly funny. He was an intense person and an intense lover. He didn’t have sex, he worshipped with a smouldering reverence I had never experienced before. I was addicted to him.
Of course someone like me would fall for him. What was I? A single mum with an enormous mortgage. A boring, middle-aged woman. Not skinny enough, or not pretty enough, for the likes of him.
I felt suddenly emotional and closed my eyes against it. But then Gran appeared behind my lids.
