‘Invoices all done,’ she said brightly, ‘and I’ve even done some website work, so I’m feeling very virtuous.’
‘Good for you,’ Nina said. ‘I was just wondering whether it’s worth staying open any longer, punters are few and far between with this awful weather. You’re more than welcome to go home if you want.’
Cassie grimaced. ‘I’d sooner stay here than face what’s at home.’
She plonked herself behind the other desk and swung to the right and then to the left in the swivel chair, much like a child would.
‘You’re going to have to sort things out with Rosalyn,’ Nina said. ‘She can’t expect to stay with you indefinitely. It’s not fair on you.’
‘You try telling Emily that without starting World War Three.’
‘Maybe Ben should be the one to do it.’
‘He’s already said he’s happy to be the bad guy.’
‘Let him do it then.’
Cassie frowned. ‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’
‘No, of course not,’ Nina said with a laugh. ‘I’ve enjoyed having you here but your generosity towards Rosalyn can’t beindefinite, surely she has to accept that. Emily too. After all, you have a wedding to plan.’
‘You’re right, I know you are. I also know that I’m the one who must talk to her, not Ben. I wouldn’t do that to him. Indirectly, I’ve caused the problem, so I’m the one who must put it right.’
As much as she was encouraging her friend to do it, Nina didn’t envy Cassie the task ahead of her. ‘Have you decided on a date yet?’ she asked.
‘What, when to talk to Rosalyn?’
Nina smiled. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Your wedding.’
Cassie shook her head. ‘Ben and I want life to feel more normal before we set a date.’
‘What about the venue, have you given that any thought? These places get ridiculously booked up, years in advance some of them.’
‘Not really,’ Cassie began, just as Nina was distracted by the ping of an email arriving on her laptop. Force of habit made her look to see if it was important. She did a double-take when she saw who it was from.
It was Jakob.
Chapter Thirty-One
The rain had eased, it was no longer coming down in monsoon fashion, but there was still plenty of it, and it pattered a loud tattoo against Cassie’s umbrella as she held it above her head. Her laptop bag slung over her shoulder and banging against her hip, she hurried along the cobbled street to where she’d left her car. Some days she and Nina drove in together, but this morning Nina had asked Cassie to open the gallery for her as she had a dental appointment.
Behind the wheel of her car, it was slow going getting out of Cambridge with the traffic moving at a snail’s pace in the dwindling light. Stuck behind a bus, her windscreen wipers swishing back and forth, Cassie drummed her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel but instead of passing the time by listening to the current true crime podcast she was hooked on –Tyler Walker, The Missing Boy of Idaho– she mulled over the sudden change in Nina’s manner in the office just now.
One minute they’d been chatting quite normally and then Nina had turned her head to read an email that had just landed on her laptop and the next thing she’d practically hustled Cassie out into the rain, insisting she go home early. Admittedly a short while before that Nina had said they might as well shut early because they weren’t likely to see any more customers when the weather was so awful, but the haste with which Ninawanted Cassie gone, and how flustered she’d seemed, had been plain weird.
With her sleuthing antennae up, Cassie sensed a mystery; not that it required a detective to suss that the abrupt change in Nina had been caused by reading that email, which had to be the reason her pale complexion had unexpectedly bloomed with a delicate shade of pink. Nina had then turned away from the screen, shuffled some papers on her desk, randomly opened and closed the drawers in the filing cabinet to her right as though looking for something and then announced that Cassie should go home and leave Nina to lock up. ‘Go now to beat the worst of the traffic,’ she’d said.
Cassie had been left in no doubt that Nina wanted to be alone so she could respond to the person who had just emailed her.
Now who could that person be?
Who could cause that beautiful porcelain complexion to blush so charmingly?
It had to be Jakob!
Cassie had no evidence to support her theory, but the only time she’d previously seen that look on her friend’s face had been when Jakob had been around. Was the Handsome Norwegian coming back to Cambridge, was that what had upset Nina’s usual flawlessly self-possessed equilibrium? And if so, what did that mean?
The pleasurable intrigue kept her mind occupied all the way home and after parking her car, the rain having now stopped, she waved up at Ronnie who was standing at one of the windows in his apartment. The room behind him was brightly lit so he was clearly visible. He waved back at her.
