Lissa thinks about this for a moment. ‘She was … young.’ She bites her lip, knowing that is not enough. So she makes herself carry on. ‘She was adventurous. Like, she was always trying to go off and find things when we went on walks and stuff like that. She loved the swing set. Her favourite flavour of ice cream was vanilla. She could touch her nose with her tongue, something I could never do.’ She attempts it now in the car, making Elsie snort a laugh. It sounds a little like her own laugh, she reckons.
‘It’s weird. To think I had a sister I’ll never meet.’
Lissa is taken aback at this – but of course, Chloe would have been Elsie’s sister, too.
‘Well, thanks for the lift,’ Elsie says as they pull up outside her house.
‘Elsie?’ Lissa says, as her sister reaches for the door handle, ready to jump out. ‘If you’re ever in Bath and need anything, you know you can call me, right?’
‘I know,’ Elsie says, her tone suggesting Lissa is somewhat dim-witted. ‘I just did.’
And she did, didn’t she? Which is better than nothing. So maybe there’s hope for the two of them after all.
Chapter Sixteen
On the first day back in the office after Christmas, Lissa feels her stomach twisting with nerves as she exits the lift on the fourth floor and heads to her desk. She doesn’t know why. Or, well, shedoes, but it’s stupid. She and Darcy have been messaging loads, it’s not going to be awkward. But they still haven’t directly addressed it, what happened at the spa.
Darcy is already at her desk, scowling at something on her computer. Lissa is concentrating so hard on her friend, trying to work up the perfect ‘hey’ for when she sits down next to her, that she doesn’t notice Liam walking straight at her, holding a mug in one hand and his phone in the other. She yelps as they nearly collide, and he swears loudly as the liquid in his mug – black coffee – spills down her arm. She hisses in her breath, pulling her arm back towards her as she has a brief flash of another time this happened, in a much more romantic setting.
‘Why weren’t you looking where you’re going?’ Liam demands, rescuing what remains of his coffee and rocking back on his heels. She resists the urge to point out thathewasn’t looking where he was going either, and examines the damage to her blouse. Well, at least it isn’t white.
She can feel multiple gazes from around the office on her and tries to swallow down the embarrassment as she looks back up at Liam. She tries to get out a ‘sorry’, but it doesn’t quite come.
His expression twists into a different type of frown. ‘Are you okay?’ he asks stiffly. ‘I mean, you’re not going to …’ He gestures down at her arm, then vaguely around. She has no idea what he’s referring to.
‘Umm, no?’ That seems the right answer, if she’s taking bets.
‘Good.’ He lets out what is clearly a relieved breath. ‘Because after last time, HR coming down on me, can’t be having another of those in the office, can we?’
It clicks, then. He’s talking about her panic attack. She feels heat flush her cheeks, and really hopes no one is near enough to hear this.
‘I’m fine,’ she says stiffly, and turns on her heel before he can ask anything else.
Darcy looks up at her as she slides into her chair, humiliation still burning her face. ‘Are you okay?’ she murmurs.
Lissa swallows. ‘Yeah. He just wanted to know if I was going to cause problems for him with HR by having another panic attack in the office.’
Darcy makes a hissing sound. ‘Dick.’
Lissa nods her agreement, then blows out a breath, glancing at her friend. ‘How was Nottingham?’ Darcy went home over Christmas to see her family.
‘It was good. We all drank far too much, of course, so I’m in need of a massive detox, but it was nice to see everyone.’
‘Good, good.’
‘And you?’ Darcy asks as Lissa switches on her computer. ‘How are you?’
‘Oh, fine, you know. January blues, et cetera.’
‘Mm,’ Darcy agrees with a nod. Are things awkward? They feel awkward.
‘New shoes?’ Lissa asks, pointing down at Darcy’s feet, which are crossed at the ankles and encased in low-heeled snakeskin boots.
‘Naturally. Christmas present to myself.’
And that, Lissa thinks, was a terrible effort to get things back on track. She takes a breath. ‘Darcy? Are we … okay?’
‘What do you mean?’ But Darcy’s tone is noticeably too light.
