“Is everything okay?” I said, panic having filled up my chest. Yesterday’s stream of missed calls about Claire’s emergency section had upped my anxiety level somewhat and I was now conditioned to be jumpy whenever my phone rang.
Seph’s voice was calm; he sounded happy. This was good. “Everything is fine. My morning meeting went well—two potential new clients, one’s already booked in for an initial meeting. Eliza is doing fine. There was a stream of photos on the group chat but I don’t think you’ve checked them yet.”
He was checking up on me. “I’ve been busy.”
“Doing what? Or doing who? Just to note: no details please, else I’ll have to kill him.” I heard Seph’s fingers drumming on his desk.
“I’ve told you: I’m not dating at the moment. I’ve been cleaning.”
“Why? Are you expecting a visit from Mum?” That would be the only reason Seph would even think of cleaning although he was tidier than me.
“I think she’s preoccupied with the baby, thank God. Have you shortened her name to Eliza or has than come from Claire and Killian?” I said, thankful for the gossip.
“Check your freaking messages, Payts. How’s your bookseller today?”
He was out for gossip of his own. “I don’t know. He left about nine yesterday evening. He dropped me off, told me I was banned from work and then got pizza. We watched the start of a series on Netflix.”
“Did you chill?”
I growled down the phone at him. “No. I told you, I’m not getting involved. Besides he’s a client and we have rules around that.”
“Yeah, I’ve sometimes thought we should get rid of those. They’ve cockblocked me on a couple of occasions.”
“Please don’t tell Jackson that, else you won’t have a cock left.”
“That’s probably a good idea. What are you doing for the rest of the day? What’s your plan?”
I thought for a moment. “Shower and head out somewhere. I don’t know. It’s the first time in forever I don’t know what to do and it’s weird.”
“Go away for a few days? Or go check out the exhibitions at the V&A museum. You’ve always said you wanted to do that but never have time. Or see Callum at the zoo?” Seph had clearly pre-planned his ideas.
“You’ve had a meeting this morning about me, haven’t you?”
“Not this morning. Yesterday. So what are you going to do?”
“Take a gap week. In London. I’m going to buy a couple of guides and go sightseeing with a new camera. Try eating out in different places and new bars. See some bands.” It felt right. I had a plan, a flexible one, but a plan. “I’m going to be a tourist.”
“Let me guess where you’re buying your guidebooks from?”
“For fuck’s sake, Seph. Do you ever stop? Yes, I’ll probably buy them from Cases and support my client. I need to see Owen anyway to get his accounts from him, but there’s nothing else to it. He’s a friend.” I snapped at him and then heard laughter which riled me even more.
“If it helps, we liked him. He’s coming out Friday to wet Eliza’s head. Please be nice to him. He plays rugby too and we could do with someone else who can play wing.”
My firm had just started their own rugby team and were constantly prowling for additional players, or as my sister-in-law Vanessa put it, additional drinking buddies.
“I’ll be nice. Don’t you have work to do? Because if you haven’t I have time recording you can finish for me.”
“Eli’s done it. I saw him having coffee with Ava this morning. Do you find that strange?”
“Why would it be strange? He’s really good friends with you lot and was at Jackson and Vanessa’s wedding where Ava was too. She’s probably trying to get him to invest in a house,” I said, wondering why Seph was reading into something that was as invisible as air.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Enjoy your book shopping—got to go!” He hung up on me, the sound of Jackson in the background suggesting he was about to get an ear bashing for something.
I showered and dried my hair, using my flat iron to do something that Ava called ‘beach waves’. If anyone asked, I would tell them that my make-up usually looked this subtle and I was only spending extra time on doing it because I had the extra time, but in reality I knew I was going to see Owen. Given that he had seen me at my worst, he deserved to see me at my almost best. Not that I was interested. I wasn’t getting involved. And that was going to have to be my mantra.
I checked my phone after forcing myself to get dressed first. I knew I’d get distracted with social media and baby photos. It was all there: Elizabeth Rose was now Eliza and she was dressed in her first outfit. My sister looked healthier and had more colour to her cheeks and Killian couldn’t stop smiling. There had been multiple selfies sent, including one of my mum, Claire and Eliza that almost had me ruining my mascara. It became my lock screen saver.
Then there was another message.
