“The scallops and lamb. It was sub-par last time.” Simone’s bitch face was enough to scare Lucifer.
“It won’t be this time,” he said quietly.
“Do you sing?” Payton said from the other side of the table. “I recognise your voice.”
He turned around and his face broke out into a wide smile. “I do sometimes. You’re Owen Anders’ girl, aren’t you?”
Payton nodded, radiating at the mention of Owen’s name. “I thought so. I heard you in Cases one night when I was meeting Owen – you were just about to leave, so I didn’t actually see you.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe you’ll hear me again sometime. Better get back.” He shot Simone a stare and headed back towards the kitchen.
“Does he have a name, Si?” Vanessa said. “Or do you just keep him caged and give him a number?”
“Jack,” she said. “And keeping him caged might be a good idea.”
“Why is Jack not being bossy a problem?” Claire said. “When you’re that size, you probably don’t need to raise your voice.”
Simone shrugged. “I don’t know. No one has a problem working for him and the days when he’s on, the food is probably at its best.”
“You need to get laid,” Claire said. “That’s the problem. When’s the last time you had an orgasm that wasn’t at your own hand?”
“Three boyfriends ago,” Simone said. “And the boyfriends were a while ago. The hours here are so unsociable I never get to meet anyone who doesn’t work in the industry. And I’m never going to date a chef or, God forbid, a food critic.”
“Shall I ask Owen to fix you up with someone? Maybe someone from one of the bands he knows?” Payton said. “They have similar working patterns to you.”
Simone shook her head and her eyes fell on me. “I think your efforts are best targeted on your sister.” She pointed at me. “I’ll order us some more wine.”
I looked pleadingly round the table at the six women who were either related to me or good friends. All of them wore the same expression. I was being called on my shit.
“What?” I said. “I’ve literally just started going out since what happened.”
“When’s the last time you heard from Elijah?” Payton said. I knew she had the answer because they worked in the same department.
“Today,” I said. “He messaged me this afternoon.”
“To say what?” said Claire. “When the fuck are you picking up the rest of your stuff because I need to move on?”
I looked at the menu.
“That was harsh, Claire,” Vanessa said. “But she has a point.”
“He’s moved on,” I said. “There’s no way he’s been a monk for the past two months.” I didn’t know that he had moved on. We’d messaged each other daily, several times a day, and in the past few weeks we’d spoken every other day, starting with when I gave him a call to tell him there was a sale on in his favourite boutique men’s shop.
Payton shrugged her shoulders and eyeballed the trays of appetisers that were being brought to our table. “I don’t know, if I’m honest. He hasn’t mentioned anyone but you and he’s never looked like he was going to a date straight from work. What is going on between the two of you?”
It was a good question but it was the wrong one.
“I think it’s more like what’s been going on with me,” I said, pinching an olive.
“So what is going on with you, then?” Amelie said. “You were MIA for weeks – understandably of course.”
I nodded and debated ordering a martini. There was no way I was getting out of this conversation without a full explanation. I didn’t mind, not really. These people were my tribe.
“It threw me,” I said. “What happened in the bar with Jon and then not knowing what happened. There’s a huge portion of time I have no recollection of. But I know that nothing significantly bad happened to me. He didn’t touch me and I don’t really remember everything he said now.”
“Why did you leave Eli’s?” Simone said, inspecting one of the appetisers as if looking for a hair.
“Because I needed to sort myself out rather than letting him do it for me. He was amazing in that first week and he made me feel safe, but I needed to be able to make myself feel safe too,. I looked at the faces around the table. “You know, I’m the youngest. Everyone has always looked after me, but I needed to look after myself too and I needed that opportunity. That was why I went to college in New York instead of here because I needed to prove to myself that I could look after me and not just let everyone else do it for me.”
