“Erin thought you were being sick or something.”
“No. Not sick. Just needed some quiet.”
“It is rather noisy out there. I don’t think we’re going to stay late. Are you okay?” She used her hips to nudge me along and free up half of the toilet lid so she could sit next to me. It was a tighter squeeze than it had been when we were children.
“Yes. You know, if he is in a relationship with Laurie and he still kissed me last Friday then I’m missing a piece of what’s going on, because I know him. If he isn’t, I owe him the chance to give me an explanation.” This sounded rational and I liked being rational.
“Do you actually know or are you filling in the gaps?”
“That sounds like something I’d ask.”
“I’ve learned a lot over the years between you all. I know we’ve been bashing Carter, but we don’t mean it. We all love Carter. Just not in the same way that I think you always have done.” She gave me a mischievous grin. “You used to gaze at him for far too long.”
“I thought no one had noticed.”
“I was too polite to say anything. What are you going to do, speak to him?”
“I need to think about it some more. I know I need to speak to him and he can explain – he said that last Friday, he needed to tell me but not yet.” I sighed, realising what I was feeling. “I’m not sure I’m going to like what he’s going to say.”
“Whatever he says, we’ve got you. Even if I’ll have to get you from two hours away. By car.”
I nodded, getting up off the seat and squeezing out of the cubicle. I’d go back to the table and try and not think about Carter, or analyse what I was feeling.
I knew what it was anyway, I’d had it before, just not this bad.
Heartbreak.
CHAPTER 10
Rose
We spent Sunday morning with breakfast on a boat, sailing up and down the River Avon, then headed to Harriet’s new house, a gorgeously tiny cottage near Anne Hathaway’s cottage, ten minutes’ drive out of Stratford. The rain had cleared from yesterday and the wind had dropped, so any icy bite had been left behind, along with talk of Carter.
I’d slept better than I had done all week, focusing on where I was right now, and who I was with, loving Harriet’s cottage and the long front garden that she planned to grow herbs and lupins and hollyhocks in, along with a path of lavender. I could already see Harriet relaxing more than she’d done for ages.
The cottage was sweet, just two rooms downstairs and a galley kitchen with a door that led out into a wide communal garden, full of mature trees and flower beds. Upstairs was a small bathroom and two bedrooms, both big enough for a double bed.
“You wouldn’t fit Sam Mercer in here,” I said, pulling up the carpet of the main bedroom to see what the underlay was like – I’d learned a few things from my Aunt Ava who was an interior designer. “You need new underlay. That’s too thin and it’s knackered.”
“Fair enough to the underlay and I wouldn’t have any issue fitting Sam Mercer in here. Not that I think it’s going to be an option.” She used a tape measure to measure the windows. “I’m so going for cottage core.”
“You’re so excited about this.” Which was making me feel better. I wanted to see Harriet fly, for her amazingness to be recognised, by herself first and foremost. She already seemed more relaxed in Stratford, she’d laughed more and I wondered if a break from the city would do me good as well.
“I’m very excited about this. Living here and learning more about the history, being able to still see theatre, and the job is perfect, Rose. It’s my dream job. I have to do some travel, as there are books belonging to the collection all over the world and I have to catalogue them too, and curate them for the library here, so there are opportunities that I haven’t had before. And the four of you can fit in here too.”
“As long as we don’t have to squeeze Sam Mercer in as well.”
Monday brought the blues. Despite the hangover from Carter, the weekend had been good, and I wished we’d had another day there. But the four of us were in work, back to the grind of the routine, which meant a good couple of extra grinds of coffee.
I left the hospital at two, my shift done, and for once, I didn’t need to stay back later. Carter hadn’t been at my hospital, and having checked the rota, he wouldn’t be on shift when I was for at least this week, which was how I wanted it right now. I wasn’t sure I wanted the truth, whatever it was.
But I did want to satisfy my curiosity.
I wanted to buy Harriet a few bits for her new house, so I headed over to Covent Garden, thinking I’d get something fromaround there, something cute for her bedroom or a set of new towels. London was busy as always, the short school half term holiday in action, which meant that Covent Garden itself was busier than normal, more street entertainers clunking around on stilts, and several new statues that moved at sudden intervals. I’d grown up with this and was used to the crowds, as well as this being one of my favourite places to be because it was in Theatreland.
It was also near Laurie’s shop.
I meandered in that direction, not kidding myself for a second that it was by accident that I turned up on the street full of bookshops, a street I’d spent too much time on and too much money in.
