“You add the water in when it’s that hot?” she said, sounding surprised. “Doesn’t that burn it?”
“It needs to be that hot to brew properly. That’s probably why Wes was complaining. Does he have sugar?”
“Three. Is it normal to have three?”
“I don’t have any, Harriet has one and a half and Carter used to have none as well. Is that how he still has it?” I was digging, and not very subtly.
“Should I put sugar in mine? I don’t know about Carter. I think I’ve made him a couple of coffees this week which is easy because he takes it black. Should I have a sugar?”
“No. Try it without. There’s a brand of tea that tastes like Victoria Sponge, you’ll have to try that with me sometime.” I saw her expression turn confused.
“What’s Victoria Sponge?”
“Cake. It’s cake with a layer of jam and cream in the middle and dusted with icing sugar.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her surprise. “It’s not something you wash with, don’t worry. The British aren’t that mad.”
Laurie shook her head. “I’m learning at breakneck speed. I need to – I’m not intending to leave England any time soon. This is permanent.”
“Really? Why?”
“It’s as far away as I can get from my family without having to learn a new language, apart from Australia, and I’m not a fan of spiders. So I’m committing myself to absorbing English customs and weird habits.” She accepted the tea I passed her. “It’d be nice to get a drink somewhere that’s not full of dust and plaster. I could do with a friend over here.”
“That would be good. I’ll give you my number before I go.” I sipped my tea. I’d learned to drink it at all temperatures, even cold. Sometimes work was such that I either had to down something that had the same temperature as the lava from Mount Vesuvius, or with a milky film and tepid, if I was lucky. “And you have Carter.”
“Carter’ Y-chromosomally challenged, which means he’s limited. You know what I mean.” She waved her hand, wincingat the heat of the tea. “He said you like books – would you like to come to the opening? Bring your friends – Carter told me you all met in the hospital.”
“We did. We were all having heart surgery. Carter’s dad was our surgeon, so we saw Carter a lot there too.” I was curious how much he’d told her about us; it seemed like quite a bit so far.
“He was desperate to come back here. I think he was really missing you. He had a really good offer from a hospital in California that could’ve elevated his career but he wanted to be here.”
“He didn’t tell me why he chose to come back. I hadn’t heard from him for a few months before I found out through Fallon.” It felt like I was showing my hand of cards to my competitor, or at least it should have.
Her smile was kind, kinder that I thought it would’ve been. “He said right from the first day I met him that he was coming back home; he’d been away too long. He talked all the time about you and your friends, so it might seem creepy what I know about you.” She stood up, stretching, half her tea gone. “I’d better get moving – you’ve finished yours already.”
I had without thinking about it. It was cold in the shop, no heating on yet and every door open. I also had Wes’ brew to drop off – he’d been waiting a while.
“Let’s swap numbers.” It felt like something was being smoothed over,
I just didn’t know what.
I expected to see Carter down every street where I went for the next hour, wondering if he was going to drop on how Laurie was doing, maybe help her keep hydrated. I pushed the thoughtsaway because there was nothing rational about them, and I didn’t want to see Carter right now down any road.
I liked Laurie. She was open and friendly and didn’t seem to be putting a mask on. I still had no idea what was going on between her and Carter, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know right now.
I dropped a message in our group chat.
Me: I’ve just met Laurie properly. She’s lovely.
Fallon: Did you find out what the score is?
Me: She was wearing an old hoodie of Carter’s, but she didn’t know how he took his tea and she’s barely seen him all week.
Erin: They contradict each other. You need to speak to Carter.
Me: I don’t want to right now. Anyway, Laurie’s bookstore is opening a week on Saturday and we have an invitation for the event. Who can go?
Fallon: I’m on shift.
Erin: I’m at a party – a designer’s launching a new collection, so I’ll try and snaffle freebies but no bookshop for me.
