I passed her a mug of tea and then gestured to the sofa. “Want to sit down?”
“Sure.” She headed over, curling up on the chair. “How’s things without Harriet?”
“Weird. We’ve spoken three times today already and had a video call. She’s doing okay because she’s so busy and everything’s exciting with her house and the job. There’re over two million books for her to go through, or to organise for her team to go through, and if there’s one thing Harriet gets lost in, it’s books. She didn’t leave there until after seven tonight,then she was going straight for a meal with someone she’d met who works at the theatre.” I looked around the room, noticing the empty spaces where Harriet’s things had once been. “I’m thinking about moving. I know I’d get used to it here, but I think it might be time for another change and to finally buy somewhere of my own. I’ve been stealing a rent off my Aunt Ava for too long.”
“That might be the right idea. I needed a clean break from my family – entirely different set of circumstances – and I’m glad I did it, although I don’t recommend moving countries, starting a new business and getting fake married in under a month.” She shrugged. “But it’s been exciting.”
I laughed, hearing the dry humour in her words. “I don’t think I’ll go that far. Maybe just the other side of the river.”
“Nearer to Carter?”
“Your London geography’s doing well.”
“I have a map of the tube stations on the back of every toilet door. Do your parents live near Carter?”
“Yes, just round the corner. They’re still in the house where I grew up. Fallon lives nearby too, so it makes sense to be nearer that way. There are some nice houses around there if you want a bit of distance between you and the shop.” It was a kind of peace offering. I hoped she understood what I meant by it.
“I need a school for my sister too. If she comes over in the fall she’ll need to do the English exams to get into college – although you call it university, don’t you?”
“We do. The school Carter and I went to is nearby. If you want someone to check out houses with you, my aunt Ava would help. She’s a property developer so she knows her stuff and she’s nosey, so any excuse to scope out a place.” Ava was the youngest my dad’s siblings and had always been the cool aunt.
“That sounds really helpful, thank you. I don’t want to impose, especially after, you know, Carter’s favour.”
I steadied myself, still finding it sore to think about. I knew I’d never completely get over feeling negative about it, and should things develop between Carter and me and a wedding was in our future, it would be something I’d come back to, but I knew that, should it happen, would be very different. That was all a long way away.
“They won’t know,” I said. “It’s already in the past, and once the annulment comes through, it’ll be like it didn’t happen.” Those were the right words to say, even if I didn’t feel them.
Laurie paused with her cup in her hands, nursing it like an experienced tea drinker. “I’m not sure I’d feel like that about it. I wish I’d called it off.”
I shook my head. “I’m glad you didn’t. You wouldn’t be here if Carter hadn’t had a stupid idea.”
“He thought you were going to fall in love with Theo.” She looked amused. “He was so beside himself when you kept talking about him.”
“I wish he’d said something. I wish he’d told me he wanted to be more than friends.” I tied my hair up in a messy bun with a bobble I’d just found, more comfortable with Laurie here that I’d anticipated. “But it wasn’t meant to work out that way, was it?”
“No, I guess it wasn’t.”
“How are things with the crime writer? Jay?” Time for gossip.
Laurie shrugged. “A non-event at the moment. Our date was cancelled at the last minute because his son was ill and I’ve not really heard from him since. Probably for the best given how many balls I have in the air. I should just focus on the shop and my living arrangements. He was good in bed though.” Her eyes lit up. “Ten out of ten, would recommend.”
“He was rather brooding and intense. He reminded me of Heathcliff, if Heathcliff wasn’t a toxic waste dump of cells.” I’d always had a thing aboutWuthering Heights.
“Swarthy, like a pirate. Maybe more fromJamaica Innby Daphne Du Maurier. That’s somewhere I’d like to visit – Cornwall. Maybe meet myself a hot pirate.” She tipped her head back and relaxed more. “There’s so much to explore here.”
We talked more about England and the places to visit, a list made that was too long to fit into even half a decade with work and life and everything else. Laurie was very different than Harriet, apart from the same obsession with books, which gave us something in common straight away.
Carter was avoided. His name wasn’t mentioned for the rest of the night, which didn’t end until after ten pm. I phoned Carter after Laurie had left, not having spoken to him so far that day, and I hadn’t replied to any of his three messages that he’d sent since Laurie had been there.
“What were you talking about for all that time?” he said, the background noise suggesting he was having a late dinner.
“Books. What sort of house she’s looking for. Her sister moving over. We didn’t talk about you, don’t worry.” I hadn’t mentioned the Ritz stay yet.
“I have nothing to worry about. Unless you start telling her things that she’ll gossip to Fallon about, and then Fallon will tell the entire hospital.” There were definitely concerns there.
“What do you think I would tell her that you wouldn’t want Fallon to pass on?” This was fun.
“Personal stuff.”
