"Well, there's nothing quite like wanting something you can't have to make you realize how much you actually want it." Cathy's voice was carefully casual, but there was something underneath it, something that made Sasha look at her more closely.
"Speaking from experience?"
"Might be." Cathy moved to the next row of plants, her movements suddenly less fluid. "Sometimes you spend so long watching someone that you forget they might be worth fighting for."
Sasha followed her, sensing deeper waters. "And what do you do when fighting for them might complicate everything?"
"Depends how much you want them, doesn't it?" Cathy paused, her hands stilling on a tomato vine. "Some things are worth a bit of complication."
"And some things are worth waiting for?"
"Are they?" Cathy's laugh was slightly bitter. "Because I've been waiting for longer than I remember, and all it's gotten me is front-row seats to watch him parade inappropriate women through here like he's auditioning for some sort of twisted television show."
Sasha felt something click into place. "Cathy…"
"Don't." Cathy's voice was sharp. "Don't give me advice about following my heart or taking chances or any of that romantic rubbish. Some of us live in the real world, where the son of the house doesn't suddenly notice the gardener's daughter just because she's been quietly in love with him since she was eleven."
"But what if he did notice but just didn’t notice that he noticed, if that makes sense? What if he just needs someone to point him in the right direction?"
"He'd have noticed by now." Cathy straightened, brushing soil from her hands with sharp, efficient movements. "Archie Sullivan sees exactly what he wants to see, and that's never going to be me."
"You don't know that."
"Don't I?" Cathy gestured toward the house, where Archie was presumably already planning his next romantic disaster, Georgina having left before dinner the preceding evening. "He'll have a replacement for Georgina by teatime. Probably someone even more spectacularly unsuitable."
Sasha watched Cathy's face. "Maybe the problem isn't that he doesn't see you. Maybe the problem is that he doesn't see himself clearly enough to know what he actually wants."
"Right. And maybe one day we’ll all get a happy ending." But Cathy's voice had lost some of its bite.
"Look, I'm not saying charge in there and declare undying love over the breakfast kippers. But maybe… maybe it's time to stop being invisible."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one whose entire livelihood depends on maintaining proper boundaries."
"No, I'm just the one whose entire fake relationship depends on not snogging her fake boyfriend's sister." The words slipped out before Sasha could stop them.
Cathy went very still. "Ah."
"Forget I said that."
"Rather difficult to forget, given that you've just confirmed what everyone's been wondering about." Cathy's expression was carefully neutral. "Though I have to say, Victoria's been looking rather distracted lately."
"Has she?" Sasha tried to sound casual and failed spectacularly.
"Mmm. Unusual for her, too. We all rather thought that she’d end up a spinster, married to her job, you know how it is."
Heat pooled in Sasha's stomach the second she thought about Victoria, about their kiss, about the way their bodies had pressed together, about what might have happened if Ambrose hadn't interrupted, about…
She coughed. "Right," she managed. "Right. Well. That's… interesting."
"Quite." Cathy was clearly enjoying herself now. "Though I suppose the question is what are you planning on doing?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." The lie tasted strange on her tongue.
"Because that's working out so well for both of us, isn't it?" Cathy's smile was knowing. "Two women, both afraid to go after what they want."
Before Sasha could formulate a response, Davies appeared at the edge of the garden, moving with his usual diplomatic efficiency.
"Miss Fox? Lady Charlotte wondered if you’d be joining the family for lunch."
