‘I don’t know. Where are you going?’
‘Papillon.’
She frowned. ‘Where’s that?’
‘Covent Garden.’
‘Oh,thatPapillon! Wow … I thought you were talking about somewhere around here.’
That made me smile. Penge had its charms, but it wasn’t the most likely destination for upmarket French cuisine.
‘He really likes you then, this guy?’
‘Who said there’s a guy?’
‘No leggings … Bouncing down the path … Come on, Lil. Iknowthere’s a guy.’
‘Oh, Lo …’
She rolled her eyes at my use of her childhood nickname. Since she got her entry-level job at a management consulting firm, she’d been trying to make us all call her by her full name, but old habits die hard. I’d decided that if my two-year-old sister was going to call me ‘Lili’, which only bore a passing resemblance to my name, then I was going to call her ‘Lolo’, which bore even less to hers. To four-year-old me, it had made complete sense. Over the years, our nicknames had eroded into ‘Lil’ and ‘Lo’. Hardly anyone in our wider family used our full names any more. I suspected a few of them didn’t even remember what they were.
I dragged Lo into my bedroom so we could chat without being overheard from downstairs. ‘His name is Justin, and he’s amazing. He’s artistic and clever, really good-looking, sophisticated …’
Lo squealed and pulled me into a hug before pushing me away again and holding me at arm’s-length. ‘Oh, my god! I’m so happy for you! It’s about time you bounced back after what Photographer Guy did to you.’
‘It’s not really like that,’ I said, easing myself from Lo’s arms and brushing off any mention of Ben. I didn’t want to spoil this moment by thinking about him. ‘Justin’s out of my league. And it’s more like a business meeting. He says he knows people who can help me with my music. We’re just getting together to discuss that.’
Lo raised an eyebrow. ‘At Papillon? On a Saturday night? Sounds like a date to me.’
I nodded sadly. ‘I’m too young for him. Too …’
Lo gave me a stern look. ‘Don’t do that, Lil. Don’t you put yourself down. Whywouldn’the want to be with you? You’re sweet and loyal and clever and so, so talented. He’d be lucky to have you!’
And this was why I loved my sister to bits. I knew it hadn’t been easy for her over the years, always seeing Mum and Dad shower me with praise and attention, always bragging about me to friends and family because of my music, but she’d never been jealous, had never decided to compete for our parents’ attention, as some of my friends and their sisters did. If there was one person I could count on in the world, it was Lo.
‘Well, you know that, and I know that,’ I said, ‘but he hasn’t quite woken up to the fact yet. Which is probably okay, because I don’t want to get into anything serious with anyone right now. But I still get to go out to a fancy restaurant with a charming older man. That’s better than staying at home and watchingCasualtywith Mum and Dad.’
‘Ouch,’ Lo said. ‘Rub it in for your single sister, why don’t you?’ But she laughed and pulled me towards her again, hugging me tightly. ‘Even if he can’t see what a catch he’s got, he’s given you something precious. I haven’t seen you light up like this in a long time.’
‘I know,’ I said. At first, I’d been relieved to leave the Conservatory, but as time had gone by I’d mourned the future I’d abandoned.
Lo patted me on the back, and we disentangled ourselves. As I pulled away, I caught my reflection in the mirror, and I instantly saw why my sister made fun of me. I looked hopelessly young and air-headed in my flowing skirts, layered necklaces, and silver bangles. I held my breath and turned to her, a thought suddenly occurring to me. ‘Can I borrow something of yours?’
Chapter Ten
Now.
THE EXAM ROOM door closed. Ben looked at the woman who might be Lili, and she looked back at him. ‘So, it’s definitely amnesia,’ she said, more for something to say, Ben guessed, rather than because it needed saying.
‘Yes.’ He’d been hoping that the visit to the hospital would provide some answers, set a chain of action in motion that would help her in some way, but all they’d accomplished was pin a label to her, and it was one they’d both suspected all along.
‘I need to use the ladies’,’ she said quietly.
He nodded, and she gave him a backwards glance as she headed down the corridor to where a set of patient toilets were clearly signposted. He exhaled as she disappeared inside and turned a full circle, running both hands through his hair. What was he going to do about her?
Wasshe Lili? Or was his memory of her, now five years old, being overwritten by the face of the woman he’d met today? Was he merging the two similar but separate faces into one? He just couldn’t tell.
And if itwasher, why had she come to Invergarrig? Was this some weird,wouldn’t-believe-it-if-you-paid-me coincidence? Or had she meant to come here because some part of her remembered his connection to this place? And if she had, what did that mean?
