Lorelai tensed before Grayson shot her a teasing look. The door opened a crack and a man with piercing blue eyes looked out at them, before opening the door fully. Lorelai looked past him, into the long, dark hallway behind him. Ornate, antique sconces shaped like hands held lanterns that shone a subtle light down the corridor. The rest of the decor was a mix of black and a red that was so dark it was only a couple shades away from being black itself. The inside of the building was as inconspicuous as the outside. All except for the man at the door who was dressed head to toe in white. His poker-straight hair was dyed an intense platinum blond.
‘Come in, Master Brady. Lovely to see you again.’
‘You too, Enoch. This is my guest this evening. Lorelai.’
‘Hi,’ Lorelai said, but when she was met with a slight raise of the eyebrow she added, ‘How do you do?’ She’d seen enough period dramas to guess what the appropriate thing to say might be. Enoch nodded at her, seemingly satisfied now, and as he turned away to write their names in an oversized ledger, Lorelai mouthed, ‘Enoch?’ to Grayson. He smiled and gently waved her away as if to say he’d explain later.
‘This way, sir. Ma’am.’
Enoch led them down the corridor to a coat check where a woman took their coats and bags. She was also dressed head to toe in white, with white roses in her hair and a dusting of silver glitter around her eyes that sparkled with every turn of her head. Lorelai looked around. The place seemed quiet, so perhaps Grayson’s colleagues hadn’t arrived yet. The only thing Lorelai could hear was the faint tinkling of classical music coming through on the speaker system.
‘You come here a lot?’ Lorelai inspected each painting they passed, unable to shake the feeling that each pair of painted eyes were following them they carried on up the corridor.
‘Not a lot. It can be a bit much if I come too often, but… well…’ He gestured around him. ‘But when I have… special guests… I like to show them this place. Bit of a hidden gem really.’
‘Would you like to sit in the garden?’
Lorelai jumped. Enoch had been so silent she had forgotten he’d been walking behind them.Get a grip, Lorelai scolded herself.Stop being so tense. Enoch gestured at another gold plaque. It said,Fairy Garden.
‘Actually, the library would be great if there’s a table free,’ Grayson said.
‘Of course, sir.’ Enoch turned down a corner and led them to another black door, its plaque reading,The Enchanted Library. ‘There’s no one in this room this evening so don’t be afraid to wander at your leisure.’ Enoch opened the door to a breathtaking number of books. Each wall had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with little wooden ladders that wheeled from side to side. In the corner was a small bar that also doubled as a bookshelf. The room smelled like old, weathered pages and Lorelai loved it.
‘Oh, wow,’ she said, which was met with a wry smile from Enoch. He gave her a little bow and left the room, closing the door behind them. Lorelai spun around to face Grayson. ‘OK, where are we? Because I feel like we just left London and have ended up in some Narnia-type world that no one else knows about.’
‘I felt like your explanation needed the proper setting.’
‘Somewhere deathly quiet and exposing?’ Lorelai felt her mouth go dry.
‘Exactly. But first drinks. What do you fancy? This place is renowned for its Old Fashioned but they’re pretty lethal.’
‘Sounds yummy.’Did you just say yummy?Lorelai wanted to smack herself on the head. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her. She cleared her throat. ‘How do you order here?’
‘If it’s not busy they don’t usually have someone at each bar but there’s a dumbwaiter in the corner. You write your order on the pad and paper, put the order in there and send it to the downstairs bar.’
‘This place iswild.’ Lorelai laughed, taking a seat at the bar.
‘In a good way?’ Grayson paused, pen poised above the pad.
‘In a… new and different way.’
‘I can make my peace with that.’ Grayson sent their order down in the dumbwaiter, which clattered as it descended. Not long after, they heard it rumble into life once more and their drinks appeared in the little hatch.
‘Voila!’ Grayson said with a flourish. He slid her drink across the bar into her open and waiting hand.
Lorelai took a sip and tried to collect her thoughts. It was time. ‘So.’
‘So…?’ Grayson prompted. He wasn’t going to give her any more than that.
Lorelai stared into her drink. ‘Where do I even begin?’
‘Just talk,’ Grayson said.
‘OK. Look, I like you a lot. And I told you right from the start I only wanted to be friends because friends is all I do. But then I’ve never met anyone I like as much as you which… changed things. It made me act differently around you and it made me want more from you and from us. Every time I’ve been around you, I’ve been at war with myself. Wanting you but knowing I can’t have you.’ She was babbling but it felt good to start letting some of this out.
‘Why can’t you have me? Isn’t that—’ Grayson began but Lorelai held up a hand.
‘Please let me finish. There’s more to this than you realise. It’s complicated, and I don’t really know how to say this all without sounding crazy.’ Lorelai took another sip, the alcohol burning her throat on the way down. ‘I shouldn’t have run away from you. I’m sorry about that. Really, I am. I’m just so used to pushingpeople away because that feels safer. I’ve become accustomed to keeping people at arm’s length, so being just friends has always been instinct. It’s my go-to, and it’s never been a problem. Until now. I guess you can’t ignore how you feel, no matter how much you try to. But I shouldn’t have led you on, and I definitely shouldn’t have run away when… well, you know. I should have kept it purely platonic, just like I said – friends. Or…’
