‘I have something I need to do. Something I should’ve done a while ago. But, here—’ He pressed a small pile of tickets into her palm. ‘You take these. Hopefully you’ll have some luck.’
She looked down at the thin strips of paper, and then back up at Damien.
‘Promise me you have not tampered with the tombola,’ she said.
The smile that split his face was like lightning. ‘You shall just have to wait and see,’ he said, stepping back from her, and tipping his hat. ‘I have a good feeling about it, though.’
She got her answer but an hour later, when Mrs Moss came to put the small basket of lavender sachets before her – alongsidethreepots of blackberry jam, and two pots of lemon cheese for Damien.
‘Quite the lucky win,’ she said, patting the sweet-smelling pouches. ‘I made those myself, you know.’
And Ava thought perhaps itwasluck.
So long as ‘luck’ had green eyes, and a hole in his boots.
Chapter Forty-Three
Damien hadn’t believed Mr Jane before – when he’d said that your future was a choice. That’d felt … tooeasy, too simple, somehow – because all life had taught him was that it didn’t matter what choices you made. It didn’t change who youwere. Didn’t change what youdeserved.
But sitting there, surrounded by Ava’s family – he’d felt as though he were part of something again. Something bright, and warm, and wonderful, and it’d made him wonder if perhaps Mr Jane had been right. Perhaps itwasas simple as choosing.
Damien swallowed as he rapped his knuckles against the stage door, as Bertie swung it open in a swirling cloud of tobacco.
‘You’re early,’ she said with surprise. ‘Lillian wasn’t expecting you for another two days.’
‘Tell her to meet me in her office,’ said Damien, stalking past her. ‘For I am quitting.’
‘Quitting?’ Lillian said, her cane clacking upon the floor as she stepped into the office behind him, silencing the chittering birds in their cages with one sharpshh. She looked tired, dark smudges peppering the skin beneath her eyes, her redhair scraped into a merciless bun. ‘You’re the second person to say that to me today.’
‘No need to act surprised,’ said Damien, taking a seat on the other side of her desk. The fire was not lit, and a chill hung in the room, but for once Damien was grateful for it, for it would hide the flush upon his face. ‘This was always a temporary arrangement.’
Lillian arched an eyebrow as she released the magpie from its cage. It didn’t hop up her shoulder this time, instead it simply waddled to the very edge of the desk, and tilted its head at Damien. ‘I don’t remember giving you a deadline.’
‘I am setting one,’ said Damien. ‘I’m done. We’re done.’
‘This is all very sudden.’ Something flashed in Lillian’s eyes, shark-like, and hungry. ‘Did something happen?’
Damien kept his chin up, his gaze steady. ‘No.’
‘No?’ Lillian stroked the magpie’s feathers with long, red fingernails. ‘Then these pangs of conscience come from – where?’
‘I’ve always had a conscience,’ said Damien gruffly. ‘I just choose when to exercise it.’
‘And you’ve chosen now?’ Lillian’s gaze was sharp as she studied him. ‘Afterweeksof being very happy to take my coin in return for a few lies?’
‘Yes, well, some lies are bigger than others.’
Lillian’s mouth twitched up a little at the edge. ‘Oh,I see,’ she said, sitting back in her chair. Her gaze locked upon him as she struck a match, and the flame flared, illuminating the vicious glint in her eyes. ‘Have found yourself growing attached, hmm?’
Damien fought to keep his expression neutral. There was no way that she could know that, no way she could guess that from looking at him. ‘Perhaps I am simply tired of being your plaything,’ he said.
‘Perhaps,’ said Lillian, blowing a cloud of smoke towards the ceiling. ‘But you didn’t complain before.’
‘Because I needed the money.’
Her eyebrows furrowed. ‘Has money fallen into your lap? Have you already booked your passage to America?’ She leaned across the desk now, so close that Damien could smell the cloves woven into her hair, mixing with the sour smell of smoke.
‘No,’ he said, willing his heart to slow in his chest, for his voice to remain steady. ‘My situation is what it was before.’
