“Come on, Trusty! It’ll be fun. No sense in moping around here.”
“I’m not mop—whatwill be fun?”
“Get dressed, and you’ll see,” he said, eyes wide. “It’s a surprise. A good one.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
I pulled on jeans and a warm jumper, dragged a comb through my tangled mess of hair and brushed my teeth. The whole while Jeremy paced in the lounge, or at least that’s what it sounded like from the creak of the floorboards under his feet.
He lifted his head and beamed as I re-entered the room. “Good to go?”
“Sure, but where are we?—”
“All in good time.”
Parked outside the cottage was Jane Dalton’s vintage Porsche — the one she’d promised to Jeremy if he graduated with first-class honours. Jeremy strode toward it, bending to hold the door open and closing it behind me when I’d folded myself into the car.
The country lanes blurred by as he pushed a mixtape into the deck and Francesca’s music blared from the speakers, bands I wouldn’t have been able to name three months ago — The Cure, The Pixies, Siouxsie and the Banshees, My Bloody Valentine. A fist of jealousy squeezed tight in my gut. “Did she make this for you?”
“What?”
“The tape. Did Francesca make it for you?”
“No, it’s on loan. I’m trying to get into her music, you know, so we’ll have more in common.”
Try all you like, it’s me she’s into. I wanted to say the words and watch him flounder, instead I bit my lip to hide my smile and looked out the window at the frost-dusted landscape stretching beneath the pastel sky.
Before long, Jeremy pulled up in front of the train station. The usually busy spot was empty of other cars aside from a couple of waiting taxis. I turned to look at Jeremy. “Why are we?—”
He waggled his eyebrows. “We’re picking someone up.”
Occasionally, the Daltons invited other people to their Boxing Day Buffet; an odd aging aunt or distant cousin and, once or twice, people from the country club who Jane and Jasper had become friendly with. But these people always arrived under their own steam, and never by train.
A tiny flicker of excitement sparked in my stomach.It couldn’t be, could it?
I didn’t want to give myself away, because I didn’t yet have the words to explain what I was or who she was to me; what we were together. It was easier to keep up the clueless charade and just hope.Hope.
As we waited on the platform, I frantically chewed the spearmint gum Jeremy had offered, while he whistled an annoying tune and flicked his wrist to check his watch every twenty seconds. His frenetic energy was making me nervous. It had to be Francesca we were waiting for because I’d never seen him act this way around anyone else. I looked down at my muddy boots and regretted not taking more time to get ready.
And then, Jeremy was effectively hopping on the spot. I lifted my head and sighted the shimmer of a train on the horizon. I tugged at the hem of my jumper and adjusted my scarf, enduring the agonising wait as time seemed to suspend itself.
The train stopped with a hydraulic hiss, and for a moment there was no sign of anyone getting off. I realised I’d been holding my breath when one of the rear carriage doors opened and Francesca appeared. My heart squeezed at the sight of her. Jeremy darted over to help lug her suitcase down to the platform.
We hugged an awkward hello, then stood back, looking at each other. She’d cut her hair, and it now hung soft and shaggy just below her jawline, with a fringe that made the angles on her pale face look sharper.
“What? Why are you both looking at me like that? Can’t a girl change her look?”
“Yeah,” I said with a breathy laugh. “You look…”Gorgeous, stunning, perfect.
“Great!” said Jeremy.
Francesca smirked, then looked at me through her eyelashes before looping her arm through mine. “Come on, let’s go. It’s bloody freezing standing around here.”
Francesca and I walked ahead, her leaning into me, squeezing my arm, and me feeling like my heart might burst right out of my rib cage. Jeremy trailed behind us, carrying her suitcase and muttering to himself. When we got to the car, he insisted I climb into the back, which was only fair, but felt like his small revenge.
Jeremy revved the engine and winked at Francesca. “Got to warm the girl up before taking her for a ride.”
I felt the milk from my tea curdling in my stomach.
