Debra deserved better than that kind of imagining.
Billie reached for her phone again, this time opening a different contact. One she rarely used for this sort of thing unless she had to.
Ella.
The only person who knew the whole truth. The only one who had been there when Billie had clawed her way out of the wreckage.
You free at the end of the week? I might need to talk.
She stared at the message, debating whether she really wanted to open this particular can of worms, and hit send before she could second-guess herself.
Billie set her phone down on the counter, inhaled the scent of fresh coffee, and told herself that she just needed to get through two more days.
Two more days until Debra walked back into her world.
Two more days…to pretend she didn’t really want her outside of the carefully crafted life she led.
It feltstrange to be sitting in a bright little cafe in Covent Garden with Maeve leaning so far over the table she was practically in Debra’s plate. Debra rarely had anything interesting happen in her life, and Gerald had quickly becomethe least interesting person in the world once they’d tied the knot, so to have someone so invested in her plans…in her life, it took her a moment to come to terms with it.
“I just…I can’t believe it, Deb.”
No, Debra didn’t suppose she could believe it. She was still trying to understand it all herself. “That I actually have a life now…or?”
“That you’ve been back to Brown & Co.”
Mm. Brown & Co. The most enthralling experience of her life.
“So,” Maeve said, her eyes sparkling and her fork poised mid-air. “Start from the beginning. And don’t youdarespare me any details.”
Debra pressed her napkin to her mouth, trying not to grin. “It’s not that interesting.”
“Liar. I heard your voice last night. You sounded radiant. People don’t sound radiant unless something life-altering happens. And don’t give me that grounding, kind, and genuine crap. Iwantthe juicy details.”
Debra rolled her eyes, but her cheeks heated anyway. “Fine. She’s very professional at first. You know, out on the shop floor. Composed, in control of herself, that sort of thing.”
Maeve let out a laugh. “Oh God, she has a presence, doesn’t she?”
“You havenoidea,” Debra muttered as she stared down at her salad. “Billie Brown could walk into a crowded room and somehow silence it with a look. She just holds herself in this way that makes you want to sit up straighter.”
Maeve wiggled her eyebrows. “And take your clothes off?”
Debra kicked her under the table. “Maeve.”
“Sorry, sorry. Go on.”
Debra sipped her white wine and took a breath. While she understood her best friend was beside herself for details, Debradidn’t want anything she said to come across as being crass. Billie Brown was a revelation,nota filthy fling. “It wasn’t only the physical side of it. Although…” She cut herself off as heat started to crawl up her neck. “It was a lot.”
“I knew it,” Maeve whisper-yelled. “Did she…” She made a vague circle in the air with her finger.
Debra choked on her wine. “Maeve!”
“What? I’m invested!”
“She makes you feel…” Debra struggled for the right words. Even years down the line, she wasn’t sure she could sum up Billie Brown. “Not just wanted. Seen. She says things in a way that makes you open up without realising it. Like she’s looking at you and reading the parts you don’t say out loud.”
Maeve sat back and glared at her. “Debra Allen, you’ve either fallen in love overnight or had the best orgasm of your life.”
“I’m ignoring you now,” Debra said as she stabbed at a tomato.
