Billie knew she should feel riddled with regret. That was what her rules were for, to protect her from mornings like this, but when she tried to summon just a hint of it, there was none to be found. What she felt instead was an unfamiliar ache. An ache to see Debra again. An ache for the years she’d held herself back and made herself invisible when it suited her. An ache for the love she had missed out on, not only giving but receiving, too.
Her gaze drifted across the room. Her apartment had always been mostly impersonal. It was merely somewhere she could disappear to between fittings and meetings and the noise of everyone else’s lives.
But now, she could imagine someone else here.
Not a client, not a body to occupy the space beside her, but someone who laughed when she burned toast, or someone who left a scarf draped over the back of the couch. Someone who touched her without agenda or expectation.
Someone…like Debra.
That thought startled her enough that she set the cup down a little too hard. Coffee sloshed onto the counter, but she simply wiped it away with the edge of her sleeve, muttering under her breath.
Careful. This is how it starts.
She leaned against the counter and folded her arms as she breathed out slowly. She still felt guarded, it was hard not to given how long she’d avoided the kind of intimacy of last night, but it didn’t feel quite as necessary this morning.
Her phone buzzed on the counter. A new message from Nina.
Billie didn’t want to deal with her assistant today, she was still on some unexpected high from her evening with Debra, but she still had a job to do. She had fittings to take care of, and suppliers to deal with.
She lifted her phone and braced herself.
Meeting requests have been updated. Call me when you’re free.
Billie locked her phone and slid it aside. She wanted five more minutes of peace before she had to face her life. Only now, she was looking forward to what the day would bring. Maybe she could drop Debra a text so she didn’t think Billie had gone cold on her again. Perhaps she could look at some recommendations for restaurants in the area and invite her along.
Maybe you could go slow this morning and arrive at work whenever you arrive.
That wouldn’t go down very well with Nina, but Billie paid her handsomely so she could hold the fort just this once. Billie needed to get her night with Debra out of her system before she dared to step foot inside the shop.
Yes, work could wait a little while longer.
Instead, she picked up her cup and walked through the apartment, her fingers trailing absently along the back of the couch. This space still belonged to her, but it no longer felt like something she needed to protect from intrusion.
When she reached the window again, Billie looked down at the street below. People rushed for the tube, others queued in long lines for buses, and while the world was already awake and the daily chaos had begun, she simply stopped and took a breath. She wasn’t naïve enough to think she could rewrite herself overnight, but she wasn’t completely against the idea of trying.
She finished her coffee and set her cup aside, deciding it would be wise to get ready for the day ahead. The world and her business didn’t stop turning just because she’d had mind-blowing sex with Debra Allen last night. People were waiting for her. They were relying on her expertise and her excellent eye for detail.
And Billie? Well, she was just looking forward to some London air in her lungs the moment she stepped outside.
By the timeBillie had reached Savile Row, the street was already alive with delivery vans and conversation from the neighbouring businesses. Normally, she’d have been there before any of them with her coat off and her coffee poured, but today she was late.
Unapologeticallylate.
As she stepped inside, everything looked the same. Everything was in its place, but Billie couldn’t shake the feeling thatshewasn’t.
Nina looked up from the front desk, her iPad in hand. Her hair was pinned much tighter than usual, and her expression was even more concerning. “Morning, Miss Brown.”
“Nina.” Billie offered her a single nod as she shrugged her overcoat off and hung it in its usual place. “How long have you been here?”
“Since seven,” Nina replied as she focused on her iPad again.
“You were early. Dedication is what I like to see.”
“You’re not.”
“Well.” Billie lifted her brows. “I see we’ve decided to start the day by stating the obvious.”
“We had clients at nine. As stated in the schedule.” Nina’s fingers hovered over the screen of her tablet. “I handled them.”
