Good luck or bad luck? Probably, she admitted ruefully to herself, a bit of both.
The familiar flutter returned to her stomach, a reaction as automatic as breathing whenever she thought about seeing Bel again. Luisa closed the email quickly, as if that could somehow erase the reality of what was coming, and glanced over at the bathroom door with a mixture of affection and guilt she couldn't quite explain.
She hadn't thought that it would happen so soon, and she knew that she should tell Amy. It wouldn't feel right not to, not with the likelihood of what could happen. Open relationship or not, it would feel wrong not to say something at least.
"You're sure you're ok?" Amy asked again, coming out of the bathroom.
Luisa forced herself back into the moment and smiled. "Definitely."
She didn't want to spoil the mood, wanted to make the most of this night with Amy after what had clearly been a tough day for her... mentioning Bel could kill that mood so Luisa kept quiet, resolving to bring it up over the next few days. The last thing that Amy needed was Luisa laying her other woman, her version of Amy’s Sarah, on her after the day that she’d had. Luisa could tell that Amy needed her that night, could feel it with every instinct she possessed.
After all, there was plenty of time until they parted on Wednesday morning for Luisa to fly to Italy, she would have ample opportunity to tell her about Bel.
Plenty of time.
Sarah
London
“How on earth did you get a table?”
Sarah smiled at Rebecca. “All part of my mystique.”
“Well however you did it, thank you.”
The truth was that with joint ownership of a couple of restaurants in London if Sarah didn’t know who to call to get a table, she at least knew who to call who’d know who to call.
Tonight was a treat for Rebecca… she’d celebrated her birthday at the weekend and, while Sarah couldn’t go to her birthday night out on Saturday night (for reasons both of practicality, given that she’d been back home for the weekend, and common sense, because people would ask questions at why she’d turned up), she was determined to still celebrate.
Monday night, granted, not the biggest party night of the week, but this was one of the hottest restaurants in the City right now and it was buzzing. She’d kept the restaurant a secret and Rebecca’s reaction had been worth it… she’d actually gone pink in excitement when she realised where they were going.
She looked across the table at Rebecca studying the menu. Rebecca…thank God at least one of my mentees wanted to keep something going, she thought. Well, one and a half plus, of course, Camila, half because Amy was kind of on the fence. Wednesday was the big day there, but Sarah had been getting more confident that there was still something between them as the weeks had passed since she went to LA. The tone of their messages had been getting warmer, more playful, and that was something to hold on to.
Still, tonight wasn’t about Amy, it was about Rebecca, and Sarah was realising the benefit of breaking that link between the personal and the professional relationships they had. It was freeing, relaxing, to spend time with Rebecca knowing that the weight of work had nothing to do with it, and she could tell that Rebecca was finding the same. Her interactions with Rebecca had always been the heaviest dominant leaning of all her mentees, and she knew that she was the only person that Rebecca did that with and had ever done that with. It was fun, more fun without the quid pro quo.
And tonight, after dinner, Rebecca was going to get the second half of her birthday treat… she wouldn’t get any say in the matter, which, Sarah knew, was exactly how Rebecca liked it.
Rebecca was in good form that night and, once they’d ordered, she’d launched into gossip about a partner who’d been caught sending wildly inappropriate emails to someone in the Genevaoffice, the sort of story that would have scandalised Sarah in the past but now, after Amy's home truths, just made her think about glass houses and stones.
“Apparently he signed off with three aubergine emojis,” Rebecca said, grinning. “Three. As if one wasn’t damning enough.”
Sarah laughed. “What happened?”
“Sensitivity training, which he’s apparently treating as a networking opportunity. You couldn’t make it up.”
Rebecca suddenly sat up straighter, looking past Sarah towards the front of the restaurant.
“Oh… is that Amy?”
Sarah’s stomach lurched. She turned, and got a second surprise. It was Amy, yes, but she was with a woman, a beautiful, stylishly dressed, slim woman. Sarah had seen that woman once before, at the airport in LA when Amy and Sarah had flown back from their joint business trip. Sarah had gone through to security already but had glanced back and seen a surprisingly emotional and tender farewell… Amy and Luisa.
What was Luisa doing here? She lived in LA, that was a given for Sarah, and suddenly it all started to fall into place… why Amy couldn’t see Sarah until Wednesday, why she’d taken the end of last week off. Sarah had assumed it was Amy playing hard to get, but that wasn’t it at all. She had a visitor.
Before Sarah could say anything, Rebecca was already out of her seat. “I’m going to say hi, I haven’t seen her since before she went to LA.”
“Rebecca, maybe we should…”
But Rebecca was already weaving between the tables and Sarah had no choice but to follow, not without giving away to Rebecca that there was something deeper going on with Amy. She forced her expression into something that she hoped looked casual and pleased rather than blindsided and confused.
