“That I’d never get involved with one again.” She mumbled the words into her chest, her head hung low in defeat.
“Exactly! Look, I’m not trying to tell you how to run your life, but you did make me promise, way back when, to tell you if I ever thought you were doing something dumb again, right?”
“I did.”
“And here we are.” His voice was gruff.
“I know.”
“So?”
She looked up at him, saw the concern etched across his face. “This is a little different, I think. She said she has feelings for me, that it’s not just some straight woman curiosity thing.”
“And you believe her?”
“Yeah, actually, I do.”
He watched her for a moment, his teeth worrying at his bottom lip. “Watch out for yourself, all right? You were a mess after Vikki. I’d hate to see you that way again.”
“You’re not the only one,” she muttered and reached for the remains of her tea.
Chapter 29
Ash locked up the studio at three on Tuesday, pleased with her progress. Since yesterday she’d managed a deep clean of the entire studio, sorted out the stock room, and completed the two small repairs she’d needed to make to the front desk and one of the sofas. She’d also managed—mostly—not to think about what was or wasn’t happening between her and Carmen.
Now it was time to catch up with her sister. She was surprised to find she was nervous, but they hadn’t exactly left things in a good place the last time they’d seen each other. God, I hope we’re not at each other’s throats again . She smiled ruefully. If nothing else, clashing heads with Courtney will at least keep Carmen off my mind.
The train journey was uneventful, and at four thirty she rang their doorbell.
Sophie answered quickly and threw her arms around Ash for a long hug. “I’m so glad you’re back! I mean, I’m glad you had a good holiday, but I missed you.”
Ash squeezed her niece. “I know what you mean. It’s good to see you.” She stepped back. “You look really chilled.”
“I am!” Sophie pulled Ash into the house and shut the door. “Mum’s had some kind of personality transplant this weekend. She’s been amazing!”
“She has?” Ash followed Sophie through to the kitchen, which was cleaner and tidier than she’d ever seen it, and out to the garden.
Sophie led her to the small plastic table and chairs that sat under a bright orange umbrella. On the table stood a bottle of supermarket lemonade and some glasses.
“Wow, this looks nice,” Ash said as she sat.
Sophie flushed and bit her bottom lip. “Well, I wanted to give you a proper welcome back. And, you know, just do something nice for you.”
Ash swallowed. “Aw, that’s sweet of you. Thanks.”
“So, lemonade?”
“Yes, please!”
Sophie poured them each a glass and sat next to Ash.
“So, backtrack. Your mum?”
“Yes! I honestly don’t know what’s going on with her, but yesterday she told me if I wanted to put up some more posters, I could. Of anyone I liked. Actually, what she said was, ‘If there’s any other women you want to put on your wall, go for it.’”
Ash tilted her head. “Seriously?”
“I know, right?”
“Wow.”
“Exactly.”
They sipped their drinks for a few moments. Ash tried to process what she’d just heard. It sounded as if Courtney was well on her way to accepting Sophie’s sexuality, but where had this epiphany of Courtney’s come from? And more importantly, would it last?
“Oh, and she’s told me she wants some time with just you tonight, so I’m being sent to my room after dinner.” Sophie pouted.
“Right. Well, I doubt we’ll talk the whole night, so I’m pretty sure you’ll see me again after your mum and me chat, okay? And besides, us two are here now, aren’t we?”
Sophie immediately perked up. “Yeah, cool. Okay, tell me everything about the trip. And show me your photos!”
It was a few minutes after six when Courtney came home.
“Hey.” Courtney stood framed by the kitchen doorway. “All right?” Dark circles shadowed her eyes.
“Yeah. You look tired.” Ash had never seen her sister look so drained.
“Yeah.” Courtney’s smile was weak. “Busy day. Got two new members of staff, and they’re useless. No idea why Brian hired them.” She grunted and turned back to the kitchen. “I’m opening some wine. Want one?” she called over her shoulder.
“Sure.”
Ash and Sophie exchanged a look.
Sophie fiddled with her glass of lemonade. “She wasn’t that grumpy when she left this morning.”
“Yeah, some days work can do that to you.” Ash stood. “You stay here; I’ll go talk to her.”
Sophie nodded and immediately pulled Ash’s iPad across the table and began flicking through the photos again.
Ash made some noise as she entered the kitchen, not wanting to startle her sister.
Courtney turned to face her, an open bottle of white wine in her hand. “White okay?”
“Totally.” Ash stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned casually against the doorway. “You okay?”
Her sister let out a loud breath. “Yeah, sorry. Just been one of those days.” She poured out two glasses of wine and handed one to Ash. “I’ll shake it off in a minute. Probably after a bit of this.” She raised her glass and threw Ash a much warmer, more relaxed smile.
“Cheers.” Ash raised her glass and took a sip. It was cheap stuff, but she knew after a few more mouthfuls, she wouldn’t care.
Courtney took a couple of large swallows, then set her glass back down. “Let me go change, freshen up, and then we can make dinner, yeah?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Ash didn’t want to push her sister, but she couldn’t wait to find out what was going on. Courtney looked as if she had a lot to say; there was something in the way she’d looked at Ash over the
