“It wasn’t like that. We just enjoyed each other’s company. Despite the issues, we had fun.”
Fun? Fun was an impromptu afternoon in a pub on the river. A gig where you knew more songs than you thought. It was not three days trying to get home with your first love and then sleeping with her.
Or maybe Ali’s definition of fun had suddenly changed.
Still Nicole stared. “Now I know something’s up. ‘We enjoyed each other’s company’. When you talk like a BBC presenter from the 1970s, Houston, we have a problem.”
Ali pulled out her ‘don’t be so ridiculous!’ face, then shook her head. “Nothing happened.” The lie burned her throat. “I just got to know her a little better, and I realised that I’ve probably never had a proper conversation with her in my whole life until the past few days—”
“It’s like you’re rambling to cover something up.”
“I’m not!” Just like that, they were quarrelling teenagers again. But even Ali knew her cheeks were the colour of deceit. The warmth she felt could probably power the pub. At the very least, boil a kettle.
Nicole leaned so close, her breath tickled Ali’s face. “I remember the crush you had on her when you were younger. These things don’t just go away.”
Ali almost stopped breathing. “You knew about that?” She’d never breathed a word to anyone apart from Tobias. Those long, hot, tortured years were ones she thought she’d endured alone. Now, apparently, she’d had an audience. Which only made it ten times worse.
But not as bad as telling Morgan they didn’t have a future.
Glass half empty.
“How did you know?”
“I’ve got eyes,” Nicole said. “That, and you were always tongue-tied around her. Always clumsy. I hope these past few days have cured you of that, at least. I know Morgan and I don’t see each other much anymore, but I still have a lot of time for her.” She pressed the tip of her index finger to Ali’s forearm. “Just so you know, if anything happened, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. I love Morgan and I love you. Although Morgan was a bit of a player back in the day, and leopards don’t usually change their spots.”
“Leopards might not, but maybe lesbians do.” She was defending Morgan now. Not the smartest move. Time to course-correct. “But that’s beside the point. Nothing—”
“—happened, I know. But I wanted to let you know, just in case anything changes.” Nicole kissed her cheek, then gave her a wink.
How could her older sister be so lovely, and yet so annoying all at the same time?
“Oh my god, look at this dinky gingerbread pub!” A woman who’d clearly had far too much to drink stuck her hand out to touch it, but Nicole jumped in.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it? I’m going to move it behind the bar for its own safety. I’d like The Rising Suns—both of them—to still be here on Christmas morning.” Nicole disappeared with it, then came back right away. A crush at this end of the bar meant they were back on duty.
Ali rolled up the sleeves of her top and served an older couple a pint and a half of lager. She took their payment, jingling as she moved, then stabbed the receipt onto the metal pin. When she turned back to the bar, she took a deep breath.
Because there, on the other side, looking just as delicious as when she’d left her, was Morgan Scott.
CHAPTER25
It wasn’t the first time Morgan had seen Ali behind the bar, but it was the first time she’d done so since they’d had sex. Now, everything about Ali was different. She noticed the flex of her forearm when she reached for a glass overhead. The way her fingers wrapped around said glass. Her easy smile to the customer.
It was nothing like the suggestive smile Ali had given Morgan just before she kissed her lips. Or the way Ali had wrapped her fingers around Morgan’s neck before she slipped her tongue into her mouth. The jolt of that memory made Morgan slide into a temporary trance where Ali was surrounded by a ray of light. Right up until the bald man to her right elbowed her in the neck as he tried to muscle his way to the bar.
“Hey!” Morgan turned to the bloke.
“Sorry love,” he said, clearly not sorry at all.
When she looked back up at the bar, Ali’s eyes were on her, a mix of confusion and something else on her face. That was fair enough. Ali had told her nothing could happen. They’d agreed not to see each other until Boxing Day. Now, here she was.
Ali gave her a small wave as she poured two pints of Moretti for the woman at the bar. When the woman paid and left with her drinks—coming perilously close to dumping half of one down the front of Morgan—Morgan squeezed to the front.
“Did you forget something?”
Many answers swam to the front of Morgan’s brain, but she didn’t utter one. “I think we’ve got the wrong cases.”
“But I checked the tags when we unloaded yours.”
