‘Fingers crossed,’ she said to Theo now, determined to stay positive about the job. ‘Perhaps I’ll be lucky and get an interview.’ The advert had seriously lacked detail but Lydia prayed it was more akin to the freelancing she’d been doing than the hard-hitting journalism she’d rather run away from. Both she and Theo had started out their working lives in London, both hungry to perform, to earn and to get started with making their place in the world. But some of the sheen had worn off as Lydia realised much as she appreciated the salary she could eventually work towards, she also needed the work-life balance. Dance was the only thing that had given her sanity back in those early days when it had dawned on her she wasn’t quite cut out for the career she’d chosen as a graduate.
Theo went to the kitchen and returned with his Nespresso travel mug that would keep his coffee warm on his drive to work today. He worked as a company accountant for a major UK company that shared its offices between London, Bath and San Francisco. He’d had his challenges along the way but he seemed to be content now it was going more smoothly.
Lydia took the coffee from his outstretched hand while he shrugged on his coat and took his shoes out from the cupboard.
‘I feel like I’m the little woman at home, sending you to work every day.’ She handed him his coffee once he’d tied his shoes.
‘Nothing wrong with that.’ He winced at the heat of the coffee when he took a sip. He always made it extra hot so it would last on his commute.
‘Have you got much on today?’
‘The usual: a few meetings, boring paperwork and maybe one or two meetings off-site.’ He kissed her on the lips, lingering longer than usual. ‘But I’ll be back in time for us to make a decent afternoon and early evening of it. I promise.’
She opened the door and hid her body behind it, peering around as he winked at her and said goodbye. ‘It’s freezing!’ She called after him, watching her tall, suited boyfriend leave their home for another day at the office. The novelty still hadn’t worn off. It was a scene played out in homes all across the city but Lydia still indulged in a satisfied smile, like a warm hug around this life that was hers, before she retreated inside to the quiet of the terraced house.
Even opening the front door briefly had let the cold snap snake in around her ankles and bare feet. She turned up the thermostat in the hallway and headed upstairs for a shower. She’d danced hard that morning, but she’d loved every minute of it.
She took off her dance pants and top in the bathroom that was every bit as cosy as the rest of the house. It had been the first room they’d tackled when they moved in, getting rid of the bath with its telltale brown trickle stains beneath the taps that showed neglect, its crack in one end and the shower attachment that only let a dribble of water come out of a few holes, barely enough to wake an ant, let alone a thirty-year-old woman who desperately needed to kick-start her day. They’d turned the bathroom into something far more beautiful with its Villeroy & Boch freestanding bathtub, a separate stand-alone shower plus sparkling chrome fittings. Renovating the bathroom had made a significant dent in their savings and even Theo was pedantic about keeping it clean, ridding the taps of limescale marks the second they appeared. A small jar of oil scented with jasmine and lilac sat atop the windowsill, the diffuser reeds fanned out and scenting the room day and night, and the heated towel-rail made sure it was warm, even in the depths of winter.
Someday the whole house would be finished to this standard, Lydia thought as she stood beneath the rainfall shower and lathered up some Jo Malone shower gel leftover from the set Theo bought her for her birthday this year.
As she put on her bra and knickers after her shower, she looked over at the photo in the lilac frame beside her bed. It was of her and Theo, taken only last month at a friend’s wedding. He’d been holding her from behind the same way he’d done this morning, and she remembered that day because it had been the first time he’d held her like that in a long while. Over the years it wasn’t that she and Theo had drifted apart, but as everyone in a long-term relationship knew, there were good times and the not so good times. She didn’t like to call them ‘bad’. Bad implied she wanted to wipe them away and not have them happen. Lydia preferred to think of them as challenges, or blips, each one overcome step by step and each one going some way to make their relationship more solid.
She pulled on a pair of jeans and an inky-blue fisherman’s jumper, then made a black tea before going into the spare room at the back of the house. She logged on to the laptop, which being old and a little weary, needed a bit of oomph like her in the mornings. But it wasn’t long before she delved back into her research on acupuncture, ready to write a feature article. She called several acupuncturists, interviewed two, and once she had all her information, it was time to tackle the first draft.
When there was a knock on the door just after one o’clock, she cursed. Theo was early. She needed at least another hour until she was done. ‘I wish he’d remember his key,’ she muttered, clicking save, ever paranoid the computer would crash and she’d lose everything she’d been doing. ‘I’m coming, keep your boxer shorts on,’ she laughed as she trotted down the stairs when he knocked again. He was always doing this and she was forever telling him to fix the house key to the car keys and that way he wouldn’t be able to forget it.
She pulled open the front door to usher him inside, keep out the icy winter until she had her bobble hat and coat and was ready to face the city and its build-up to Christmas.
But it wasn’t Theo.
Instead, on the other side of the door were two people she didn’t recognise, and all of a sudden she couldn’t feel her legs beneath her because she knew this type of knock at the door could only mean one thing.
Her world was about to fall apart.
