Chapter Seven
Lila
When Lila woke up the following morning, the whole episode felt like something from a dream. Not a bad dream – oh, no – but still not something she could fathom happening in real life. She stayed in bed in the dark, listening to sounds of Ruth taking a shower coming through the wall and trying to figure out how she felt about it all.
She’d broken so many of the unwritten rules of her life yesterday; admitting what a strange person she was; drawing attention to the multiple things she’d done to embarrass herself; and getting overemotional in front of someone, as well as questioning someone else about their own behaviour. All of it magnified times one hundred because she’d done these things withRowanof all people. A famous, extremely good-looking man. How she even managed to speak to him was shocking enough, given her usual track record, but opening up and making emotional, pathetic confessions? Just…howhad that happened?
Actually, there was an easy answer to that: alcohol.
But he’d not looked at her like she was insane in the slightest – despite comparing herself to aGremlin. Lord, she really had still been drunk. In fact, maybethatwas why she was under the impression that her big reveal hadn’t caused the ripple she’d been expecting. Her judgement was completely off. She’d been too tipsy to pick up on the signals.
He had rather abruptly decided to walk her to the bus stop while they’d been talking.
There. She’d fixed the strangeness of the situation by overthinking it sufficiently. Now the anxiety was making its presence known and everything felt a bit more normal. By the time she got to the unit base, she’d be well on the way to terrified about what he was going to say when he saw her today. Or at least, hypervigilant when it came to strange looks, because he probably wasn’t going to speak to her – and certainly not about taking her back to his villa when it would raise eyebrows.
How did they keep getting into these situations? First, he locked them in a cupboard, then she somehow scented out his beautiful hidden villa and collapsed on the sand just moments before he emerged from the water, like Poseidon or James Bond or…orMr Darcy. Lila took a momentary break from her anxiety to imagine Rowan in a Regency period drama, one of those rumpled white shirts clinging to his wet body, almost see-through and open at the collar…
‘Bathroom’s all yours,’ Ruth called through the door, shattering Lila’s fantasy.
Probably for the best.
Lila gathered her clothes and came out of her bedroom. Ruth was in the kitchen, a long hot pink bath towel tucked around her. They hadn’t even seen each other since Lila left the restaurant yesterday. When she’d finally made it back, Ruth still wasn’t home, and Lila had gone straight to bed after taking some aspirin and texting Rowan to say she’d gotten back okay. He’d replied, saying to take care and he’d see her tomorrow.
So now she had Rowan Walker’s number in her contacts. Weird.Andshe knew the PIN to his cell phone. She’d seen a photo of his new-born nephew. They really were breaking all the rules of etiquette. In the Regency period, that would have been like letting someone call you by your first name when you weren’t married.
And then you’d have to get married to avoid the scandal.
‘Hey, d’you want a coffee?’ Ruth said, grabbing the jar and waving it in Lila’s direction, breaking her from another flight of fantasy.
‘I’m okay thanks, sticking to water today. I got so dehydrated yesterday; when the sun is properly out it really gets hot doesn’t it?’
‘Well, we are practically on the African coast. But yeah. It was gorgeous yesterday. Not sure how today is going to be. Forecast said rain, which could screw up the schedule. You were okay getting back yesterday?’
‘Oh, yeah, eventually.’ Lila rolled her eyes. ‘One too many wines and I got turned around on the beach. Eventually found my way to the bus stop though.’ That was one way of putting it.
Ruth laughed. ‘You should’ve called me, we would have come and rescued you.’
‘I was all right. Not too much of a hardship wandering on a Sicilian beach, right?’
‘Good point. Probably for the best anyway. Marcus and I kept the party going a bit longer than everyone else.’ Ruth raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip.
‘Is that so?’ Lila grinned. ‘He helping you figure out which socket to plug things into?’
‘Oh my God, Lila.’ Ruth burst out laughing. ‘Maybe I was wrong about you being so innocent. You got a sneaky little sense of humour going on there. I love it.’
Lila laughed too. ‘I’m going to grab that shower, and then you can tell me all about it.’
As Lila closed the door over on the bathroom, she realised that it was only yesterday she’d been wondering if she’d ever be able to make jokes naturally without worrying how they would be received. And twenty-four hours later, she’d just done it. Going out with Ruth yesterday had obviously helped her to relax a little more around her roommate. Not only had she joked this morning – she’d admitted she got lost. Something she’d been too embarrassed to do yesterday when it actually happened. She’d told Ruth and…Ruth had barely reacted, other than to say she should’ve called.
Ruthhadn’tlooked at her like she was completely incompetent.
The worldhadn’tcome crashing down around Lila’s ears. It was amazing!
Or, maybe not amazing, but it was definitely progress. She didn’t know how Rowan was going to react when they saw each other in makeup today – whether he would treat her like someone in need of carting off to the nearest asylum, or be totally normal, the same way Ruth had just been – but either way, if opening up to him yesterday had helped her shift some of her reserve and allowed her to relax a little more, perhaps it was worth it?
Actually, maybe she was getting a little carried away there. She still had to work with him, after all, so it really would be nice if he didn’t think she needed locking up.
By the time Lila and Ruth made into the makeup trailer, the sun should have been coming up. It was hard to tell though, since the sky was crowded with huge black and purple rain clouds. Immediately upon arriving, Sibyl excused herself, with a face that suited the ominous weather, to go for a meeting with Wesley.
