Maddy exhaled, wincing as the therapist pressed firmly along her shoulders. ‘Yeah. I’m sure you noticed that I stopped Mary from saying something during the game.’
‘I did wonder.’
‘Mary was about to get herself into trouble. You shouldn’t mention that your boss is sleeping with someone at work. And I do meanatwork. Even if it’s Aria, publicly embarrassing your boss is not a great move for your career.’
There was a pause. Then Eva chuckled, muffled by the table. ‘Yeah, good call. Nice of you to save her arse like that. Because it wasn’t your problem.’
‘Mmm, might have been. I was the one who nearly walked in on them in the accessible toilet. I thought Mary could keep a secret. Lesson learned.’
‘I think the lesson is keep Mary away from the booze.’
‘I guess so. Librarians don’t tend to go on the lash very often, so this is new information about Mary.’
‘You’re more of a tea crowd, I’m guessing?’
Maddy smiled. ‘Yup. English breakfast is our usual poison. Earl Grey if we’re feeling crazy.’
Eva laughed quite deeply at that. Maddy was delighted.
‘I think Hannah was a bit disappointed. Her game sort of petered out after that,’ Eva noted.
Maddy laughed softly, the sound vibrating into the table. ‘I’m not too worried about Hannah. She brings alightnessthatseems indestructible,’ Maddy said carefully. The word she would really like to use to describe Hannah was ‘basicness.’ But she’d never be so rude. Out loud, anyway.
‘Oh, I’m sure,’ Eva said.
‘I’m more worried about keeping you from being bored…’ Maddy almost said, ‘With me.’ But stopped herself just in time. ‘With us,’ she said safely.
Eva’s laugh was warm. ‘Bored? Hardly. You’re a pretty weird combination of people.’
‘You think?’
‘No two people really make sense in combination.’
Maddy thought about that, and there was plenty of logic in it. ‘I see your point. Though Hannah and my mother sort of make sense.’
Eva paused. ‘Oh?’
‘She’s her dream daughter,’ Maddy said.
Jesus, how relaxed was this bloody massage getting her? Had she really said that out loud? She’d barely let herselfthinkit before.
Eva shifted slightly on the other table, the sheet rustling. For a moment, Maddy wondered if she’d said something weird. Or too personal. Or both.
‘Dream daughter?’ Eva prompted gently.
Maddy groaned into the face cradle. ‘God, that sounded dramatic, didn’t it?’
‘A bit,’ Eva said, though her tone was amused rather than judgmental.
The therapist’s thumbs pressed into the base of Maddy’s neck, and she made a small involuntary noise.
Eva snorted. ‘You alright over there?’
‘I think so,’ Maddy moaned.
The woman working on her said something polite and spa-like about ‘releasing tension.’ Maddy made agreeable noises in response and then said, ‘Thank you,’ as the woman leaned on her neck like a wrestler trying to get her to tap out.
‘Can I say something about your mother that’s a bit impolite?’ Eva said suddenly.
