‘Please,’ Maddy said with total sincerity.
‘I don’t think your mum likes complicated,’ Eva said. ‘But Hannah? She goes down smooth. Because she’s basic.’
Maddy didn’t respond for a second. And then burst out laughing into her cushioned hole. It felt so good to laugh like that. Not her usual polite chuckle, or her nervous titter. Real laughter.
‘I take that to mean I haven’t offended you?’ Eva said, and Maddy could hear the smile in her voice.
‘I probably should be,’ Maddy said easily. ‘Wait, does that mean I’m complicated?’
‘Too soon to say.’
‘You’re right. I could easily be basic, too. Maybe I just hide it better.’
‘Exactly,’ Eva said dryly. ‘You could love Weatherspoon’s and ITV2. You might like signs that say, “Live, Laugh, Love.”’
‘Hannah’s favourite show isLove Island,’ Maddy noted.
Eva laughed. ‘Of course it is.’
The therapist’s elbow slid expertly into a knot in her shoulder, and whatever sentence she’d been constructing disintegrated into a strangled noise.
Once she’d recovered, she said, ‘I think Iambasic, anyway. It’s just more of a cardigans-and-strong-opinions-on-the-Dewey-decimal-system kind of basic.’
‘That’s niche basic,’ Eva said. ‘I’ve never heard of that flavour.’
‘You don’t spend enough time in libraries then.’
‘Do the cardigans have elbow patches?’ Eva asked with real interest.
‘A few of them,’ Maddy admitted.
‘Incredible.’
Maddy felt herself smile into the table cushion. ‘You’d be disappointed,’ she said. ‘It’s a very normal cardigan situation on the whole. I’ve long since stopped trying to compete with Aria’s fashion sense.’
‘Her jumperisvery exciting,’ Eva said.
‘You should see her at Christmas.’
The little chuckle from the other table made Maddy absurdly curious about Eva’s expression. Which was ridiculous, because she couldn’t see it without turning her head, and that would ruin the massage and possibly her spine.
Still. She imagined Eva lying there, cheeks resting against the cradle, eyes half-closed while she talked.
‘For the record,’ Eva said after a moment, ‘I don’t think you’re basic.’
Maddy wanted to like that. But she didn’t let herself. ‘You barely know me.’
‘Gut feeling.’
‘Everything your gut knows about me is wedding-based.’
‘Yourgut told you Mary was about to commit career suicide in front of everyone. So maybe gut instincts have some merit.’
The therapist moved down to the middle of Maddy’s back, pressing along either side of her spine in slow, deliberate strokes. Maddy felt the tension there reluctantly giving way.
Next to her, Eva shifted slightly under the sheet again. The fabric made a soft whispering sound. Maddy became extremely aware once more that they were both, technically speaking, naked. Which had been true the entire time. But she’d thought she was over it. Until her brain decided to make a point of it.
You’re naked with Eva.
