“You need to rest, and I need the practice,” Ariana replies. “And he likes me better than Christopher.”
“Everyone likes you better than Christopher,” Christopher mutters into his coffee.
Ariana crosses to Ivy. Alex looks up at her, considers, leans in. She gathers him to her shoulder and kisses the top of his head.
“You and I,” she tells him, “are going to have a quiet day.”
Isobel rises, leaning on her cane, and reaches for her grandson with both hands. The cane is taking more of her weight than it did last week. She catches me looking, and I hold her eyes for a beat. She holds mine.
“Brumilde will be home in two days,” she says. “I am very pleased about that.” She touches my arm as she passes.
Ivy looks at me across the now-emptier table. “What now?”
“We’ll sweep Ascot Grange. Henderson and the ordnance specialists. I want it walked properly.”
She puts her hand on my chest. The cross at her throat catches the light.
“Don't be longer than you need to be.”
CHAPTER 28
Cabana Number Five
IVY
The kitchen feels starkly empty after Alistair leaves.
I stand at the window for a long minute with my hand around a coffee that has gone lukewarm. The house has that strange after-meeting hush, like a theatre after the audience has left, with all the chairs slightly askew.
I am exhausted in a way I have not been letting myself feel. Now that there is a window of nothing, my body wants to lie down on the kitchen floor.
My phone buzzes.
BECKS
Where the fuck are you
It’s 10:47
Which means you are 47 minutes late for our prep meeting.
The representative is already at reception and I am sitting in the Foundation office staring at the door like an idiot
Hello???
I close my eyes. The 11:00 meeting. Fuck.
IVY
Becks I'm so sorry
Truly truly sorry
This morning has been a LOT
BECKS
Define a LOT
