Scott’s face colours. Which is kind of surprising. Kind of sweet.
‘You’re extremely welcome, birthday girl,’ he says, extracting her arms from around his shoulders.
The girls disappear into Brianna’s room and re-appear moments later in a flurry of giggles with some sheets of card, which they attempt to slide under the door of the room opposite. Brianna lies on her belly and feeds the paper through the narrow gap between the base of the door and the carpet whilst Georgia, on her back beside her, selects the most appropriate pages for their mysterious prank. Both girls are immersed in the activity and laughing like hyenas whilst Scott and Heather watch, bemused.
Heather’s face warms as she gives Scott a sideways glace. Turns out they’re standing very closely side by side. She takes a step backwards. Her movement seems to alert him.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming this weekend,’ Scott says, ‘otherwise I’d have—'
‘No. No. No. It’s fine,’ says Heather, glancing distractedly at the girls. ‘I wasn’t aware the sink was broken, otherwise—'
Her sentence stops short. Otherwise what? She’d wash and style her hair? Shave her legs? Wax her upper lip? Thankfully Scott fills the glaring gap in her speech.
‘I was over with my tools, anyway. So, it’s no great shakes. My company has just opened up a Scottish branch, so I’ll be up in Glasgow one week in four now.’
It’s as though he feels the need to fill the silence with more information than is necessary.
‘Ah. Okay.’
Heather shifts her feet.
Scott bends to pick up his tool bag. Despite her discomfort, Heather can’t help but notice how the exertion causes his bicep to bulge. Suddenly, he stands upright.
‘The mattress topper.’ He drops the tool bag back on the floor and begins rifling through the back pocket of his boiler suit, his forehead furrowed as he rummages. ‘How much do I—?’
Heather bites her lip to prevent herself from grinning. ‘It’s fine, honestly.’
But Scott finds his wallet and begins to pull paper bills from the notes section before leafing through them.
‘It’s all Dirhams. I hardly ever carry cash at home.’ Until, suddenly, his eyes light up as he locates a purple note. ‘Brilliant,’ he says, flashing it at Heather, ‘here’s a twenty. That’s not enough, though, is it?’ His face falls, and Heather watches, amused by how badly he wants to repay the debt in its entirety.
‘Honestly, it’s fine,’ she says. 'The girls—’
But Scott has a finger in the air.
‘Do you take PayPal?’
‘Trey’s here!’ Brianna shouts up the stairs and breaks their conversation off. ‘Time for our tea party.’
Georgia meets Heather and Scott at the top of the stairs as he’s preparing to leave.
‘Stay, Scott,’ she says.
Scott looks flustered. His eyes fix on Heather’s, piercing and blue, but she sees a brief flash of vulnerability there.
‘Do,’ she finds herself saying, ‘Georgia wants you here. And it’ll be fun.’
***
It isn’t fun at all. The six hungover teenagers (Georgia, Brianna, Trey, Flo from the Genealogy Society and two flatmates) gulp down their tea in a few swallows and finish their cupcakes in one bite without a word. Heather had imagined a more civilised affair, something like a tea party at Bridgerton House, with chatting and replenished drinks. Instead she needs to adopt the role of compere to fill the awkward silences. She tries to keep the conversation alive by asking Trey what he misses about the States. She and Trey’s mum, Bethany, are online friends now, and Bethany often asks Heather to interpret an extended period of silence or a broody response to a straightforward question about lectures. Heather has promised to take a photo today, so Bethany can see her boy in the flesh with no filters applied.
Other than his dog, it seems, Trey misses nothing at all about home, but wonders what it will be like being overseas for Thanksgiving.
Brianna picks up on Heather’s desperation for some conversation, any conversation, around the table.
‘Oh, hey, so Flo’s been helping Georgia trace her family tree.’
Georgia’s eyes widen and she grins enthusiastically. She has pink frosting on the tip of her nose.
