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“Cat?” he called as he entered the house. “You home?” There was no answer. Sam took off his outerwear and dropped his phone and keys onto the kitchen table, before heading into the downstairs cloakroom. As he washed up, he tried to fathom how he felt about Maya, but it was too complicated. In any case, it didn’t matter what his feelings were, she wasn’t interested, and moreover, he had a girlfriend. Thinking about other women wasn’t on.

Opening the cloakroom door, he glanced into the kitchen. Cat was at the table, quickly putting down his phone. He frowned, walking into the room. “Hey. I didn’t realize you were in.”

Cat stood, flashing him a bright smile. “I was upstairs.” She gave him a big hug. “How was your day?”

“Fine, thanks.” He glanced at the table. “Were you looking through my phone?”

She made a dismissive noise. “Of course not.”

“Why did you have it in your hand just now?” he asked, studying her.

Cat wandered into the kitchen. “I thought it was mine, that’s all. Then I lifted it and saw your screen saver of the ski slope and realized. What do you want for dinner?”

Her explanation didn’t quite hit the mark, and it bothered him. He tried to fathom how he might get the real answer out of her, but he was acutely aware that she was in a good mood, and pushing her on this kind of stuff would end up in a blowout. So he resigned himself to leave it for now, and helped her prepare dinner.

Chapter

Eleven

Maya gave herself a pep talk. “Come on, Maya. Press the call button. It’s only your sister.” She nearly chickened out, thinking that she might text instead. But then she remembered Sam’s advice—big conversations were best done verbally. She pressed call and it rang out. Just as she was trying to decide whether to leave a message, Hana answered, her voice flat.

Maya tried to infuse extra light into her voice. “All right, sis? What’s going down in England-shire?”

Hana sighed. “You know. Work, bills. The usual.”

There was a few seconds’ silence, and Maya’s heart rate stepped up. This was already awful. No wonder she normally shied away from this sort of crap. “You don’t sound yourself.”

“I’m really stressed, Maya. You wouldn’t understand.”

A cold heaviness entered her stomach. Wouldn’t understand? I’ve just lost my job and my relationship and I’m back home living with our parents, one of whom thinks I’m the biggest loser out there.

“That’s a little unfair.” Maya let out a breath. That statement had taken all of her courage, and she had about as much as the cowardly lion to begin with.

“I don’t have time to talk about it now. I’ll need to call you back.”

Relief that this conversation would soon be over mixed with the disappointment that the tension was going to be prolonged left Maya feeling hollow. “Okay.”

They ended the call, and she fell back onto her bed. “Ugh. Speaking to people sucks.”

Deciding to go and off-load to Liv, Maya grabbed her bag and headed down the stairs.

Liv approached around the corner, and Maya got out of her car. Liv did a double take. “Miss Maya. Are you stalking me?”

“Yep. I’ve been tailing you for days. You need to stop frequenting such dodgy establishments.”

Liv smiled. “I assume you’re coming in?”

“Please.” She followed Liv into her house. “How was nursery school today?”

“Great. Apart from one of the boys getting his foot stuck down the toilet and we had to call the fire brigade.”

Maya had to stand still for a moment as she laughed. “Why did he have his foot in the bog?”

Liv rolled her eyes. “Goodness knows. But he’s fine now.”

Taking off her jacket as they entered the kitchen, Maya placed it onto the back of a chair. “Not having to walk around with a toilet on one’s foot does make for a more successful life.”

“Indeed,” Liv replied, putting the kettle on. “For one thing, it’d be awfully unbalanced.”