Page 37 of Weekends with You

Surely it was due to the emotional roller coaster of last night, on top of the dull hangover this morning, but I felt tears pricking at my eyes. I was embarrassed for having ever been reluctant to live in the warehouse, and now I couldn’t imagine leaving.

We passed around heaping plates of eggs, baked beans, black pudding, scones, and whatever else Cal had found in the kitchen and turned into breakfast. Jan poured champagne for mimosas, and Margot kept the kettle bubbling on the stove for tea. We were a well-oiled machine when we weren’t bickering, and this was the perfect way to celebrate the holidays as a flat: one wild, drunken party, and one quiet, heartwarming breakfast. If Henry could have photographed the juxtaposition of the past twelve hours, I was sure it would have been beautiful.

“What’s the update?” he asked as we leaned back in our chairs, so full we could hardly move. “Anyone have anything?”

“There’s a new headmaster at my school, and she totally sucks,” Liv said.

“Sorry to hear that,” Henry said, and I could tell he meant it.

“There’s a new season ofBake Offset to come out next week,” Raja offered.

“Nowthatis some good news.” Henry and I exchanged tired smiles and I kept my mouth shut about any updates on my end, figuring we’d try to stay on a positive note. My updates were all worry, concern, and cliché Christmas marriage proposals.

“What’s your update, Hen?” Margot asked. “Find home yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ve learned quite a bit. I’ve learned I’ll be happy shooting anything, not just musicians, which gives me more options. And I’m glad I’m kind of setting up this career path that will benefit other photographers, so I’ve also learned I like giving back.”

“Aye, so maybe all the soul-searching is paying off after all,” Finn said.

“You do seem more yourself than usual,” Liv added. “Almost glowing, even, the more I look at ya.”

He rubbed the back of his neck in the way I knew he did when he was nervous, and I kept my eyes trained on the table in front of me, heat rising to my cheeks.

“Thanks, Liv. It’s felt good to be home this weekend. I’m not sure I look any different, but if I do, that would be why.”

“Reckon it could also be because of what you got up to last night?” Raja asked, dropping her fork to the table with a clatter for effect. I was paralyzed, but I wished so badly I could bring my eyes to hers like laser beams.

“Aye, could be.” What the hell was he doing?“Got some great shots of the flat. I’ll share the folder with you guys when I get the chance. Some of the photos are a right laugh.”

Well played, Henry Baker.Raja, far less satisfied at his response than I was, tutted under her breath. He flashed her a winning smile, fully knowing what she was getting at, and I chewed my thumbnail, hoping the whole thing would blow over.

It wasn’t so much that I was embarrassed or particularly private about things like this, I just wasn’t keen on reliving the disappointment. And I was strangely worried about the judgment I’d receive from Margot, seeing as she’d warned me about this. I wanted to be a stronger woman than one who caved andkissed men she knew not to, so I preferred to keep last night’s events under lock and key.

We had hardly finished washing up when Henry announced it was time for him to go.

“Where to now?” Raja asked.

“Well, first my parents’, then Switzerland.”

“They couldn’t send you somewhere warm in the winter?”

“If only,” he laughed. “I’m looking forward to Switzerland, actually. It’ll be good to spend some time in nature. And I’ll be a bit remote so I won’t have much access to my phone, which is a blessing and a curse, I suppose. Trying to look at it as a blessing, though.”

As far as I was concerned, it was most definitely a curse.

“Well, I can’t wait to hear all about it.” Raja smiled, and Henry disappeared from the kitchen to gather his things.

I pretended to go to the bathroom but stopped in his bedroom doorway on my way there.

“It’s my month next, you know,” I said, leaning on the doorjamb.

“As if I wasn’t excited enough already.”

Silence lingered between us, making space for one of us to say something, anything, about last night.

“Does your month happen to include finishing what we started last night?” he asked eventually, looking up at me from his luggage. I’d been turning this very question over in my mind since the second we heard Raja’s voice the night before.

“What fun would it be if I just told you?” I said.

---