Page 15 of Will You Stay Another Day?
Lili paused. ‘Why not?’
The barman topped up her glass and passed the man another beer.
‘How long is it since the two of you have been in touch?’ asked Dylan.
‘It’s been a year since…’ Lili exhaled. ‘Since her funeral.’
Dylan put down his beer.
Lili gave a small smile. ‘It’s complicated and my colleagues think I’m crazy but… I sent her phone number a Knock Knock joke, you see. It was our thing to go straight to the punchline if we knew the answer. The reply came back. She did! It must have been her!’ God, it was good to talk to someone objective. Perhaps the wine had loosened her tongue, but who cared? She’d never see this guy again.
‘Wait, what? A Knock Knock joke?’ Dylan’s skin turned a shade as pale as the chalky skin of the man dressed as a ghost behind him, no mean feat as Dylan’s had a sun-kissed depth to it.
‘Then Em told me she’d been travelling, and I realised… What if she faked her own death? You hear about that sort of thing, don’t you?’ continued Lili. ‘But she hasn’t turned up and I’m left wondering… hoping still that…’ Lili talked about their cottage in Truro and how she’d not had the heart to move anything into Em’s old room. She gave an apologetic look. ‘Sorry. Rambling.’ She gulped her wine. ‘Who are you waiting for?’
Dylan brushed a hand through his hair, pulling it back, making his features more prominent – the strong eyebrows, the sharp jawline and eyes as black as a witch’s cauldron. What would he be like to kiss?
For God’s sake. Get a grip, Lili. He’s not the person you wanted to see tonight. He’s not your best friend ever.
‘My brother. Harry. You see… he’s a huge fan of pranks. He’s been travelling too, and I thought…’ An expression she couldn’t read crossed his features. ‘He sent me a Knock Knock joke. It’s a while since we’ve been in contact too.’
‘Oh, that’s a coincidence!’
Dylan bit his lip.
Her chest tightened. Unless…
Oh.
Fuck.
Unless it wasn’t.
‘But you went straight for the punchline.’ Her voice wavered.
‘Harry and I always try to outwit each other. I’m so sorry. It was an easy Knock Knock joke, I guess, with really only one answer.’
‘Why did you say you were travelling? Or were you?’ She studied him intensely.
‘To catch him out. That’s why I said I was travelling like you – to let Harry know that I’d realised the random text was from him. It’s exactly the sort of thing he’d do. I was hoping he was back. Even if he does drive me mad. I mean really mad. Harry set a fake account up on Tinder and fooled me into a prank blind date with him once. He’s signed me up to weird newsletters, hidden alarms in my bedroom and covered my laptop screen with a fake cracked one. That’s why I didn’t let on that I had no idea who the text was from. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. And the word “interloper” also convinced me it was him.’
‘Why?’ A lump had formed in her throat. Em wasn’t coming.
That meant… Of course it did…
Em. Wasn’t. Alive.
‘We come from Tavistock, born and bred in Devon. Bodmin is in Cornwall…’
Oh, yes, the old rivalry between those two counties, like the scone debate over whether you spread on jam or cream first.
Lili put a hand over her heart, acid rising in her chest as if she’d actually eaten something horrible.
‘Why did you use the word?’ he asked. ‘Oh, hang on, your accent… You’re a northerner, right?’
‘Em and I grew up in Manchester but moved down here after travelling together in our early twenties,’ she said, straining to keep her voice steady. ‘Why did you suggest meeting at The Rough Tor?’
‘For old time’s sake – Harry and I had a crazy Halloween night here years ago. We were teens. A mate from our football club invited us. His parents used to run this place. We got stone drunk on booze we nicked from the bar and then went trick or treating at midnight and woke a load of locals up.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘The police had a firm word with us and our mate was grounded for a month. Harry and I still live together now, and even though life’s been a lot more peaceful with him being away… it’s too peaceful. Though I’d never tell him that. But this isn’t about me and my brother.’ He cleared his throat. ‘What made you text your friend after all this time?’
