Page 66 of Save Us
“I dunno, just a hunch.” Her tone makes me prick up my ears.
“Admit it, she sent you a photo—that’s cheating!”
Lydia grins. “She’s keeping me up-to-date with her latest makes. Sometimes I’m even allowed to show Ophelia and ask her for feedback.”
“Want to say hi to Ember?” I ask, picking up my bag.
“Oh, yeah, I’d love to.”
Holding James’s phone close to my face, I knock on Ember’s door. I can hear voices in her room before Ember calls out, “Come in!”
I open the door, then freeze.
James is sitting at her desk, right next to Ember. They’re both looking at her laptop, and I can see theBellbirdlogo on the screen. James sees me and stands up.
“Er, there’s someone here who wanted to say a quick hello, Ember.” I go over and hold out the phone. She takes it from me and grins at Lydia.
“That’s a lovely skirt you sewed for Ruby,” she says, diving straight in.
“Did you recognize it from the photo?” asks Ember.
I hear Lydia make a noise of agreement. Meanwhile, I turn to James and put a hand on his hip. “What have you been doing?”
“Ember was showing me her blog,” he says, but before I can follow up on that, he glances at his watch. “Shall we go?”
“Where are you headed?” Lydia asks.
“To Wren’s,” James says. “He’s having a housewarming.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Ember go suddenly pale at James’s words. “Oh. Cool.” She hands him back his phone.
“Thanks,” he says, turning his attention back to Lydia. “I’ll call you tomorrow, OK?”
“Great. I’m around after about one. I’ve got my tutor before that.”
“It’s Sunday tomorrow,” he says with a frown.
“She’s of the opinion that I should get through as much work as possible in case the twins arrive early. Which isn’t unusual,” says Lydia.
I whistle. “Now I get what you meant by ‘strict.’ ”
“Hey ho. Well, have a nice evening. Say hi to the boys from me!”
“Will do,” James says with a wry smile as he hangs up. He turns back to Ember. “Thanks for taking the time to explain so much. It really helped.”
“No problem,” my sister murmurs. “Have fun tonight.”
She’s focused on the screen, but I get the impression she’s just staring straight through it.
17
Ember
Kingfitz:i wanna see you again supergirl
Kingfitz:wanna go for a coffee?
Kingfitz:thx for being there today god knows if id have coped without you
