Page 22 of Tears of Glass

Tabitha looks up at the glorious ceilings. High and airy, they are the reason I fell in love with the place, and now with the buzz of traffic running past the windows and the chatter of distant voices, it’s my perfect little London island. I don’t know why I left. “It’s really nice, Faith, I love it. It’s so cosy and warm.”

I grin. “Tabs. Anything is warm and cosy after where you grew up.”

A ringing sounds from inside her suede hobo bag. She clutches it tighter but doesn’t look for it.

“Are you not going to get that?”

She shakes her head, her cheeks turning red.

“Any reason why not?”

“It will be Mum trying to find out where I am.”

“Where exactly does she think you are?” Tabitha has been cagey on this subject the last couple of days.

“She thinks I’m sulking and I’ve run off with Lewis.”

“Sulking because...?” I take a seat on the Ikea easy chair next to the window and slip off my sandals. My feet are filthy from the Tube. That place is revolting and reminds me why I like taking taxis and walking about the city. “And haven’t you run off with Lewis?”

“Because of the finishing school thing.”

I rub my head. I’d forgotten that Jennifer Fairclough had threatened to send her youngest child to finishing school. I figured it was a threat to Elijah to break things up with me. Which he did in quite spectacular fashion.

So, she’s still supposed to be going. And now she’s pregnant. Do they even let you into finishing school with a bun in the oven?

“But she knows you are okay though, right? I mean, she’s not my favourite person but I wouldn’t want a parent to worry.”

Tabitha’s gaze hardens, and it reminds me so much of Elijah when he talked of his messed-up family. “She wouldn’t be worrying for the right reasons.”

“Well you know you’re going to have to tell her about the baby at some point?” I cough a little. “If you keep it.”

“I’m keeping it.” Her gaze is fierce, and I hold my hands up.

“I’m just stating options. You are eighteen, and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You don’t even know if you and Lewis are more than a summer fling.”

Tabs leaps from the chair, her hands balled into tight little fists. “And when you were smashing that giant glass heart the other week? Were you overreacting to a summer fling?”

“Hey, don’t look at me. I was a complete dick, and I regret the whole thing.”

She settles a little and I think I’m free from her scratching my eyes out in a hormonal burst of aggression. “You regret breaking the heart?”

I shake my head. “No. I regret meeting your brother. I should have stayed on the path I was already on.”

She watches me, and I know I’m talking tripe. I wouldn’t be meeting the Art Editor of Channel 4 on Friday if it wasn’t for Elijah. I shrug. “Okay, I just wish I hadn’t shagged him. I should have kept it professional.”

“Bu—”

“No. I said no talking about him.” She glares but crimps her lips shut.

I’m about to offer tea but her phone rings again. This time she pulls it out quickly and answers. I’m guessing she’d only move that fast for Lewis, so I get up and start to take the three steps to the kitchen when I hear her say, “Eli.”

It’s stupid, ridiculous even, but my heart lurches, my stomach tightens, and deep inside me a little piece of me dies just from knowing he’s on the other end of her phone.

Fuck it hurts.

I hate it when things hurt.

Control is what I maintain, but he’s stolen it nearly as much as Aiden who groomed me all those years ago.