Page 33 of A Winter Wish

“You’re back now,” Fran continued, and Lexie nodded.

Where was Theo right now? He hadn’t said where he was going on his leave, and she’d made a point of not asking anyone in the office. Where did he go for a holiday, given he got to go so many cool places with the company? She supposed it was different from being somewhere for work—though since being a kid, she’d only been able to afford to go abroad when it was for a job, and for her that never took away the thrill of seeing somewhere new. Who was he with? A friend? She had no idea what his life was like outside the company. Was he with a girlfriend? She shouldn’t care. Apart from the fact that he’d kissed her. And cheated on his poor girlfriend. His poor girlfriend she didn’t even know he had.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Lexie said too quickly.

“Yes, you are: you’ve got that expression where you’re all pre-emptively annoyed about something. It’s the same one I remember from when we were kids and you were scowling at Ellen Bates for stealing a pencil she hadn’t got round to stealing yet.”

“I’m doing some pointless spiraling. And Ellen Bates would have stolen the pencil if I hadn’t thought to prevent it.”

“Spiraling about the company?”

Maybe she waited a beat too long before saying, “Yes.”

Fran’s eyes narrowed. “Or about a certain someone in the company?”

Lexie picked up her nearly empty coffee cup. No wonder she felt jittery—this was her third cup of the day. Note to self: drink less coffee. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, we’re pretending we don’t know who a certain someone is, are we? I’m confused because you keep bringing him up every five minutes. And just so you know, this is my sarcastic voice.”

Lexie rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the heads-up.” She shook her head. “I keep bringing him up because he annoys me and I have to work with him and he’s arrogant and condescending and…Can we talk about something else?”

“You’re the one still talking about him.”

Lexie sighed. “You’re impossible.”

“I’m delightful.”

“How’s Noah?”

“Oh. I think that might be over.”

“What? But you sounded so keen.”

“That was until he told me he’s not really into monogamy.”

“Where do you find these people, Fran?”

“I’m on all the apps. You’ve got to be, if you want to meet someone.” Lexie couldn’t help thinking again how weird it was that the divorce lawyer was a serial dater.

“Well, good. Being single is better anyway.”

“For you. But I want to find someone, Lexie.”

“Even though you see how it can…” She put her mug down, decided not to finish that thought.

“How it can end? With divorce, you mean? Yes, even then.”

Time to change the subject. “And you’re still going to stick with it? The…”—she waved a hand in the air—“lawyering?”

Fran frowned slightly. She had a great frown, Fran—it was like she frowned with her whole face, her lip sticking out, her cheeks pulling in. It was weird, the things you missed when you didn’t see people enough. “I made a list and decided the pros outweigh the cons. It was color coded and everything.”

“Of course it was.”

Lexie’s phone buzzed on top of the table between them, and she reached for it. A WhatsApp—from Rachel. Her heart gave an extra-large thump. She didn’t open it—didn’t want Rachel to know she had yet—but she could see the message flashing on the top of the screen.

I hear you’re back in the UK. Maybe we could talk?