Page 22 of Lie For Me

Lucy swiped the card again, and the light went red.

‘Bloody hell. It’s not working.’

She wiped the card on her dress and tried again.

Red light.

‘Right, I’ve got to go all the way back down to reception to get this sorted,’ she huffed.

Jack dropped all the bags and took the card. ‘Give it here. You’re going too fast. You have to do it sloowwly.’

Lucy glared at him, folded her arms, and prayed to all that was right and just in the world that the card wouldn’t work. Jack slid the card through the reader. The red light came on. Lucy was triumphant.

‘Yes! See? It’s not me, it’s the card, smart arse.’

Jack slid the card through once again. The green light came on.

He turned and gave her a grin as broad as the Cheshire cat’s. He raised his eyebrows in a quizzical expression and spread his hands.

‘I’m sorry. You were saying?’

Lucy ignored him and stalked into the room, leaving half her bags in the corridor.

‘I’m not the bell boy,’ Jack called after her.

Lucy returned and started gathering bags.

‘I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own bags, thanks, I just had to get away from you before your ego smothered us both.’

She wheezed with the effort of lugging her bags into the room. She dropped one in the entrance way but refused to stop and start again, so she started kicking it into the room with one foot while peering over the bags piled into her arms to see where she was going.

Jack followed with his single bag, still smiling.

‘How are you doing there? Need a hand?’ he asked sweetly.

‘Sod off,’ Lucy said, dropping the bags onto the bed and collapsing on top of them.

‘Oof!’

She looked around the room. It was in the older part of the hotel and was a spacious room with dark wood antique furniture. A king-size bed with a huge wooden frame sat squarely in the centre of the room. Lucy glanced at it then averted her eyes.

‘So,’ Jack said as he closed the door. ‘We’ve met your mum and dad, and they love me, check.’ He gave a thumbs up. Lucy groaned. ‘What’s happening tonight?’

Lucy started digging through bags.

‘It’s just an informal buffet and drinks this evening because people are arriving at different times. Mostly family, a handful of friends, I think. Most of the guests arrive tomorrow.’

‘Exactly how many people are coming to this thing?’

Jack was pulling shirts and trousers out of his holdall. They were remarkably neat and uncreased. Lucy thought of her own packing technique and glanced around the room for an iron.

‘Um, I think about a hundred people are invited for the whole weekend, but about another hundred are invited to the ceremony and reception on Saturday.’

‘Bloody hell! I don’t think I even know that many people.’

Lucy rubbed her temples and screwed up her nose.

‘I’m getting a migraine just thinking about it. All that small talk…so much time with Heather and mum…’

---