Page 93 of Lie For Me

She deleted it and started typing again.

‘Morning! I’m up, are you around?’

Then deleted it again.

She paused and then tried again, reaching for something that felt relaxed and casual.

‘Mad night, feeling fragile now. Need food! You around?’

Delete delete delete.

‘Hey.’

She paused, all grasp of the English language deserting her. She stared at the blinking cursor, waiting for input.

Could she just send, ‘Hey?’

She threw the phone across the bed and pulled the sheet over her head. What exactly do you send to a friend you slept with who had then disappeared by the time the morning came?

She reached for the phone again. She was overthinking this—she knew she was.

‘Hey, I’m awake and hungry—you around to grab breakfast?’ and hit send before she could overthink things.

Jack slipped back through the door, just as the message showed as delivered.

It clicked closed quietly behind him.

‘Oh, hi,’ she whispered from the bed.

She smiled and tugged at the sheet to make room for him.

Her voice seemed to startle him, and he looked sheepish, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

‘Hi,’ he said back, not quite meeting her eyes. ‘You okay?’

‘Yes, fine,’ Lucy replied. ‘All good.’

She smoothed the sheet back down and arranged her face in what she hoped was a casual expression.

‘I got you a coffee,’ he said, with a half-smile as he made his way round the bed.

She held out her hand to take it from him, but he put it down on the table beside her. Lucy hitched the sheet up and tucked it around her and saw him note the movement.

He perched on the edge of the bed at the bottom, near her feet. They fell silent. Lucy took the coffee and sipped it.

‘Thanks’, she murmured, nodding at the cup.

Jack smiled.

Lucy was acutely aware of her nakedness beneath the sheet and how very clothed Jack was. She couldn’t read him, couldn’t tell if he was deeply regretting their night or was just nervous. She contemplated seductively lowering the sheet but couldn’t face the humiliation if he jumped up, covered his eyes and said, ‘Oh no, Luce, you’ve got the wrong idea! Last night was a mistake. We need to move on.’

So she quietly sipped her coffee and kept the sheet tucked tightly around her.

The silence was so deafening it felt like a third person in the room.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked, unable to bear it any longer.

‘Yep, fine,’ he said, watching her. ‘Did you sleep all right?’

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