Page 122 of Swim To Me

There’s no way I can hide my late entry, well, notlate,but certainly not my usual early arrival, seeing as the board room is full and the door clicks loudly announcing my entry.

I stare back at the ten or so faces staring at me, feeling heat rise to my cheeks and the base of my throat.

“Morning,” I say, swallowing dryly. “Sorry I’m late… got stuck behind a big crowd in the tube station.”

Nobody offers me an answer, but I pull out the only empty chair regardless, setting my handbag at my feet and glance down at the papers, covered in statistics, in front of me.

“Okay.” Kate, my boss stands to address us. “Now, that everyone is here, I’d like to say thank you for coming in on your Saturday, it’s very much appreciated. In front of you, you each have papers detailing the statistical review of the book sales, starting early hours of this morning at midnight. So far, we’reon the up with increases, which is what we like to see, but that’s to be expected seeing as the book is new. In today’s meeting, we need to discuss how we’re going to keep up the sales, without declining. Any ideas?”

Ideas fly around the room, but before I can even voice mine, my phone interrupts the important train of conversation, ringing insistently from in the depths of my bag.

“Sorry,” I cringe at the noise, ducking down to reach the damned thing and turn it off.

My mobile phone stops echoing around the now silent board room as soon as I turn it over in my palm. But it starts up again not a beat later, an unknown number flashing on the screen, before Aurelia’s name pops up.

Worry flashes through me poker hot.

She knows I’m in a work meeting. I text her last night, before Grey and I fell asleep, to let her know the work party went well, but I was needed in a work meeting bright and early in the morning and then Sunday I’d be heading on the train to meet Grey’s parents out in the countryside. I promised I’d give her a call on Sunday night so we could chit chat properly… except, she’s ringing me right now, which can only mean something is wrong and she needs me.

“It’s my little sister,” I say out loud, my free hand reaching upwards to tug at the small gold hoop sitting in my pierced lobes. “She’d only ring me at work if it was something important.”

“You can have two minutes, Miss Clark. Please make it quick.”

With a nod of thanks, I duck out into the deserted corridor, accepting Aurelia’s incoming call with a swipe of my thumb.

“Aurelia? What’s wrong? It better be important because I’ve just had to leave my work meeting, so—”

“Have you seen the news?”

“The news?” I furrow my brow. “No, I haven’t. Why are you ringing to ask me if I’ve—”

“The news… on your phone or-or have you seen a newspaper? The front cover of today’s newspaper?”

There’s something in the tone of Aurelia’s voice I don’t like. Something unsettling my stomach.

“Seriously, Aura, I don’t have a clue what you’re on about. I’m at work—”

Aurelia takes a sharp, audible inhale. “You’re on the front cover of today’s newspaper, Delilah. You and Grey.”

The ground moves beneath me.

“I’m…What?”

“On the front cover,” Aurelia repeats, and this time I can hear a distinct rustle of paper in the background. “It popped up on my newsfeed this morning and I couldn’t believe it, so I went out and bought a paper from the corner shop and…”

I flatten my hand against the wall to keep myself upright. “What does it say?”

I’m flashing red hot and clammy cold, my mouth dry, my stomach flipping.

“The headline reads: ‘Dive into the relationship between swimmer Grey Millen and his secret girlfriend. Pages 8-9’.”

This is my worst nightmare come to life. Every fear I felt in my heart, every fear I revealed to Grey about us, about the press finding out… it’s happening.

“I—”

“Are you still at the office?”

“Y-yes.”

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