Page 12 of Snow Going Back

Standing up abruptly, she flashed everyone a quick smile. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

Not pausing to explain, Kate made her way through the house to the furthest point away from the party and the kitchen.The furthest point away fromeveryone. As she slipped out the side door, she sucked in a deep breath of air and bent over, giving in to the panic attack that had been hovering over her since she’d first seen the ring.

Pulling in great deep noisy gulps of air one after the other, she finally let it all out. All the panic and the horror and the guilt and the helplessness. It all flooded out of her in a series of big ugly anxiety-filled sobs, each one tripping over the next as they rushed to escape, to the point she could barely breathe. Her sobs grew faster and faster until she felt like she couldn’t get enough oxygen in her lungs. It was only when she started to feel faint that Kate forced her emotions back under control and sat down on the ground, exhausted. She leaned back against the wall, and slowed her breathing, staring bleakly out at the garden.

There was something wrong with her. She knew that. Anyone else would be thrilled to be in her position. But knowing that didn’t make it any easier. She rested her head back and closed her eyes. She needed to clear her head, but it was impossible here. She needed to get away somewhere quiet, somewhere where she could get a grip on everything without everyone buzzing around her.

A quiet ping broke the silence, and after a few seconds Kate pulled her phone from her pocket to see who it was. It was from her boss, Simon. She opened it with a small frown of surprise. He never usually disturbed her on a weekend.

Sorry to do this to you on a weekend, but you’re needed in Boston urgently. If I can get you a flight tomorrow, could you make it work? I know tomorrow’s Sunday. I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Too complex to explain over text. Bob will fill you in when you land. Please let me know ASAP. –S

Kate blinked and sat up, grasping the unexpected and perfectly timed lifeline with both hands.

Yes, I can make it work. Book it. Whatever flights available. –K

Pressing send, she glanced back towards the door, then typed out a second message.

Actually, if you can get me on one tonight, even better. I can be at the airport in three hours. Let me know. –K

SEVEN

After breaking the news that she’d been urgently called away to everyone – and dealing with her mother’s very vocal disapproval that she’d evenconsiderleaving the country so soon after being proposed to – Kate had finally managed to slip away from the party and head back to London, with the excuse that she needed to pack. Faced with two hours alone with Lance in the confines of his car, she’d exaggerated her exhaustion and pretended to fall asleep a few minutes into the drive. She didn’t actually sleep a wink on the long trip back, her head too busy spinning to rest, as she tried to process the events of the day. But she kept up the pretence until Lance had dropped her off at her flat, as she just couldn’t face talking about it all any further.

Her flight the next morning passed in a wonderfully peaceful blur, and after landing in a grey, rainy Boston, Kate taxied to her hotel and took some time to freshen up. By the time she was ready to get to work, shealmostfelt normal again.

Grabbing her phone from the table by her window, Kate placed a call to Bob, one of the senior partners in their Boston office and the man she answered to whenever she worked on this side of the pond. She looked out across the skyline as the US dialling tone hummed in her ear. The rain had finally stopped,and flight trails were now the only thing graffitiing the clear blue skies over the city.

Bob picked up on the second ring. ‘Kate, hi. You here? Flight OK?’ He sounded tense.

‘Yes, all checked in. Where shall I meet you?’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Have you eaten? Want to catch me up over lunch?’

‘I figured you’d be hungry, so I’ve ordered in,’ he replied. ‘Chinese food from that place you like. It just arrived, so head on over while it’s still hot.’

Kate frowned suspiciously. Bob hated Chinese food.

‘OK,’ she replied. ‘I’ll be right over.’ She put the phone down and picked up her jacket.

A year or so before, Sophie, her counterpart in the Boston office, had upped and left without notice, after dumping the contents of all her case files in one big defiantscrew youpile on the floor of her office. It was her parting gift to Derek, a slick-talking junior partner she’d been dating, after finding out that not only had he cheated on her with one of the interns, but he was also married with two children. Kate had worked closely with Sophie, their international clients often needing services on both continents, which made her the only person who knew enough to piece all the files back together correctly. It was supposed to have been a temporary arrangement for Kate to fix the files and just keep things ticking over until they recruited Sophie’s replacement, but as time went on, Kate had realised she really enjoyed the variety of working between the two offices. And as she was happy to continue that way, Bob had been in no hurry to change things.

The office was just two buildings down from the hotel, so a few minutes later Kate let herself in and made her way up to Bob’s office on the sixth floor. She knocked and then walked in.

‘Kate!’ Bob held his arms outwards with a wide winning smile. His unnaturally white teeth gleamed against tannedleathery skin, and his blue eyes twinkled with a sharpness that belied his years. ‘You look well. How are you?’ He beckoned her further in. ‘Come. Sit, sit, sit. You must be tired.’

‘I’m great, thanks,’ Kate lied, allowing him to gently push her towards the lounge area of his office, comprising of four sofas facing inwards in a neat square.

The coffee table in the centre was covered in unopened boxes of food along with two tumblers filled with ice and a dark amber liquid she suspected was probably whisky. Raymond, one of the other partners, lay casually back on the sofa facing her, his arms draped across the back, one leg crossed over the other. The relaxed stance didn’t fool her.

‘How are things here?’ she asked, looking at them both in turn.

‘They’re good – things are good,’ Bob replied brightly, nodding as he sat down next to Raymond. ‘But we’ll get to all that. Come – take a load off. Let’s have some food and catch up first. Can I get you a drink?’

He stood back up, but she halted him with her hand.

‘With all due respect, Bob, and I really don’t mean to be rude, but I’m not having a drink until you tell me what’s going on.’ She looked at them both in turn. ‘All Simon told me was that I had to jump on an emergency last-minute flight, out of the blue, with absolutely no explanation attached, and Idid. So now I’m here. On a Sunday.’ She placed her hands on her hips. ‘I think it’s about time someone told me why.Beforetrying to soften me up with alcohol.’

Raymond let out a low chuckle. ‘I told you she wouldn’t let you beat around the bush.’ He looked up at Bob with an amused smile.

Bob sighed and sat back down, scratching the almost bald – save a few white hairs that were still clinging on – top of his head. ‘OK, we’ll get right to it then.’

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