Page 49 of Read Between The Lines

I collected the plates and took my time loading the dishwasher, making the most of having a few minutes to pull myself together.

When I returned to the dining room, Moira looked up at me with a guilty expression. I experienced a clutch of nerves.

‘What have you done?’ I asked.

‘Moira has something she’d like to confess to you,’ said Rami.

She pulled a face, looking uncannily like the little children during story time at the library when they’ve pinched someone else’s book but are trying to deny it.

Moira shot her husband a glance, and my anxiety increased.

‘Moira darling?’ prompted Rami.

She let out a huffy sigh. ‘Fine. Your phone pinged when you were in the kitchen, and I may have taken a sneaky peek at the screen.’

‘Okay, well, I tell you most things anyway, so I really don’t mind,’ I said, even though I knew that there was going to be more to this confession.

‘And then…’ Rami encouraged her to continue.

‘And then I used your passcode to unlock your phone and reply to the message,’ said Moira in a rush.

‘I’m getting a very bad feeling about this. And that passcode was for emergency use only.’

Moira tried, and failed, to look sorry.

I sat down at the table and braced myself for the rest of her story. There was no way this was going to end well for me.

‘It was a message from Leo.’

I nodded, trying to appear calm, even though my thoughts were running at a million miles an hour.

‘Of course it was,’ I said, because that was my kind of luck.

‘He says he has to leave Oxford for a few days, but he’ll be in touch about the next stage of the investigation.’

‘Okay.’ I really hoped his sudden need to leave the city had nothing to do with the incident in the gym. I cringed with embarrassment just recalling it again. ‘Please tell me that you replied with something innocuous like a thumbs-up emoji and “have a nice trip, speak soon”?’

‘Mm-hmm,’ said Moira. ‘Yes, it was definitely something like that.’

‘Moi-ra,’ said Rami, employing his best stern tutor voice. ‘Don’t you think it’s better you come clean rather than waiting for her to read the message and find out the truth for herself? You’re torturing the poor girl by stringing it out like this.’

‘If you insist,’ she said warily. ‘So, I may have replied with something along the lines of how much I– by which I meant of course you– will miss him. And then I urged him to hurry back, and ended with some kisses.’

‘How many kisses?’ I asked, my face feeling hot at the thought, although it was ridiculous to focus on that small detail when the rest of the message sounded mortifying enough.

‘Three, or thereabouts,’ she said.

‘Oh, that is not good. I’ve never even used one kiss when we’ve been texting and he’s certainly not, either. And I can’t believe you told him to hurry back.’

‘I thought it was sweet,’ said Rami wistfully.

‘Then I shall hold you equally responsible for aiding and abetting her,’ I said. ‘You’re both as bad as each other. Maybe I should text and tell Leo you hijacked my phone?’

‘You could do that,’ said Moira, ‘but won’t he wonder why your friends thought it would be appropriate to send such a loving message?’

‘I’m certainly wondering that,’ I retorted, my mind whirling as I considered my options.

‘In fact, do you not think he might start to question whether there’s some basis of truth in the text?’ she pressed. ‘That you really will be missing him while he’s out of town?’

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