Page 55 of The Retreat
‘It doesn’t feel like it’s for both of us. It feels like you’re working so hard to be anywhere else.’
Talia was stumped. Wasshethe problem, after all?
‘I don’t know how to keep doing this,’ Flora said. ‘I don’t want to feel like I’m the only one working at us.’
‘That’snotfair,’ Talia said. She heard a noise and turned to it. Someone was listening.
She saw the woman who’d later play quite the feature in her nightmares. But right then, all she saw was Flora’s young intern. Talia felt bad for embarrassing her.
‘Sorry,’ she said quickly and slunk out the back way like the graceless wreck she was.
***
Back at her desk, Talia tried to work. She couldn’t.
She answered three emails and reread one line of a contract fifteen times before giving up. Her mind kept looping back to Flora’s face. The way she’d looked moreoffendedthan guilty. Could Talia really have misread it?
She looked at her phone. No messages. Nothing from Flora.
At 5:15, she shut her laptop. For once, she wasn’t going to let the evening get swallowed. She was going home. She was going to talk to Flora like a grown-up. She was going to fix it. She loved Flora. She couldn’t throw that away over a misunderstanding.
***
Talia froze in the doorway of her bedroom.
She hadn’t expected anything when she heard a noise from the bedroom, not really. She thought Flora might be watching TV.
She’d approached the room, thinking maybe they’d talk about what had happened that morning. Maybe apologise. Maybe touch each other like they used to.
Instead, she saw Flora’s bare shoulders, her body sat up in an unmistakable position. She was astride someone.
‘What the fuck is this?’ Talia asked. It was rhetorical. She could see what it was.
They sprang apart like kids caught stealing from the cookie jar. Imogen grabbed at a sheet, and only then did she look at Talia. Her expression was pure horror.
Talia didn’t move. Her keys were still in her hand, clenched tight enough to press sharp little half-moons into her palm. Her eyes scanned the scene. The two glasses on the table, the crumpled clothes half-hidden under the edge of the bed, Flora’s mouth still parted like she might say something.
‘I sacked off work,’ Talia said, her voice still unnervingly level. ‘So we could spend the evening together.’
Flora opened her mouth, but nothing came. Not even a lie. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t make it worse. Nothing that would make this look like anything other than what it was.
Talia took one long look. Just long enough to make sure she’d remember it.
And then she turned and walked out.
She didn’t know where she was going. She just needed to be not here. Her legs were shaking. Her chest was tight.
She heard footsteps behind her.
‘Talia!’
She didn’t stop.
‘Wait, please!’
Flora grabbed her arm, breathless. Talia turned, her jaw clenched.
‘You’re overreacting,’ Flora said, eyes wide with panic.
