Page 37 of Not Your Shoe Size

“Maybe I should work from home,” Ty mused. “Spend more time with you?”

“We’d have sex all day and accomplish nothing.”

“So? Why do you get to relax at home and I have to work in an office where everyone giggles whenever I say, ‘solar power?’”

“Because you love being grumpy,” Kate reminded him. “And because you stopped coming to night classes when Madame Pollachi said you don’t articulate your vowels properly.”

“Stupid Madame Pollachi...” Ty beamed at her. “Hey, I have good news.”

“Go on?”

“The Belladonna Club’s officially vetted my ass. We’re in.”

Kate squealed, making Kiwi yelp.

“Oh my gosh, sorry, Kiwi!” She patted the little dog as she gaped at Ty. “Seriously?”

Ty gave her a satisfied smirk. “Oh yeah, we’re in.”

Kate laughed out loud. They’d applied for a membership at the Parisian adult club three months before. The vetting process was expensive and almost more complicated than applying for a work visa, but she and Ty had loved the elegant venue and airtight privacy Belladonna offered.

“This is such good news!” Kate grabbed Ty’s hand. “I knew we were going to get in.”

“I didn’t.” Ty yawned, stretching his arms over his head. “Either way, it’ll be good to start socializing with people I don’t work with.”

“Don’t we do that by Facetiming our entire friendship circle every week?” Kate asked.

“No,youdo that. The Barbie Trolls see more of you and Kiwi than I do.”

“Yeah, but Georgie and Ian are coming to stay with us next month.”

“So?”

“So, they’ll bring more socialisingandAustralian spirit with them,” Kate said. “Ian’s the biggest bogan going around. He’s like, all five members of Hilltop Hoods condensed into one guy.”

Ty laughed. “I hope you can handle it. They could have gotten their own place, you know, but you insisted they stay in the spare room…”

“It’ll be nice to have people in the house! Like being at camp together, but with better food.”

“That’s called living on campus at uni, and I lived on campus with Georgie in the nineties. It was a nightmare. Cat hair and feminist literature everywhere…” Ty gave a fake shudder.

Kate flicked his shoulder. “You’ll get over it. Consider it practise for when Rapunzel, Tam, Casey, and Gilly show up.”

“Hmmm.” Ty picked up Kate’s water glass and drank from it. He was bringing himself around to ask her something, but now that he didn’t drink, the asking tended to take longer. Kate sat and waited for him to speak. When the glass was empty, Ty put it down carefully. “How’s Rapunzel?”

Kate’s chest tightened, her internal screws wrenching tight. “She’s hurting.”

“Because her and Deidre are…?”

“They’re not back together. They’re still talking, but it’s over. Deidre moved out last weekend.”

The lines in Ty’s forehead deepened. “Did he show up to help her move?”

The screwdriver turned, sending fissures of pain down Kate’s front. “No, Rapunzel told Deidre she didn’t want him near the house.”

Ty nodded grimly. “Good. Baby, I know it can’t be easy, but none of this is your fault.”

“I know, it just sucks.”

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