Page 147 of She Wolf

The rest I make up because the truth is that I spent the majority of the time staring out the window. She shows me her—but phrases it as ‘our’—favorite deli, pizza place, and the closest Starbucks. I’m just a tea girl, but she loves her coffee.

Reading my mind, she says, “Don’t worry, they do Twining’s here, but I ordered some of yours and it arrived at the house this morning.”

I hadn’t even thought about the things I’d miss when I decided to leave. We love most of the same stuff, so when she says it’s going to be my favorite place to eat, I believe her. She promises to take me to the shop a few blocks away because I’ll ‘flip out’ going down its ‘British’ aisle.

I hope she’s right about everything. I hope this is where I’ll mend my heart and put myself back together.

We walk around in the weird October sunshine and she manages to keep me laughing, telling me all about a big case she’s working on and what she and Theo have been up to.

I have to ask her to start from the beginning. I’ve been so out of it, I don’t really think I’ve heard a lot of what she’s said, and I feel shit about it. That I couldn’t even bring myself to ask her how her life was going.

“Hey, I see that guilty look in your eye. Stop it. It’s been so rough for you, there’s no blame here. I’ll start from the top.” She stops, clears her throat, and takes a deep breath.

“It was a cold and snowy Wednesday morning, I had beaten the daily rush, getting into work extra early. Myself and a few of the other early birds stepped onto the lift and started to ascend to our floors. Up and up and up the lift went, until, the lights flickered and the car ground to a sudden halt…”

I cover my mouth as I try to suppress a smile. She’s really going for it here.

“Help, help we cried, but no one could hear-”

“Don’t you work for a multi-million-dollar law firm? Didn’t they have cameras, a security system, an intercom?”

“Oh fine, yes they do. The security guard alerted us to the fact that there had been some kind of malfunction, the lift was between floors and that emergency assistance was on its way. Can I please continue my story?” she huffs.

“Yes, you can. Carry on.”

“Thank you. So… The minutes drag by and I’m starting to get worried. After about six hours—”

“Lex!”

“Okay. Ten minutes. We hear talking, clanking, and scraping. The car jolts and then the doors are pried open. And do you know what I saw?”

“No, Lexie, what did you see?”

“I saw the most piercing set of blue eyes on the most handsome face there ever was.”

“Wow!”

“Yes, wow. In fact, let me just show you a picture.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket and clicks the button on the side. The screen lights up with a selfie of her and Theo smiling happily into the camera. They’re both ‘model’ beautiful.

“He was like, ‘Hey everyone. We’ll have you out of here in no time. My name’s Theo. Just sit tight for a few more minutes.’ Then he goes about bossing all the other firefighters around, securing ropes and jamming the doors. It was very sexy.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“Yes. My panties were damp in seconds.”

“Oh Lex, you definitely could have left that bit out,” I giggle.

“What? At least I didn’t say knickers, how horrible is that word? ‘You’re so hot, my knickers flood’? No thank you. I adopted the word ‘panties’ as soon as I crossed through border control, I’m telling you.”

“Do you wanna get to the part where the sexy fireman is now your perfect boyfriend?”

“Ugh fine… His vivid and striking gaze did a sensual sweep of my designer-dress-clad body and as he reached out his now ungloved hand to help me up onto the little set of ladders he’d placed for us to step onto, he swept me into his arms, told me he’d never met anyone so beautiful, and kissed me, right there in front of the five other lift passengers.”

“He did not,” I snort.

“You’re the worst. Just go with it. Anyway, after his heroic save, I never thought I would see him again, but when I left work that evening, he was waiting outside the building and asked me if I’d like to go for coffee. I said yes, of course, it led to dinner, then a few more dates, then breakfast…” She says with a wink and a nudge of her elbow, “…and now, here we are, sixteen glorious months later.”

“That is some meet-cute, Lex. I’m so glad he makes you happy,” I tell her as she nods and looks at the lock screen photo on her phone again.

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