Trying to Throw my Arms Around the World

Loose cannon

Loose cannon

“Aspirin’s not going to help this time,” I said. “I just had an interesting meeting with Mrs Henderson.” I stopped at a bench, to catch my breath and steady my wobbly knees.

“I see.” Lucy’s voice cracked over the phone.

I fully understood why she had never told me — I was hardly the most reliable person in her life — but it still shook me, destabilised me in ways I’d never imagined anything Lucy-related would.

“Come back to the office. We’ll talk,” she said.

“With Annabelle lurking outside your door? I don’t think so.”

“Take the afternoon off. I’ll see you tonight.” She hesitated a few seconds, the silence more nerve-wracking than any words. “This has absolutely nothing to do with you, Lee. It happened a long time ago.”

“I know,” I said and hung up. I pictured Annabelle’s victorious smile, which, for once, wouldn’t have to be entirely fake. She had pulled the wool over my eyes so expertly the night before and I had just accepted it. It had indeed been a mistake to underestimate her. The thought of having to mingle with her at the office every day made my stomach clench. How did Lucy do it? Did they have some secret, twisted boss-secretary thing going on between them? Of all the things I’d envisioned being fatal to my affair with Lucy, I’d never have expected it to be Annabelle Brooks. What amazed me most of all though, was how the tables had turned so quickly between Lucy and me.

“Can I come in?” Lucy asked. She held the door to my room open just wide enough for half of her face to peek through.

“Yes.” I swivelled my desk chair in her direction, my face drawn into a sulk. “But beware, I may be filming this.”

She headed over to where I was sitting and crouched down beside me. “That’s not even remotely funny,” she said, and smiled anyway.

“Now I understand why you wanted me to stay out of it and leave Annabelle alone.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out that way. In fact, I’m sorry you had to find out at all.”

“I shouldn’t have pried. It’s my own fault.”

“Are we all right?” Lucy stretched out her legs and towered over me, ruffling her hands through my hair.

“I’m not the one who slept with he blond bitch from hell. How did you ever recover from that?” I looked up at her and held her gaze. “And why did you lie?”

“I didn’t want to lay this on you, darling. Not at this stage.” She spread her legs and straddled me on the chair. “And as far as that night is concerned, I classified it as a necessary business decision.”

“Waw, you really remind me of someone right now.” I shot her a mocking smile.

“Don’t you dare say it, Lee.” She brought her lips to my ear. “You can accuse me of a lot, but I’m nothing like Claire Burns.”

“How do you face Annabelle’s plastic grin every morning?” I leaned back a bit to see her face. “It must annoy the hell out of you.”

Lucy pushed herself up and sat down on the bed. “I run BTG exactly the way I want to. Lynette and Annabelle may think they have some power, and they do have a little bit, but they’re stuck in their own little sick world of manipulation and games. They pose no real threat. As soon as I figured that out, I knew that if I just played along, everything would be fine.”

“Until I came along.”

“Well.” She held out both her hands, palms upwards, inviting me for a hug. “You are a bit of a loose canon.”

I grabbed hold of her fingers and let her pull me in. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

To be continued…