The Last Word

Chapter 11

I was sitting on my couch, my moon boot resting on the coffee table under a pillow with Mr. Darcy's face printed on it, well Colin Firth's face as Mr. Darcy.

I was back to working from home which suited me perfectly as I didn't have to meet with William in person. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about the hurt look on his face, two days had passed and I hadn't heard a single peep from him. No calls, emails or even his favorite go-to Zoom meetings. Two months ago, I would have reveled in being finally left alone but now I hated it. He never replied to my text thanking him for paying my hospital bills. I had offered to repay him, I hated being in his debt.

Sabrina was acting differently again, since she guessed William's true identity, she had grilled me for hours on whether or not I was attracted to him. "Yes, he is attractive," I kept repeating, "but I'm not attracted to him." Maybe if I said it enough times out loud, I'd start to believe it. I hadn't told her about the kiss, part of me believed it was a dream but another part knew with a stark certainty that even my imaginative mind couldn't create the feeling of his fingers on my jaw, his lips pressing against mine with a scorching ferocity that seemed so at odds with his cold personality.

In his absence, I finally caught up on all my other work which was nice for a change. I also had a call from the police, asking to meet. Given my moon boot they came to my apartment.

They were concerned about the anonymous phone calls, even though I hadn't received any since the break-in.

"Do you have any idea who it could be, any-one at all comes to mind?" I shrugged. I wanted to mention Demi but I just couldn't believe she'd do this. It just wasn't her style; she was more into spreading rumors like the one she spread a few years ago that Sabrina and I were secretly married. Darrin looked like he was going to have a conniption when he heard about it, he was anti-gay marriage although he didn't actively talk about it, I heard him once say to Aron, "the gays are trying to take everything from us normal people," as if they were some alien race. Maybe he was just upset that despite being "normal" he was still single at the age of fifty as no woman would ever be stupid enough to marry him.

"No-one comes to mind. Like I said earlier, I don't do anything but work and then go home," I said, watching one of the officers staring at my numerous bookcases.

His partner handed me his card with a kind smile. "Call this number should you think of anything else."

After they were gone, I limped around tidying up, trying to distract myself from checking my phone every five seconds for a text from William. Maybe it was a good thing he was ignoring me after the kiss, it would mean I wouldn't have to explain the mess that is inside my head. This is why I stuck to my books, living vicariously through romance novels was far easier than real-life drama. At least with a book I could just close it and pop it back on the shelf. If a character was annoying me, I'd just pause the movie and come back to it another time. But how could I pause my brain from replaying the kiss repeatedly? Instead, it seemed to be stuck on replay.

I tossed my hair over my shoulder and stared at my kitchen clock. It was 6:00PM, Sabrina had promised to bring me kway teow and prawn crackers on her way home from work.

My stomach grumbled, I could blame it on the hunger but really, I was feeling brave as I picked up my phone and called William before I could chicken out. It went straight to voicemail. My palms began to sweat, I wasn't expecting to have to leave a voice message. "Um hi, it's Lizzie. Your editor. I just wanted to check if you received my text. Thank you for the other day, for the hospital I mean not for the um... Let's talk once you're free. Thanks again, bye."

I hung up and threw my phone onto the couch. What was I thinking, leaving an awkward voice message? I never was good at thinking on the spot. Did I really just say "It's Lizzie. Your editor," as if he didn't already know that? My doorbell rang and I lurched for the door.