Page 16

“I won’t,” Omar said as he left the room with a wave.

The front door shut, signaling his departure, and Maya sank into her chair, her shoulders relaxing.

Yvonne smiled. “He means well.”

Maya huffed into her tea. For some reason, the unwelcome thought of Sam popped into her head, and she almost groaned. She’d thought about him on and off all the previous day, remembering how mortifying it’d been to see him and how he’d clearly not wanted to take her up on the offer of a lift. Her and her stupid Jiminy Cricket conscience. She should’ve scooted down in the driver’s seat and snuck past him rather than stopping to help, but there was no way in a million years that she could’ve left him there, stranded. No matter how much she disliked him. And the conversation in the car had been like pulling teeth.

Even worse than the memory of mortification was the image of how good he’d looked. He was gorgeous clothed, but in a state of semi-undress? She tugged at her collar, suddenly feeling rather warm for a winter’s afternoon in the Highlands. As he’d left the car, she was sure he’d caught her looking at him longingly, and so as soon as he’d climbed out, she had driven off in order to cover her embarrassment.

Surely Sunday should be her day of rest from ruminating over the ghosts of boyfriends past. Though he’d never been her boyfriend, just her tonsil-hockey partner. And the two of them had played a mean game. A game that he’d no longer wanted to participate in, and it’d been over before it really started.

A little flash of guilt entered her mind—she’d never told Liv what had happened between her and Sam. She’d been about to confess all—both her huge, yearslong crush and also their ski resort trysts. But then he’d dumped her and gone off with Cat and it didn’t seem relevant anymore. In any case, Maya hadn’t trusted herself to describe the situation to Sam’s twin without calling him every expletive under the sun, and that wouldn’t have been fair on Liv.

After that, Liv had fallen out with Cat, and Maya had gotten the feeling it could be to do with Liv not liking her friend being involved with her brother. So perhaps the whole thing had been a narrow escape. Except it had never felt that way.

“What’s wrong?” Yvonne was frowning at her across the table as she drew her short blond hair into a ponytail.

“Nothing,” Maya said quickly. “Just trying to think how I’m going to sort the whole ‘third world debt, climate change, world peace’ thing.”

Yvonne raised her eyebrows, smiling. “You forgot ending the recession.”

“Oh yeah,” Maya said, lifting her mug to her mum. “I really should make a to-do list.”

Yvonne laughed, then sipped her tea, eyeing Maya over the rim. “What’s up? You always make a joke to get out of telling me when something’s on your mind. And don’t deny it, because you’ve been preoccupied ever since you arrived. Is it because of Rich?”

“Nah,” Maya said, shrugging. “To be honest, the whole split has been perfectly amicable.” She sighed. “No drama, no angst, no nothing. It all just fizzled out.” She made a “pfft” sound and closed her fingers together, as if putting out a tiny candle. To be honest, she could describe the whole relationship that way. And pretty much all the others before it. No drama, no heat, no skin-tingling excitement. Not since Sam.

“The job issue? Is that it?” Yvonne asked.

“Er, yeah,” Maya said. That was also playing on her mind, and she wasn’t sure how much to give away. She couldn’t tell her mum that she’d always hated her job and had never wanted to become an accountant. Not when her dad had paved the career path for her. “That is weighing on me.” Maya swirled her tea, deciding that being vague was best. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Do you know what you don’t want?”

Maya snapped her gaze up to meet Yvonne’s. Had her mum guessed? “What I don’t want?”

“That’s right.” Yvonne’s blue gaze was almost penetrating. “Don’t you want to be an accountant anymore?”

An ache developed in her stomach. Maybe she could tell her mum the truth? But she didn’t want to disappoint her parents any further. Perhaps her mum would understand, but it might put her in a difficult position with Dad. She glanced away. “Of course I do.”

There was a moment’s silence before Yvonne answered. “Are you sure?”

Maya swallowed. “Yes.”

Yvonne studied her for a couple of seconds. She cleared her throat. “By the way, I forgot to tell you that I ran into Ben at the supermarket last night.”

Maya sipped her tea. “Big Boss Ben?”

Yvonne laughed. “I forgot you used to call him that.”

Maya shot her a grin. “How is he?”

“He looked stressed, to be honest.” Yvonne frowned. “They’re short-staffed at the ski center, and it’s taking its toll on Sam.”

Maya tried to stop her treacherous ears from pricking up. “Oh?”

Yvonne nodded. “Sam’s the assistant manager now, so he’s been picking up the slack.”

Something clicked in the back of Maya’s mind. Sam had mentioned that he was teaching the Saturday-morning kids’ class, when his realm had always been the advanced classes. He must be covering the junior lessons for this rota gap. Maya tried to feel triumphant that he was struggling where she excelled, but she couldn’t muster anything but sympathy. I’m such a pushover.