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“What are they saying?” Frances asked, surprised that she hadn’t heard anything.
“That you and I are having an illicit affair.”
Frances pulled back, startled, though she couldn’t deny she liked the sound of it. “Why would they think that?”
“One of my male colleagues asked me out, and I made it clear to him that I was a lesbian. When the others started asking what I was doing in your house, he suggested that you weren’t into men either.”
Frances’s lips tightened. “So they put two and two together and came up with, what, sixty-nine?”
Lucie let out a laugh. “Something like that.”
Warmth spread through Frances’s chest at the thought of doing such a thing with Lucie. There was also relief, even a flicker of excitement that they were both into women, and that they might finally be on the same side of something.
Their eyes met and held for a moment. It was too dark to make out colour, and Frances’s mind flicked back through their previous encounters. What colour were Lucie’s eyes?
“I’ve never hidden my sexuality, but I didn’t realise it was the subject of gossip,” she admitted. “Judith in the shop is a lesbian too. No one’s ever suggested anything like that about the two of us to my knowledge... but then, she is married.”
Silence fell between them. Lucie kicked lightly at the path with the toe of her boot. The low light from the hall window illuminated her features as she shifted a step closer. She really was striking, even dressed as an elf. Somehow, the costume suited her.
“Look, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot,” Lucie finally said. “I wasn’t trying to get in your face about your mum. I was trying to help.”
Lucie sat down beside her. Their shoulders brushed on the small bench, sending more heat rushing through Frances.
“I’d like us to be, well, friends might be pushing it, but I think you could use one.”
“I could, and I’d like that... very much,” Frances said, turning towards her and catching a grin on Lucie’s face. It brought one to her own.
“Good. That’s something we agree on. Is your mum asleep?”
“Yes. She has some good sleeping tablets, something I’m very grateful for. It gives me time to get a bit of work done, then decompress and stare at the stars.”
“Should I leave you to it?”
Catching a subtle shift in Lucie’s body as if she was about to stand, Frances reached out and rested a hand on her arm. “No. Please stay.” She removed her hand and added, “Unless you have somewhere to be.”
“No. I’ve nowhere to be,” Lucie said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she settled back against the bench. She tipped her head back, gaze lifting to the sky. “I like to stare at the stars, too, but it’s strange seeing Orion the right way up.”
“Right way up?” Frances repeated.
“Oh.” Lucie chuckled. “I spent the last ten years in the southern hemisphere. I’m used to seeing everything the other way round. The Milky Way is much brighter there, too, more overhead. With less light pollution, the sky is properly black. The stars feel... flatter here. As if the sky is holding something back.”
Frances hummed. Having never been to the southern hemisphere, the thought that the sky might differ had never occurred to her, even if it was obvious now.
“I like to think Gran and my mum are up there,” Lucie added. “Watching over me.”
Frances’s throat tightened. She’d lost her mum too?
“I’m sorry for your losses.”
“Thanks,” Lucie said with a small shrug. “It’s just life, isn’t it? We’re all either coming or going.”
Frances saw Lucie shiver, and she realised she had likely been on her way back to the staff room for her coat before heading home.
“Would you like to come in?” she offered. “It’s freezing out here. I could make us some tea?”
“Please,” Lucie replied quickly, already on her feet.
Frances closed the front door quietly behind them and guided a smiling Lucie through to the sitting room. Something burrowed in her chest, drawing an impish smile to her own lips.
