When Lia got home that morning, she attempted to sneak to her room and avoid her parents. Her father would be cross the rest of the day if he knew she’d spent the night with August, and her mother would ask wildly inappropriate questions that Lia had no intention of answering.
She slipped in the back door, the old servants’ entrance, and crept past the kitchen. She’d made it halfway up the stairs to her suite when she heard her mother’s voice.
“It’s 6:00 a.m.,” her mother said. “You’re up early.”
Lia turned around slowly on the steps.
“I have got to get my own flat.”
“Shall we go for a run? That’s why you’re up so early, isn’t it?”
“You think you’re one of those funny mothers on telly,” Lia said. “You are not.”
Her mother laughed a mocking laugh. A good old-fashioned ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa.
“Stop being smug about it.”
“You look exhausted, dear,” her smug mother said smugly.
“I had a long night.”
“I bet you did.” More smugness. “How’s Mr. Augustine Bowman?”
“Fine. Dandy. I’m going to bed now.”
“Not a bad idea,” her mother said. “I may go back to bed myself.”
“Do that,” Lia said. “We’ll all just have a lie-in. And none of us will tell Daddy where we were last night.”
“Oh, Daddy knows where I was last night.”
“Ugh, don’t call him Daddy,” Lia said, wincing. “Why do you do this to me?”
“Because it’s so fun to watch you squirm,” her mother said. “My own mother used to torture me, too. This is cosmic payback.”
“Can’t you please let me complete my walk of shame in peace, Mother?”
“Walk of fame, darling. Walk of fame. We do not buy into those sexist and outdated notions that girls aren’t allowed to have as much fun as boys are.”
“Thank you, Gloria Steinem. I’m going to walk my famous way to bed.”
“Aren’t you even going to ask why I’m awake so early and loitering by your staircase?”
Lia sighed heavily. “Why are you awake so early, Mum?”
“Because August called.”
“What?” Lia was suddenly wide-awake.
“He called your father’s mobile. Said you weren’t answering yours and it had rained a little and he wanted to make sure you got home safely.”
“Out of juice,” Lia said. “I’ll charge up and text him. Now can I go to bed?”
“You can.”
Lia turned and started—gingerly—up the stairs. She’d need to put an ice pack on her twat after the things August had done to her last night.
“He’s in love with you, you know,” her mother called up to her. No more smugness. Now her mother was absolutely crowing.
“He is not,” Lia called back.
“He called your father’s phone to make sure you got home safe. Either he’s in love with you or he has a death wish.”
Lia went to the top of the stairs and glared down at her mother.
“Today is Wednesday,” she said. “I met him on Saturday. That is five days.”
“Five? That’s a lifetime. I was already married to your father and pregnant with you two days after meeting him.”
Her mother had a point. Why were people always making good points when she didn’t want them to?
“Going to bed, Mum. Alone and not pregnant. Please stop talking.”
“Fine, fine. But you should know, even if your father disapproves, I like your boyfriend.”
Lia walked back down the stairs, put her hands on her mother’s shoulders and smiled.
“Mother, he is not my boyfriend. I am using him for sex. Gobs of very weird sex.”
Mum raised her eyebrows.
“See?” Lia said. “Two can play this game. Not so smug anymore, are we?”
“You are definitely your father’s daughter.”
Lia’s mother walked away. Thank the gods.
As soon as Lia was in her bedroom she plugged in her phone, as she promised she would, pulled off her clothes and collapsed into her bed.
Two seconds later, Gogo jumped onto the bed and stretched out next to her.
“He’s not in love with me,” Lia said to Gogo. He seemed to sort of nod in agreement. Or maybe he was just trying to lick her arm. Hard to say.
But Lia did know this—her mother was a loon. August was not falling in love with her any more than she was falling in love with August. The Rose Kylix or whatever the hell it was had aphrodisiac effects. She’d gotten swept up in the moment. That was all.
When her dead phone came back to life, Lia sent a quick message to August.
Psst...home safe.
Please get a decent car so I can sleep after you leave me.
It’s Wednesday, she replied. Our deal ends Friday, remember?
I can’t see you after Friday? he wrote.
I didn’t think you’d want to.
I want to, he replied.
Lia grinned at her phone screen. Then she wiped that stupid grin off her face.
We’ll talk about it later. Good night/morning, she wrote.
What do you want to play tonight? Zeus and Io?
Wasn’t she the one he turned into a cow?
Leda and the Swan, then?
August added several bird emoji. He was never going to let her forget the bird noises.
I’m not shagging a swan, Lia wrote. Surprise me.
You sure about that?
Was she? Letting August surprise her would mean she trusted the man. Did she?
I’m sure. Goodbye.
Apparently she did trust him.
See you tonight, August replied. In your dreams. I’ll see you right now in mine.
Lia set her phone on the nightstand and cuddled down into her blankets. She couldn’t quite stop smiling long enough to fall asleep.