Hunting Lila (7 page)

‘How tall? About this high?’ He indicated a height an inch or so shorter than me.

I thought about it, trying to factor in her high heels. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’

‘Was her hair cut like this?’ He held his hand at an angle to his face.

I nodded. So he did know her then.

‘Did you talk to her?’

‘Yes.’

‘What did she say?’

‘She asked if I lived here and when she found out I was your sister she looked pretty relieved. That’s how I guessed she was someone you had . . . well, you know.’

He didn’t seem to hear the last part. ‘You told her you were my sister?’ He turned away from me, pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

‘Who is she?’ I was really confused now.

‘It’s not important.’

I arched an eyebrow. ‘So is this something I shouldn’t mention to Sara?’

He paused, about to hit a speed-dial button, and turned back to face me. ‘Lila, this is not what you think.’

I sensed that he was telling the truth, so stopped myself giving him my usual sceptical look.

‘Stay here,’ he said, walking into the hallway.

I looked around the kitchen – the sauce on the hob was simmering and the salad lay half chopped on the cutting board. ‘I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.’

About ten minutes later, Jack walked back in. He came over to where I was laying the table and put his arm around my shoulder.

‘Alex will be over in a bit. He’s joining us.’

I tried to act nonchalant, even though the butterflies in my stomach had started to riot. ‘I’ll set another place, then. So did you just call him? About Suki? What’s going on?’ I asked, as I laid out the extra place.

‘It’s nothing to worry about. She’s just someone we’re interested in talking to.’

‘Talking to? I watch
CSI
, Jack, I know what that means. What did she do?’ Curiosity layered my words. What on earth could a girl not much older than me, in killer heels, have done to interest a Marine unit like Jack’s? A thought struck me – maybe it was vice after all.

‘Nothing. We just want to talk to her about some information she might have.’

‘What information?’ I was like a terrier hanging on to his trouser leg but still he shook me off.

‘You know I can’t tell you.’

‘Yeah, I know, “or you’d have to kill me”. Really, that’s getting so old. You’re going to have to think of a better line.’ I pressed my lips together. He obviously wasn’t going to give anything away. Now my imagination was running wild. Who was she that he was this anxious about her being near the house – and near me? She hadn’t looked dangerous – slightly kooky, maybe, but the most dangerous thing about her had been her hair: one flick of that bob would probably have sliced me in two.

The doorbell rang and I jumped.

Jack went to answer it while I waited in the kitchen. I had a sudden thought that it might be Suki, trying her luck again, but just then Alex’s voice reached me from the hallway. I pulled my hairband out, tore the apron off over my head, shook out my hair and took several deep breaths. I could hear the two of them murmuring in the hallway, so I tiptoed behind the door to hear better.

‘. . . not sure, we need to find out, though, and we can’t leave—’

Alex stopped talking suddenly and turned his head in my direction.

‘Hi, Lila,’ he called.

I stepped out from behind the door, feeling my cheeks blazing.

‘Hi.’

Alex was smiling at me but I could see the tension in his eyes. He came into the kitchen.

Jack gestured at his phone. ‘I’m just going to call Sara and see where she is.’

As always when I was alone with Alex I felt the atmosphere charge slightly, my body start to fizzle with static. Out of the corner of my eye I watched him move to the fridge and open the door. He had his back to me, scanning the contents, so I turned my head to watch him. He was wearing jeans again, though a darker pair than he’d had on yesterday. They were a good fit. A really good fit. And his grey T-shirt revealed the line of muscle running across his shoulders. Ow. I realised I was biting my bottom lip.

He turned and I looked away, flustered, spattering myself with hot water.

‘So, good day?’

I turned back to face him. He was now sitting at the table with a Coke in his hand. It hadn’t been a great day but it was definitely getting better.

It was hard to stay coherent when I looked in his eyes so I turned back to the pasta to give it a stir. ‘Jack made me call Dad. He probably told you.’

‘Yes, he did mention it.’

‘They cut a deal over me. I can stay for two weeks.’ I risked a peek at him to see if I could gauge his reaction. His face was unreadable. ‘I’m not done fighting, Alex. I am coming back.’ I said this to the pasta, which was blurring in the pan I was stirring it so fast.

Alex gave a soft laugh. ‘You never did give up on anything you wanted.’

If only he knew the truth of that one. I put the wooden spoon down on the side and let the pasta spin to a stop in the pan. Checking that Jack was still out of earshot, I turned to Alex. ‘Why is Jack still so angry with Dad?’

He frowned at this slightly, his sky-blue eyes turning cloudy, then let out a big sigh. ‘I know it’s difficult for you being stuck between them. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but you know Jack – he’s even more stubborn than you.’ He was giving me a half-smile, so I smiled grudgingly back.

‘But what’s it about?’

‘That’s not something I can tell you, Lila.’

‘Oh for God’s sake.’ I kept my voice low but the frustration crept in. ‘Why won’t either of you tell me anything?’

Alex didn’t say anything. He stood up, though, and came towards me. For one minuscule moment I thought that he was going to put his arms around me, but he just stretched past me to pick up the wooden spoon I’d left on the side and moved to the hob to give the pasta sauce a stir. It had gone off the boil. I stood waiting for him to finish, waiting for him to answer me.

He turned the gas off and turned to face me again.

‘Lila, there are a lot of things we just can’t tell you. I know that must be frustrating but you have to trust us.’

I let that sink in for a second. ‘You’re both asking me to trust you all the time. But neither of you will trust me.’

‘Not now,’ he said.

I scowled at him but he just shook his head ever so slightly, giving me a warning look. My scowl turned to a frown, but before I could ask why, he had stepped past me.

‘Hey, Sara,’ he said smoothly.

I turned around.

My first thought was that I could totally see why my brother had fallen for her. Sara was gorgeous, but not in an obvious way. She had waves of dark brown hair falling down below her shoulders and lustrous olive skin. Her eyes were chestnut-coloured and set wide in her face. She smiled at me, and I liked her immediately.

‘It’s so lovely to meet you,’ she said, stepping forward and giving me a hug. ‘I’ve heard so much about you.’

‘Oh dear,’ I said, looking at Jack, who was standing beside her.

She laughed, reaching for his hand. ‘No, no – all good, believe me.’

I wondered how much Jack had shared with her and glanced at Alex. He had gone back to the stove to salvage the remains of the dinner I’d abandoned.

‘I think I have you to thank for domesticating Jack,’ I said. I really meant taming.

‘Ahhh well, it was my pleasure,’ Sara said with a smile in Jack’s direction. ‘But, really, Jack didn’t need much help. I had a bit of a hand in the decorating, is all. He was following a pretty minimalist approach to furniture, shall we say, when I first met him. Alex still is – have you seen his place yet?’

‘No. Not yet.’

Alex still hadn’t said anything and I wondered what he was thinking. Would I ever get a chance to see this minimalist ‘bachelor pad’ of his? The image in my head changed from silk sheets and mirrored ceilings to a single futon and white walls. Definitely preferable.

Alex put the loaded plates on the table and we took our seats. He pulled out the chair to my right, his leg stretched out so close to me that my own leg jumped like a cricket and smacked into the tabletop, rattling the plates and glasses. I looked down, horrified, and pressed my hand on my thigh to stop it from happening again.

‘So, how long are you staying?’ Sara asked, as we started to eat.

I looked at Jack. Had he told her? I was sure he would have. But he was paying me no heed, continuing to look at Sara like I’d seen him look at fast cars in his previous incarnation as my teenage brother. Whatever Sara’s secret power was, I wanted it so I could use it on Alex.

‘Two weeks,’ I said. ‘For now.’

‘Great! Plenty of time to get to know each other, then.’

I didn’t miss the look Alex shot across the table at Jack, but I chose to ignore it and to focus instead on Sara. But it was difficult focusing on anything, even my brother’s beautiful girlfriend, with Alex so close. I could sense every subtle shift in his body. My eyes caught the ripple of tendons as his forearm tensed and I knew he was thinking about something. Worrying about something.

‘So, what’s the plan for your birthday?’ Sara said, looking over at him.

‘There is no plan.’ Alex’s head was bent over his plate but he was looking up through his brown lashes at Sara with a faint half-smile on his face. His eyes were flickering with something like amusement.

‘Alex, don’t try to avoid it, we’re doing something to celebrate whether you like it or not,’ she said, laughing.

‘When is it again?’ Jack asked.

‘Saturday,’ I replied, a little too quickly.

‘Why don’t we go to Belushi’s – get the guys along? Show Lila some Oceanside nightlife,’ Sara suggested.

‘Some Marine nightlife? I’m sure she’ll love that,’ Jack said.

‘No – I would. I’d like to meet the rest of your unit.’

‘Yeah, and I think they’d love to meet you too, Lila.’ Sara gave a little laugh.

Jack’s head shot up. Sara laughed louder and pinched him before he could say anything.

‘So, it’s settled then. I’ll put the word out.’

Alex threw his hands up in defeat. ‘I guess it is. See how she’s organising our social lives as well as our domestic ones, Lila?’

‘You just need a good woman, Alex,’ Sara countered.

He looked down at the table then back up, his blue eyes hooded. ‘I probably do,’ he said.

Relief rushed through me. No girlfriend! Alex needed a good woman. He’d admitted it himself. I wondered how I might fit the bill. I was neither a woman nor very good.

At some point the conversation died down. The plates were stacked in a pile to the side and our chairs were pushed back from the table. Alex was toying with his glass, talking across the table to Jack about someone from the Unit – their boss, it sounded like. They seemed to like him.

I was talking to Sara about her job. She had been doing her PhD at Berkeley and had been recruited straight out of college into the Unit.

‘What was that like?’ I asked. ‘How did you know you wanted to work with a Marine unit?’

‘I didn’t. Nothing could have been further from what I intended.’

‘So what made you say yes?’ I lowered my voice, hoping that I’d get some more substantial information from Sara than I’d got from Jack and Alex.

‘I couldn’t not say yes when I found out what the job was. It was just too important. And then I met Jack. And now I’m staying until it’s over.’

‘It’s over? Until what’s over?’

Sara flushed suddenly and I could tell she’d let on more than she’d meant to.

Jack suddenly stood up. ‘Coffee?’

Sara looked up at him. ‘Yes, that would be great, thanks.’ She glanced back at the table and then stood up herself, throwing her napkin onto her plate. ‘Here, let me clear up.’

‘I’ve got it, don’t worry,’ I said, uncrossing my legs and making a move to clear the dirty dishes.

‘No, you and Alex did all the cooking. You two stay put.’

I sat back down, automatically smoothing out my skirt over my leg.

‘How’s it feeling?’

I looked up. Alex nodded at my leg.

‘Still sore. But better. Thanks for the ice yesterday.’

‘You probably shouldn’t have gone running on it today.’ Jack had told him every little detail, then.

‘I needed to run.’ I didn’t tell him why. ‘And it was fine,’ I added quickly.

‘Next time let me come with you, or run at the base.’

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. ‘You’d have to walk to keep up with me.’

‘I think I could manage. You can set the pace. Why not come out tomorrow to the base? We can go for a run out there – and I can show you the gym.’

I weighed up the pros of being alone with him against the cons of being with him whilst looking like a sweaty mess. My vanity lost out.

‘Maybe I could test your ninja skills out while we’re at it.’

I gave him a sideways look, trying to work out if he was joking. ‘Er, yeah, sure. I wouldn’t want to hurt you, though.’

‘I’ll take the risk.’ His eyes were sparkling – I noticed that in the light they had amber flecks in them, and it stunned me that I’d never noticed before.

‘Coffee is served.’ Sara reached over to place a cafetière and coffee cups on the table. ‘I really have to go after this,’ she said as she poured it out.

‘I’ll drive your car back then catch a cab home,’ Jack said to Sara. He glanced over at Alex. ‘Do you mind staying with Lila?’

‘Of course not,’ Alex said.

I wanted to protest that I wasn’t a child, that I stayed in a bigger, emptier, lonelier house than this one by myself almost every night back in London, that if anyone ever tried anything I’d unconsciously be able to protect myself no matter how much I didn’t actually mean to and that I really, really wanted to know why they were insisting on this level of babysitting. But I didn’t say a word because I knew it meant alone time with Alex.

I really liked Sara but at this point in time I couldn’t wait to see the back of her. I hadn’t had any coffee but I was jumping like livebait, waiting for them to leave. I could feel my heartbeat accelerating as I got up to hug her goodbye.

‘I’ll see you soon.’ She squeezed me tighter and whispered in my ear, ‘It’s really so nice to meet you. You’re every bit as gorgeous as they told me.’