Lingerie Wars (Invertary 1)

“I was planning on taking a partnership in a security firm—high-end bodyguard work, stuff like that.”

“So you’re leaving?” she said softly.

There was silence. Everyone except Alastair watched the interaction as though they were watching a train crash in slow motion.

“Let’s go somewhere and talk. Nothing is set in stone. We can work something out.”

“Like what?” Kirsty looked up at his beautiful blue eyes. “My life is here.” She scoffed. “What I have left of it.”

“There are other options,” he said stiffly.

Kirsty walked over to stand with her mother. This was more than she could bear. She was losing it all. Everything. Her life. Her income. Now she was losing Lake too. Well, she wasn’t going to sob. And she wasn’t going to fall apart. Not this time.

“Of course,” Kirsty said. “It makes perfect sense to leave. Why would you stay here and run a lingerie shop?” She looked up at Lake. “Good for you. That’s great. It’s the right decision. A security business, that’s perfect.”

She stepped back towards the door.

“It’s absolutely perfect.”

Lake reached for her.

“We need to talk about this,” he told her again.

She stared at him. What could there possibly be left to say?

“Honey?” her mother said. Her voice shook.

“It’s okay,” Kirsty said. She felt a smile appear on her face. “Lake’s doing the right thing. I just wish I’d known.”

Lake folded his arms. His jaw set. Waiting. It took her a minute, but she got there. Kirsty’s shoulders slumped.

“It was the lingerie war, right?” she said. Stupid. Of course it was. “You knew I wouldn’t fight back if I thought you were leaving anyway, and you wanted the publicity. You wanted to raise the profits and profile of the shop. It was a great idea. You did a great job. The shop must be worth selling now. Well done.” Her voice trailed off. “Great.”

Lake took a step towards her.

“I don’t want to do this here, with an audience. Let’s go upstairs.”

“You don’t need to explain,” Kirsty told him. “I understand. Lovers by night. Enemies by day. Right? Well, the night part is over and”—she signalled to the smouldering heap across the road—”Betty’s right, you won the war, so there’s no point in the day part. I understand. Our time is over. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. You need to trust me. I’ll come up with a solution.”

“You do that,” she said as she turned away from him. “Okay,” she told her mum in a voice full of false cheer. “We best get going.” She glanced back at Lake. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,” she said. “I’m glad you’re okay. Thanks for coming to the rescue. Time to go home.” She stumbled over the word. “It’s been a long night. Lots of emotion. Right? Time for us all to calm down and get back to normal.”

Kirsty smiled over-brightly as she pushed the shop door open.

She held her mother’s arm tightly as they walked past the mess that used to be her life. Beside her, her mother worked hard to hide her sobs. Kirsty kept her eyes on the black void where the loch should be. Together, they walked towards it.

“What about Rainne?” Alastair demanded as the rest of the women filed out after Kirsty.

They all had the same disgusted look on their faces. Lake had gone from town hero to town villain in five seconds flat.

“What are you going to do about Rainne?” Alastair said.

Lake had to stop from taking his rage out on the boy. This wasn’t his fault. It was all Lake’s doing. He’d screwed it up and now he had to fix it. He wanted to run after Kirsty, but he knew she wouldn’t listen to him now. She was exhausted and in shock from the evening. She needed time to rest. Then he would explain. Then he would fix everything.

“We need to find Rainbow,” Alastair said.

“Be here at oh eight hundred hours,” Lake ordered. “We’ll find her.”