pieces around. The passion he clearly feels for the game. “This is an interesting maneuver,” he keeps telling me, and I can’t admit that I’ve lost all track of everything he’s told me.
“So,” he says at last. “Shall we play?”
“Yes!” I say, because what’s the worst that can happen, I lose? “You go first.”
Seb puts the pieces in order again and moves a pawn. Promptly I copy what he did with one of mine. Then he moves a something-else, and I make a mirror-image move.
“So basically I can keep copying you,” I say.
“No, no!” Seb shakes his head. “You should experiment! Like, that knight?” He points to the horse. “That could go to all sorts of places.” I pick up the knight and he puts his hand over mine. “So it could go there…or there….”
I’m feeling a bit breathless as he moves my hand around the board, and I’m about to ask him, “What about the queen?” when there’s a jangle of curtain rings and a resounding, confident voice exclaims, “Seb!” and my heart stops.
It’s her. Briony.
I yank my hand out of Seb’s so quickly I send half the chess pieces flying, and Seb looks a little flustered and says, “Briony! I thought you weren’t back till— Hi!”
Briony takes a couple of steps toward the bed and I can see her eyes moving over us rapidly, zooming in on every detail.
“I was just—” I begin, as Seb says, “This is Fixie. The one who made the 999 call. Saved my bacon.”
“Oh, you’re that girl,” says Briony, and her demeanor instantly changes. “Thank you so much. We’re so grateful. God, Seb, your face,” she adds, with a moue of distaste. “Will it scar?”
“No,” says Seb easily, “shouldn’t do,” and I see something instantly relax in Briony’s expression.
Is that what she was worried about? Whether his face would scar?
“We need to get this better, though,” she says, patting his ankle. “What about Klosters?”
“I know!” Seb shakes his head ruefully. “The one year we’re organized and book ahead— Skiing,” he adds to me.
“Of course!” I nod heartily.
“Got you a card,” Briony says, handing him a postcard—and as he reads it he bursts into laughter. I can’t see what it says. Maybe it’s some private joke or whatever.
I’m feeling waves of disappointment and I’m hating myself for it. I mean, what was I hoping? That they wouldn’t get on? Of course they get on. Maybe they have the odd row, but they’re both tall and sporty and joke around and make one of those great couples you see in the street and say, “What a great couple.”
“So,” I say, scrabbling for my bag. “I ought to be going….”
“Chess!” exclaims Briony, her eyes lighting upon the board. “Excellent!”
“Fixie brought that too,” says Seb.
“So kind,” says Briony. “How did she know we’re both mad about chess?”
“Lucky guess,” I say with an awkward laugh. “Anyway, get well soon, Seb. Bye.”
I grasp his hand briefly in a weird kind of half shake, avoiding his gaze, then get to my feet.
“Thanks again, Fixie,” says Seb, and I mumble something indistinct in reply.
“Yes, thank you so much,” says Briony in her penetrating, confident voice. She’s not being Mean Newsreader anymore; she’s being Elegant Duchess. “We’re both incredibly grateful. Let me see you out,” she adds in a hostess-like manner, as though she owns the ward and the hospital and, in fact, everything.
We both walk to the door of the ward, whereupon Briony says again, “We’re so grateful,” and I murmur, “Honestly, it was nothing.”
As we reach the double doors, her eye falls on my dog-print dress and she says with interest, “That’s Aura Fortuna, isn’t it?”
“What?” I say blankly.
“The iconic print,” she says, as though it’s obvious. “Except…shouldn’t the dogs have hats on?” She looks even more closely at the fabric. “Oh, wait. It’s a knockoff, isn’t it?”
“Er…dunno,” I say, confused. I’ve never heard of Aura Fortuna. Or any iconic print. I just saw the dress and I liked the dogs.
“Hmm,” says Briony in kind, pitying tones. “I kind of think if you’re not going to do it properly, you shouldn’t even try?”
Her words are like a stinging slap. I can’t even think of how to respond.
“Right,” I say at last. “Well…nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Briony clasps both my hands with a final, wide smile, which clearly reads: “Go away and stay away.” She closes with, “And as I say, thank you so much. You did a wonderful job and we’re both so grateful to you.”
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