Page 90 of Tears of Ink

It’s mid-morning when my phone rings. Except, I don’t know it’s my phone, because the ring tone is All Saints Bootie Call. I look expectantly at the room, waiting for someone to admit they’ve got the cheesiest ringtone in the entire universe.

I’m in a good mood and doesn’t everyone know it. The studio is a mess of epic proportions. We’ve broken more glass than we’ve successfully managed to balloon with hot air, but who the hell cares. The sun’s shining, the birds are tweeting; I haven’t seen Jennifer or the wicked witch today, and last night I got shagged to oblivion by Eli Fairclough. There is no better day to be had.

“Anyone want to get that?” I snigger and wait for someone to acknowledge the call shame-faced. No one does and the call drops. I lean back over, humming the tune as I pull another strand of molten liquid glass and suspend it in the air. We are trying to make spun glass filaments for our flowers. Not as easy as it sounds.

The phone starts up again and the glass shatters as I jump. “Fuck it,” I growl under my breath and scowl at everyone. They all take one step back. Everyone apart from Lewis who’s watching the shattered glass mesmerised, lost in thought.

“Uh, Faith.” Tabitha calls my attention and I turn my focus to her. Her hair is pulled up on her head, her cheeks flushed, but then I guess it is quite warm in here. “It’s your phone, over there.” She nods to where my phone is sitting nearby on the side bench of the studio next to the sink. Eli’s name is flashing across the screen along with that god-awful song filling the air. I pounce on it because she can see who’s calling. Not that it matters, he is effectively my boss for the summer. But tell that to my cheeks now scorching a vibrant red.

“What did you do to my phone?” I hiss, holding it tight to my ear.

He roars with laughter. “How red are you right now?”

“I’m not,” I state and brush my hair out of my face. “What do you want? I am incredibly busy.”

He chuckles, and it sends warm licks of anticipation along my insides. “Hold on please, caller.”

There’s a moment and I can hear the tap of him typing in the background.

There’s a beep across the room and Tabitha pulls her phone out of her back pocket. She quickly reads the screen with a furrowed brow and then casts an enquiring glance in my direction before typing on her phone.

“You are red. I have a witness.”

“How old are you?” I grumble.

“You weren’t complaining about my youthful vitality for life last night.” The smirk in his voice is all too evident. I flush even hotter when I think of all the many things I didn’t complain about last night.

Tabitha’s phone beeps again and she giggles as she types another response.

“Just as I thought,” he says. “You’ve been thinking about rule breaking as much as I have.”

I turn my back, so I’m facing the wall. “My rules are very subjective and can be reinstated at any point.” He chuckles, and types some more. “Don’t you dare message Tabitha again.”

“I’m actually working right now.”

“Then why are you calling?”

“I wanted to see how Lewis is.” My stomach sinks. “And I wanted to hear your voice.” God, I’m such a teenager. I grin like a buffoon.

“He’s fine, very good at crushing glass into minuscule pieces.”

“If he’s getting in the way, send him to Jennings to do something useful.”

“He’s not.” I turn around and catch Tabitha showing him how to pull a strand of glass from the kiln. He’s watching her intently. “I think he’s forgetting why he’s here. How did you get on with the lawyers?”

Eli had told me last night between kisses he was attempting to have the charges dropped against Lewis. I don’t know how he was managing two cases and driving back and forth to Hampshire. And here I was, smashing glass… the two things didn’t compare, not really.

“I think they will drop the charges, they are just making it more complicated to distract me from other things.”

“What other things?”

I should be getting back to the glassmaking, but I could also stand here and talk to him all day. I’ve never known anything like it. I’ve never wanted to talk to anyone the way I do him. Never wanted to know anyone the way I want to know him.

“Collecting evidence. The team are working on it. Talking to ex-employees, that kind of thing.”

“The team?” This is the first I’ve heard of a team.

“Yeah, just Jess and Roger.”