Free Forty 2 Days (The Billionaire Banker) by Georgia le Carre Page B

ages.  When I come out my mobile is double blinking.  Fleur has left a message that two racks of clothes, shoes, and accessories will be arriving at 10:00 am.  I am to choose whatever I want and somebody will come and pick up anything I don’t want at 5:00 pm.  I am to call her if I need any help.  I text back to thank her.  Then I text Billie.  
    Are you awake?
    Billie calls back.  ‘Hey.’
    ‘ Oh good, you’re awake,’ I say, happy to hear her voice.
    ‘ Yeah, the little monster got me up early.’
    ‘ Is he all right?’
    ‘ Shouldn’t you be asking me if I’m all right?’
    I laugh guiltily.  ‘Hey, you want to come around about tenish.  Fleur is sending some clothes for me to try on.  You can help me decide which to keep.’
    ‘ That’ll be fun.’
    ‘ I’ll call a minicab for you for ten.’
    ‘ Got to go.  The creature has just started wailing again,’ she says.  ‘But see ya tenish.’  I hear Sorab’s cries in the background just before she terminates the call and feel a sharp pang of loss. That should have been me.  That’s my life.  Not stuck all alone in an empty apartment.  I know that Billie is enjoying her time with Sorab.  With her, true affection is masked by insults.  Hello, Repulsive, she will say to her lover. I realize that I already miss him too much.  Maybe tomorrow I will tell Blake it is my turn to babysit Sorab.  And have him with me for two days.
    At nine thirty I invite Mr. Nair up for a coffee.  He comes through the door holding his I’m the Boss mug, his eyes bulging with curiosity.
    We sit at the kitchen counter.  ‘What happened to you, Miss Bloom?’ he asks.
    ‘ I had to go to Iran suddenly.’
    ‘ Oh! No wonder.  Poor Mr. Barrington.  You broke his heart,’ he states, enlarging his eyes dramatically.  I watch him bite into a biscuit.  Crumbs land on his jacket.  I look at them, but my mind is spinning.
    ‘ Why do you say that?’ I ask as casually as I can manage.
    ‘ Because,’ he says, ‘I was the one who gave him your letter.’
    ‘ My letter?’
    ‘ Yes.  Have you forgotten, you sent your friend with a note instructing the porter on duty to give the envelope to Mr. Barrington?  It was a strange note, very formal, not at all like you, but I knew it was you because I always recognize your handwriting.’
    I take a sip of coffee, swallow and lick my lips.  ‘What did Mr. Barrington say when you gave it to him?’
    ‘ I tell you, Miss Bloom, it was the oddest thing.  He practically snatched it out of my hand, tore it open and read it right in front of me.  The contents shocked him so very much I saw his eyes go back to the top of the letter to read it again.  Then he crushed the letter in his hand and walked out of this building…and I have never seen him since.’  
    I bite my lip.  The past.  I can never change it, but then would I?  How can I regret it?  Sorab came out of my sorry past.
    Mr. Nair pops the last bit of biscuit into his mouth and hops nimbly off the stool.  ‘My ten minutes are up.  I’d better go.’
    ‘ My friend Billie will be coming this morning.  Will you call me to let me know when she does?’
    ‘ I can do better than that, Miss Bloom.  I will show her up myself.’
    I thank him and close the door.
     
    An hour after the stuff that Fleur sent arrives Billie breezes in with Mr. Nair in tow.  
    ‘ Thanks, Mr. Nair,’ I say relieving him of a large bag of baby things.
    ‘ I’m very happy to help you, Miss Bloom.’  He nods happily towards Sorab.  ‘He looks exactly like his father.  A very handsome boy, indeed.’
    I freeze.  
    But Billie is quick off the mark.  She grins broadly.  ‘Sorry, mate, but this one here is my baby.  Don’t you think he looks like me?  Everyone says so.’
    Mr. Nair’s dark, confused eyes look to me.  
    ‘ I’m only his godmother,’ I say weakly, filled with a sharp sense of pain.  I am terribly proud of Sorab, and not being recognized as his