Chapter 42 Moon´s light

Chapter 42 Moon´s light
Sara plopped down into a beat-up office chair and turned two full spins. “Yeah, wow, it’s really, um, great,” she said.
    Jane grinned. She had been looking forward to showing Sara her office while her niece was in Brisbane for a short visit. College spring break coincided with a business trip to Brisbane for Barbara, and Sara was only too happy to take advantage of a small percentage of her mum’s many frequent flyer miles.
    The last time Sara had visited her at the uni, Jane had a been sharing a desk in the faculty staff room with a semiretired tutor named Mervyn, who often forgot which days he was meant to be working. She had spent a lot of time marking papers in the library.
    “You don’t think it needs any, you know, personal touches, though? There’s nothing that embodies your essence in here.”
    “There’s books,” said Jane. “And bound copies of all the research papers and journal articles I’ve authored.”
    “Mmmm,” said Sara, performing another twirl. She put her index finger to her chin. “Maybe a poster? Of something you really like? Um.” She scrunched up her face. “The Collections and Research Centre at the Queensland Museum! I’m not sure they sell posters of it, but if you took a photo, I could get one made.”
    “Hmmmm,” said Jane. She wasn’t following what her niece was saying as closely as usual. Something else was on her mind. She huffed out a shallow breath.
    “What’s up? Are you OK?” asked Sara.
    Jane’s throat felt tight. She had been looking forward to this, had been talking to Amber for the last few days about doing it. But now that it came down to it, it was like her mouth wouldn’t do her bidding. She had never liked letting cats out of bags, even when they were friendly cats that everyone enjoyed seeing. Even those were notoriously difficult to get back in the bag if there were unforeseen consequences.
    In the time that had gone by since Jane had left LA, she and Amber had been in touch almost every day. When she got home from work, Jane would call Amber and they would talk. Not always about big things, just what was going on, people they’d seen, funny questions Jane’s students had asked her.
    If their LA fling had been an impossible accident that Jane could explain away, this new remote relationship was much more deliberate.
    It was real, and Jane wanted to make it feel more real.
    She cleared her throat. “Sara, I want to talk to you about something.”
    “Ooooooo. Something good, I hope?”
    “Yes, um, you remember when we went to the VIP meet and greet?”
    “With Amber Hatfield, Jane. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten her name again.”
    Jane’s mouth twitched. OK, maybe this is a little bit fun. “No, no I haven’t. Well, as we were leaving the venue, her assistant gave me Amber’s phone number.”
    Sara’s jaw dropped. She covered her mouth in both her hands. “I knew it. I knew it! You were in there, charming as hell, making her laugh. She picked up what you were putting down! What happened? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” She bounced up from the chair and grabbed Jane’s forearms, putting her wide-eyed face very close.
    Jane shook her head in amazement. “You’re so quick to believe something was going to happen. I’m still not sure I believe it.”
    You’re a total catch. What don’t I believe? What happened?”
    Jane cocked her head to the side. “Hmmmm, let me see if I can recall.” Yes, all right. This is a lot fun.
    Sara squeezed tighter.
    “Ouch! All right! I texted her, and she asked if we could meet for coffee, and I said yes.”
    Sara started jumping up and down on the spot, letting out a little “eep!” every time she landed.
    “Then we had another date after that and spent quite a bit of time together while I was house-sitting.”
    “Oh. My. God!” She was getting out of breath from the jumping.
    “What’s the hot news?” said a voice with an English accent.
    Sara stopped bouncing and swung around. “Oh, it’s you,” she said.
    “Hello, Lauren,” said Jane.
    Lauren blinked at Sara as she entered the small room. “Hello, pet. It’s good to see you again.”
    “Hi.”
    The oxygen was sucked out of the room. Jane could almost hear the whoomph!
    Lauren surveyed her a moment longer as if expecting her to say something more. Her shoulder-length, perfectly straight hair barely undulated as she turned from Sara to Jane, then back again. “So, what’s got you both giddy with excitement? You know I hate to be left out.”
    Jane swallowed. Of course it was Lauren ruining this moment. It seemed so natural.
    Near the end of their relationship, Lauren’s sole purpose had been to make Jane feel bad. It wasn’t until Lauren had finally pulled the pin that Jane had even realised it. It made her stomach twist to think how long she had let it go on.
    She shook her shoulders. Today was a great day. And Lauren didn’t have the same effect on her as before, especially since LA. She still had to see her most days at work, but their run-ins didn’t affect her like they used to.
    In fact, Jane had said hi to Lauren in the hall the day before and had walked another few metres before realising that it didn’t have any emotional effect on her. She had been thinking about a story Amber had told her about a fan who had screen-printed all her album covers onto a cushion and sent it to her. Amber had asked if Sara maybe wanted it.
    “We were just…” Jane said. She didn’t like telling lies, and even more, she hated that Lauren was forcing her into telling a lie. Why don’t you mind your own beeswax? Come to think of it, Lauren had been initiating conversations with Jane more and more the last couple of weeks. Her approaches started off friendly enough, but there was always a sting in the tail.
    “Jane has taken up pickleball,” said Sara in a rush.
    Lauren’s eyes narrowed. She looked from Sara to Jane. “Really?”
    Jane thought this “news” wouldn’t have warranted the excitement from Sara that Lauren had walked in on.
    Sara must have realised the same thing, because she continued, “Yes! Yep. And I’m stoked for her, because she’s playing in the, um, amateur Pan-Pacific, uh, over-35s Tournament of Champions.” She smiled weakly at Jane.
    Jane clenched her jaw. She appreciated Sara’s effort to help her out, but this was going to be a big, ongoing lie to maintain. Especially if Lauren told other university staff. Jane foresaw a tragic amateur-pickleball-career-ending injury in her near future. Maybe an ankle? But she would have to remember to limp. Neck? The chemist did sell braces…
    Lauren clasped her hands together in front of her. “Wow, that’s wonderful, Jane. A tad surprising, though.”
    Sara rolled her eyes at Jane behind Lauren’s back.
    Jane scratched her nose to hide a grin.
    She wasn’t going to bite.
    The silence lengthened.
    Jane really didn’t want to know Lauren’s opinion on her new, fake all-consuming hobby, but she also wanted this conversation to be over. “Why surprising?”
    Sara gave her a mock scowl for giving in so quickly.