In no ways was she upset about what had happened. Her frustration with her sister had simply boiled over. Normally, that only happened when she was talking to Charlotte, but now her sister had managed to wriggle her way into her thoughts to a degree where Eleanor no longer could keep a cool, calm head around Mr. Shingleton.
She offered no resistance when he led her to and sat her down on a sofa, rather she accepted the comfort his arm around her provided. She sent him a small smile when he turned her face to look at. “Not once,” she told him, “have I taken pity on you, Mr. Shingleton. You are an amazing man with a brilliant mind who makes no two days the same for me. You do so many wonderful things that more than make up for the late night calls or long hours in some… rundown laboraty Helga knows where. I haven’t stayed with you all these years because I had nowhere else to go. Because I have, and I’ve had offers, and I’ve had my lack of ambition questioned because I’ve turned them down. But I didn’t do that for you. I did that because I like working with you.”
She looked up at him, allowing herself a moment to see him, Gaspard, instead of Mr. Shingleton. “It won’t matter what I tell her,” she said gently. “She’ll still believe it was her, even if I told the truth. That it was you and me, that we had that moment when I didn’t let you kiss me; I wanted you to…”
Her voice tapered off. It was as if now that she had put words to the frustration over her sister, a haze she hadn’t been aware of, began lifting. She became very aware that she was sitting wearing only her towel, staring into the eyes of a barely dressed Mr. Shingleton while pouring her heart out to him. And who knew what kind of grief her sister was going to give him? Yes, they had kissed. It had been sweet and touching, and it had been in line with the atmosphere around them. It had been outside her workhours. Maybe it shouldn’t have happened, but this? This unloading so completely on Mr. Shingleton? That was unacceptable.
“I-I,” she said before she stood up and adjusted her glasses. “My apologies, Mr. Shingleton. This was completely out of line, and I apologise for that. I will also make sure to rein my sister in. She has no business accosting you the way she has been in the past. I’ll-I’ll,” she gestured to the bathroom she had just come from. “I have to get dressed or I’ll be late for work.”
Taking two steps towards the bathroom, she stopped and changed her direction to her cupboard. With no clothes in the bathroom she had to find something before going in there, which was just another piece of evidence to her stupidity. Mentally she was beating herself up. Cursing the fact that she could have been this stupid. For every little thought that entered her mind, her flipping through her shirts became more and more harsh.