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Melanie was careful going down the fire exit steps until they were on the street.
‘Are you going to be OK in those heels? Do you want to borrow some Converse? I’m not sure if we’re the same size though,’ Paige said.
Melanie shook her head. ‘I’ve some ballerina pumps at work if they get too bad.’
They took a few steps in silence, but then both spoke at once.
‘Why did you have knickers in my size? My arse is way—’
‘Can we do this again?’
They both fell silent as they continued to walk.
Wait, what? Had Paige just asked if they could do this again? Hook up? Or do the whole morning after thing with a care and consideration, that was completely foreign to Melanie. She looked down at her travel mug that Paige had given her for a walk that would take less than two minutes. To a bar that had its own coffee machine.
‘Ah yes. Well, the knickers thing you could just say was wishful thinking,’ Paige said. ‘Obviously I guessed your size and got them, just in case. Is that too weird?’
‘I’m not sure.’ It had certainly never happened to her before. ‘You want to do this again?’ Melanie asked. ‘Which bit exactly?’
Paige didn’t say anything at first and Melanie worried.
‘Not that I don’t want to. I just . . .’ Melanie hesitated.
They’d arrived at Lulu already as Paige turned to face her. ‘I know you’re busy and may not be able to find time for me. But any of it. You ask me which bit I want and I want any and all of it. If it’s just hanging out the two of us, if it’s all hanging out together, if it’s the sex, or the sharing a bed. Any of it.’
Melanie thought that through. Nowhere in there did Paige say anything about a relationship. And that was good, right? That was the one thing Melanie couldn’t and shouldn’t offer. So why did it sting?
‘So, a friend with benefits type thing?’ Melanie asked, impressed she’d managed to keep the hurt or whatever it was out of her voice.
‘If that’s what you want?’
‘OK sure.’ Melanie nodded. ‘We can do that.’
The grin from Paige was worth the momentary twang of wanting things she couldn’t have and that weren’t necessarily being offered.
Paige cupped her face with her hands and kissed her softly. Melanie immediately leaned in closer. They were just starting to really get into it, when a polite cough interrupted them.
‘Morning.’
‘Oh, sorry Dan. Here, let me get the door and alarm.’
‘See you later, Mel.’ Paige waved, and nodded at Dan before turning away.
‘Yeah, see you later, Paige.’
‘Sorry,’ Melanie said completely flustered.
‘Are we still cool to go through the new menu options this week?’ he asked, professional as always.
‘Yeah of course. I’m looking forward to it.’ Melanie opened the door and got them inside, trying to reactivate the work side of her brain.
‘You want some breakfast, boss?’ Dan shouted from the kitchen.
‘No, I’m good, thanks.’
Was she good? Melanie wasn’t sure. But she opened up her app to see what she needed to tackle first of all and saw a message from Louisa.
Notification: I was going over the figures you pulled together, we may need to look at new suppliers for the prosecco after all. It’s eating our budget far more than we anticipated. It’s not great news. I’ll try and have a shop around on Monday.
