Half an hour later, the restaurant owner took another look at the gigantic meze platter that he’d placed in the middle of their table and had just talked them through at – very charming – length, and said, ‘Okay, then. Enjoy!’
‘It looksamazing,’ Meg said. ‘Could I ask your name? I’m Meg.’ She looked at the others. ‘And my friends are Tess, Lily and Aaliyah.’
‘My name’s Pythagoras.’ The smile he shared around the table was as charming as his meze chat.
‘Ilovethat name.’ Meg beamed at him. ‘Wasn’t there a famous ancient Greek called Pythagoras?’
‘Yes.’ He beamed back at her. ‘My father was a mathematics professor and he named me after him.’
‘That’s so cool,’ Meg breathed. ‘And so interesting.’
Pythagoras, still smiling, opened his mouth and started speaking but was interrupted by a big crash from the interior, from the direction of the kitchen. ‘Oops. I’d better go and check what just happened.Bon appétit.’
‘I’m in love,’ Meg said.
‘With?’ Aaliyah speared some squid with a cocktail stick.
‘With Pythagoras, obviously.’ Meg indicated with her eyes in the direction of the kitchen. ‘Genuinely. He’s my One. I’ve finally met him. Love at first sight.’
‘Honestly,’ said Aaliyah, spearing more squid. ‘About half an hour ago your ideal man was a farmer. And there’s no such thing as love at first sight. This squid’sgood.’
‘It was pretty much love at first sight for me and Tom,’ Tess said.
‘What?’ said Aaliyah. ‘You worked together for three years before you went on your first date. And you both went out with other people in that time.’
‘But we loved each other the whole time,’ Tess said.
Aaliyah coughed some words that sounded a bit like, ‘Rewriting history.’ The four of them had always got on very well but Aaliyah had lost a tiny bit of her tolerance recently due to her third child, who’d just turned one, being a demon at night (Aaliyah’s words) and apparently never having slept more than two hours in a row for the entire first year of her life. And, to be fair to Aaliyah, if there was ever a time when anyone might lose tolerance with Tess, it was now.
‘So when did you know that Patrick was the one for you?’ Lily asked Aaliyah before Tess could argue. Or, worse, get upset. There’d been a lot of tears from Tess recently.
‘Quite quickly, if I’m honest, but not the first time I met him. I mean, Ilikedhim, and obviously hewasThe One, but it clearly wasn’t love at first sight because how can you love someone you don’t know?’
‘I think you justfeelsomething,’ said Meg. ‘Right inside you. Like you might not know all thefactsabout them yet, but you still know. That’s how I feel about Pythagoras.’ Lily totally knew what Meg meant. That had been how she’d felt when she’d met Matt. It had been during a charity overnight walking marathon that Tess had organised, and she’d justknown. The moment they’d met it was like she knew him, inside and out, and she’d known that they were right for each other. Forever. And they had been. Until they weren’t.
‘You’ve said that before,’ Aaliyah said.
‘I’m not saying there’s onlyoneThe One.’ Meg’s eyes started to glisten. Oh, God. She was about to do her The One That Got Away spiel. Almost certainly with reference to her three-week relationship circa 2014 with Terence-from-Walsall (perfect husband material according to Meg, despite early indications like, in no particular order, his hate-love knuckle tattoos, his drinking habit and the way he spoke to her). ‘But there are very few Ones. I don’t want Pythagoras to be another One That Got Away. I want to settle down. I want to have kids.’
‘If you and Pythagoras had babies, they’d begorgeous,’ Tess said. ‘Tom and I are planning to try to start a family quite soon. Maybe a honeymoon baby.’
‘That’s so exciting, Tess.’ Meg’s eyes were filling quite fast now. ‘I’m so pleased for you.’
‘Meg, hun.’ Aaliyah pushed the platter towards her. ‘Have some of this divine squid. Itwillhappen for you one day. Definitely. And if it doesn’t, other doors will open.’
‘I don’t want that door to close for me.’ Meg did a big, honking sniff. Amazing that she could look beautiful no matter what facial expressions she did or sounds she made.
‘I’m sure it won’t close,’ said Lily, signallingShhhat Aaliyah with her eyes and passing a tissue to Meg under the table. ‘It’ll happen. But maybe when you’re least expecting it. Maybe The Ones That Get Away aren’t reallyTheOnes.’ She heard men’s voices at the restaurant door, tensed and looked over. No, it wasn’t Matt. And obviously it wasn’t; the men weren’t going to switch restaurants mid-way through the evening, were they, because they had no reason to.
God, she was going to be a nervous wreck within hours at this rate. Nearly five days to go until she’d be off the island. It was a small island. That was a lot of potential for bumping into him.
Meg wiped her eyes with the tissue. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Just full of emotion. IknowPythagoras is the one. Iknowthat if we don’t get married and grow old together I’ll always regret it and I’ll know for the rest of my life that he’s myTheOne That Got Away.’
‘Well, unless you meet someone else and settle down very happily with them,’ Aaliyah said, munching. ‘Which is actually very likely to happen. Maybe someone who lives a bit closer to Edinburgh.’
Meg shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s him. I’m going to ask him for his number before we leave this evening.’
Aaliyah rolled her eyes.
