‘Maybe. Probably.’ Raf put his arm round Georgie’s waist and kissed her on the lips again.
Perhaps fate was trying to tell Georgie that this whole thing with Raf was a bad idea. She didn’t want to get hurt, and if he hadn’t lost his wife he wouldn’t be here with her now, would he? But, also,wherewould she sleep if she stayed here?
‘Let’s get an Uber back to Melting and maybe have a coffee at Noah’s?’ she said.
While they were waiting for the cab, they kissed quite a lot, and they also talked, in whispers, sitting on a bench in Alex and Ankita’s stunning and enormous wood-panelled hall.
‘And that is why I’m going towatchwhen Max goes kayaking.’ Georgie finished describing her one and only (nightmare) brush with canoeing.
‘Wow, yes.’ Raf twisted his mouth a bit. ‘I’m trying really hard not to laugh.’
‘You’re failing,’ Georgie informed him.
‘Yeah. But in my defence,anyonewould laugh. What did your parents say when you got home?’
‘Well, it was Poppy’s parents, because I was kind of living with her at the time. And, yep, theyreallylaughed.’
‘Were your parents working abroad?’
‘Nope. My dad was living in Cheltenham and my mum was in the house she’s in now.’
‘Oh.’ Raf raised his eyebrows very slightly but didn’t ask anything further.
And suddenly, Georgie did something that she never normally did. She told him.
‘Basically, when my parents split up, they each met new partners – who they’re both still with – and they argued over custody of me but in the exact opposite way from normal; neither of them wanted me, although my dad didn’t mind having me for a night or two during the week. Poppy told her mum, who was aghast, and invited me to stay for a week or two while everything got sorted, and in the end I stayed for months and effectively just visited my parents for a few nights here and there. Poppy’s parents have always had a room in their house which Poppy’s mum says is for me and Max, although I don’t stay with them that often now because I like to try to pretend to Max that I’m from a regular family who love me.’
Raf didn’t say anything for a few moments and then, just as Georgie wasreallywondering why she’d blurted all of that out, he said, ‘If there’s one thing you learn in my line of work it’s that families can beshit. Poppy’s mum sounds amazing andI think any parent should be incredibly proud to call you their daughter. And I’m so sorry that things are difficult between you and Poppy at the moment. I hadn’t appreciated quite how much your friends are your family.’
‘Thank you.’ Georgie never told anyone that kind of stuff; the only people who knew were Poppy, Ankita and Beth. And Raf had managed to make it feel okay – good, even – that she’d told him.
Enough was enough, though.
‘You know what,’ she said, ‘it’s probably been good for me. Like, I’m quite good at moving on.’
Except from Poppy. She really wasn’t doing well at moving on there.
‘If I have a situation at work or whatever I’m quite good at dealing with it and just getting on with things,’ she continued, pushing the Poppy thought away. ‘In fact, I’m excellent at it. I just think about different things and don’t let myself think about anything tricky.’
Which wasobviouslywhat she needed to do about Poppy. Just not think about her at all.
‘I think that’s natural if you’re going to survive traumatic things.’ Raf hesitated and then said, ‘Coping with losing Anna has probably made me more resilient to other, lesser things.’
‘I can’t even begin to imagine. I’m so sorry.’
‘Yep. But you do come out the other side eventually.’
Raf’s phone buzzed. ‘Uber’s here.’
They held hands in the taxi all the way back to Melting with their fingers all entwined round each other, and the drive back was pleasurable torture:what was going to happen next?
Once they got inside Noah’s kitchen, Raf put the kettle on.
‘I think I can offer you a choice of gourmet instant coffee, or English breakfast or peppermint tea.’
‘I would love some instant coffee.’ Georgie didn’t really care what drink she had because now she was alone here with Raf she was thinking about much more interesting things than hot beverages.
‘Okay,’ Raf said.
