TOM
I really want to message Nadia.
Obviously I can’t do that, because she doesn’t want to speak again and I have to respect that.
She’s the main – only – person I want to speak to right now, though.
It would be the most selfish thing in the world to message her.
I want to tell her how nervous and full of anticipation I am to finally be seeing Lola. It’s like Nadia’s been on a lot of my Lola journey with me. And I’d like to tell her about this part of it. And I’ll want to fill her in on the end of it. Which will hopefully be the beginning of something else.
I miss Nadia.
Not seeing her is of course entirely my fault.
I look up at the station clock above and then over towards the other side of the concourse. And oh my God, I think it actually is her. Lola. After all this time.
As she draws closer, I kind of want to take a photo and send it to Nadia so that she gets to see the end of this story – likelook, it’s actually her.
It really is her. Ten years on.
She’s beautiful. She’s graceful. She’s aged – well, not aged, she’s matured – in the most perfect way. Exactly as I would have expected her to.
My heart’s beating like the clappers (an expression I think Nadia would use).
Lola’s here now, right in front of me.
‘Tom.’ Her voice is exactly as I remembered it. Confident, poised, the hint of a laugh in there.
‘Lola.’ And mine is, I have to admit, a little shaky. In my defence, this is a big moment.
I hold my arms out and she walks straight into them.
We hug for a long moment. It feels odd, if I’m honest. I don’t usually hug a woman, knowing that I’m hoping to start a relationship with her, only a few days after having sex with another. All I can think is that she doesn’t fit into my arms the way Nadia does, which is really not what I want to be thinking right now.
‘I’ve missed you,’ she says.
‘Me too.’ I push away the thought that I’ve particularly missed her sinceshegot in touch with me five months ago and thenshedidn’t turn up. I don’t want to ruin this reunion by negativity. I’m sure she had a very good reason for not coming. I mean, she’s here now, isn’t she?
She tilts her face back and smiles. God, that smile’s bewitching. Slightly mocking. Enticing.Veryflirty. It’s the one I’ve dreamed of for years on and off. Her lips are slightly parted and I get the strong impression that she wants me to kiss her.
I…
Yeah, it’s weird.
It feels too soon after… Nadia.
This actually all feels as though it’s happening to someone else. Lola is a very attractive woman who I… am not quite ready to kiss properly.
I kiss her cheek.
‘Very… gentlemanly,’ she says, one eyebrow raised.
‘Yep.’ I smile at her.
I can’t actually believe that she’s here.
‘It’s really you,’ I say.
