‘Hi! Oh, don’t worry! I was miles away.’ I smiled up at him.
‘Is this seat taken?’ he asked, pointing at the one next to me.
I shook my head. Charlie shoved his briefcase up onto the luggage rack and sat down next to me. He shifted position to get comfy and bumped shoulders with me.
‘Sorry.’
He folded his legs in tightly against the seat, allowing room for the well-dressed woman now opposite him to sit comfortably. I was happy to notice that he wasn’t one of those male leg-spreaders that took up every available bit of space, irrespective of whether someone else needed it or not. Although, to be fair, there was a seat opposite me that she could have shifted across to, which would have given her more room, what with my legs being somewhat shorter than Charlie’s and my entire bulk being a lot less. She, however, seemed disinclined to move. I’d noticed her run her gaze over Charlie as he’d reached up to put his bag away earlier, so it wasn’t a vast stretch to guess that she might have made strategic plans to sit opposite him rather than me. I could hardly blame her. He smiled at her briefly when they made eye contact as he settled in but, in general, seemed as oblivious to her attentions as he had done to the waiter’s in the restaurant the first day we’d met.
‘I—’ He started to speak and was immediately interrupted by his phone beginning to ring. He rolled his eyes and pulled a face.
‘Sorry,’ he said again.
I took a sneaky peek as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it, his voice low as he spoke. I smiled to myself. That made sense. Charlie was definitely not one of those types who would declare his business to everyone on the train, as so many others seemed happy to do. I turned my attention back to the platform and watched two seagulls fighting over a piece of dropped sandwich.
‘So, where are you off to?’ Charlie started again, returning his phone to his pocket as he did so.
I took a deep breath. ‘London. I have a meeting with a cosmetics company today.’
Only my brother and Amy knew about the meeting. I’d been wary of telling too many people in case it all came to nothing, but it seemed right to tell Charlie now.
‘Wow. That could be big, right?’
‘Maybe. If it goes well, it could be great.’
Charlie tilted his head at me. ‘Forgive me, but you don’t seem as excited as I thought you would be for something like this. Which, bearing in mind your bouncy personality, is really saying something.’
‘Oh, no, I am!’ I said, turning in my seat to face him a bit more. ‘I’m just really nervous. I’m worried I’m going to mess it up and, like you said, it could be great for the business. I don’t want to let Tilly down.’
‘Libby. You’re not going to let anyone down. Just relax. Do what you do normally, and it’ll be fine.’
‘What I do normally is talk to a camera and when I muck up, I edit that bit out. That’s the trouble with actually meeting people face to face – there’s no chance to edit. If I trip over my words today, that’s it!’
He smiled and I felt a warmth wash over me like a gentle sunbeam.
‘What?’ I said, unable to stop a smile forming on my face.
His hands reached out and covered the knot of mine as they gripped together in a tight little ball on my lap. His touch was cool, and the gesture calming. ‘You’re going to do great, Libby. If they didn’t already know most of what they need to, you wouldn’t even be going up there, so just relax and be yourself. That’s what they want.’
‘I suppose.’
‘I know.’
I gave him a look under my lashes. ‘All right, Mr Smarty Pants.’
He laughed and gave my hands a quick squeeze, just as his phone began to ring once more.
Rolling his eyes, he removed his hands from mine and reached for his phone. I smiled and glanced up, catching the visual daggers of the woman opposite him as I did so.
‘What time is your meeting?’ Charlie asked after he’d finished the call.
‘Eleven thirty.’
‘You know you’re going to be up there way before then, don’t you?’ he said, glancing at the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist. I was hoping the woman opposite hadn’t seen its brand. She was already burying me six feet under for just talking to Charlie. He was movie-star gorgeous, and built for strength. Add to that the Savile Row bespoke suit and a watch worth tens of thousands of pounds on his wrist, and I was seriously beginning to doubt my safe exit off this train.
‘I know. I thought it better safe than sorry. Just in case they cancelled a train or something silly.’
‘Good plan.’
