“Is this the same Oliver who you accused of breaking into his own home?” Her barely contained smile had him narrowing his eyes.
“How would you know about that?”
There was only one other person he’d told about that, well, more like he’d witnessed the aftermath.
I’m going to kill him.
“Oh, don’t look like that.” Ruth came to stand next to him and gently elbowed him. “I ran into Aiden in Sainsbury’s yesterday. He thought we already knew.” She gave him a pointed look, as if to say,And why didn’t we?
“Would you have told me?”
Ruth scrunched up her nose, and Sarah laughed. “No, probably not.”
“That’s what I thought. But to answer your question, yes, it’s the same Oliver.”
Ruth set her bag down on the table and took out a couple of miniature poinsettias. Their red-and-green foliage a stark contrast to the rest of the room. “Aiden also said he was hot.” She straightened, picking up both plants and looking around the room.
“Aiden needs to keep his thoughts to himself,” Ed muttered. He waved a hand at her purchases. “What are you doing with those?”
Her exasperated sigh was accompanied by an eyeroll. “Adding a bit of colour.”
“What for?”
“It’s December first tomorrow, Ed.”
Was it?He’d lost all track of time, lately.
Ruth arranged them either side of the fireplace. “Thought we’d bring a little Christmas cheer. You know—” She shared a look with Sarah. “—make it look appealing for when buyers come round.”
He glanced around at the half-finished living room. “Are we likely to have any potential buyers this side of Christmas? Is it even on the market yet?”
“No, we need the decorating finished before we take any more pictures. No point doing all this otherwise.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” He eyed the other bag Sarah was holding. “I hate to think what’s in there.”
“Oh.” She brightened and opened it to show him two bottles of St-Émilion, Doritos, and salsa.
He grinned at her. “Classy.”
“I try.” She went into the kitchen, Ed and Ruth trailing behind.
He leant against the counter, watching as she unloaded the carrier bag onto the worktop. “Not that I’m not pleased to see you both. But this is the second weekend on the trot. You never used to come and see me this much before.”
Before he moved here. Before he split up with Tom.
Ed had always gone to them.
Sarah sighed, playing with the corkscrew she’d fetched out of the drawer. “Well... we won’t have you around for much longer, so we’re trying to make the most of it.”
“And Tom was a bit of a dick towards the end.” Good old Ruth, straight to the point. But she wasn’t wrong.
“He wasn’t the only one.” Ed had done his fair share of behaving badly.
Ruth laughed. “Well no, but you’re all right now.”
“Wine?” Sarah held up the bottle she was opening. They both looked at him expectantly, and it was the mix of hope and uncertainty in their expressions that had him opening the cabinet and reaching for the glasses. “You should have brought Ian. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him.” Sarah’s husband was Aiden’s cousin, and Ed liked him a lot.
“He’s actually round at Aiden and Cam’s helping them with some project or other; I didn’t really listen.” She shrugged and poured out three glasses, pausing after the third. “You could always ask them now. Pretty sure Ian’s staying there until it’s time to pick me up.”
