‘Goodbye Lucy.’ He looked at her sadly, hesitating as to whether to kiss her or not. He obviously thought better of it and walked through the door, taking one last look around her flat as he left.
She shut the door quickly behind him, her heart pounding. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Walking back to the sofa where Alex had just been sitting, she sat down heavily. She went over the conversation once again, marvelling at his audacity to turn up unannounced like that and casually ask for her back, as though nothing had ever happened, as if none of this time had passed. The cheek of it! Seeing him again confirmed what she had suspected, Rory already meant more to her than Alex had ever done. She never felt on her guard with him, she was so relaxed in his company. He didn’t have any character traits that she disliked. His personality was so unselfish, so genuine and he was such a positive guy. Alex had been the opposite and she thanked her lucky stars that she could now see him and their relationship for exactly what they were.
She picked up the phone and called Claudia. ‘You’ll never guess who’s just been around…’ Lucy said.
‘Who?’ asked Claudia.
‘Alex!’
‘Alex? No way! Why? What did he want?’ she asked, clearly shocked.
‘He asked me to give him another chance,’ said Lucy, still unable to believe it.
‘What? That’s ridiculous. As if you would take him back after everything he did to you!’
‘I know!’
‘Did you tell him to get lost?’ asked Claudia.
‘Of course I did! Even if I didn’t have Rory I would have… the audacity of the guy!’
‘What did he say exactly?’
‘That he’s realized I was as good as he’d get, basically, and would I be happy to try again on those oh-so-flattering terms.’
‘Idiot!’ said Claudia. ‘Dan said that he’s been feeling pretty down recently, but he had no idea that he was going to turn up on your doorstep! If he had given me an inkling that he suspected that, I would have told you, obviously…’
‘I know you would have, Clauds. It’s just so odd to think how much I once prayed that he would do exactly that. Now everything is so different,I’mso different…’
‘And you’ve got Rory… much more importantly!’
‘Yes thank god for that too…’
‘Did you tell Alex about him?’
‘I said I was seeing someone.’
‘Well at least that should shut him up. Hopefully he got the message.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Are you going to tell Rory?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Lucy.
In the end she did tell him when he phoned her later on in the evening, just as she had tucked herself up in bed. She played the whole episode down and reassured him that she hadn’t even considered saying yes for a millisecond, that she was completely over him and that she was really only interested in one man, and one man only.
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Rory. ‘I couldn’t bear to lose you now that I have finally found you. It sounds lame, but I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever meet someone I could trust, someone I liked, after losing Abi…’
‘I know. And I promise you, I’m not going anywhere,’ she said. ‘You’re stuck with me now, for as long as you want me!’
‘You’d better get very used to me then!’ he laughed. They talked for a while longer before hanging up the phone.
Lucy dozed sleepily, dreaming of Rory morphing into Alex and back again as she allowed her mind to drift off into a deep sleep.
