‘It’s notforsomeone else, it’s foryou. It wouldn’t suit anyone else.’
‘Thanks,’ Kate said, in a small voice, reluctantly taking it from him.
‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ Will asked.
‘Later,’ Kate said, putting it in her pocket. ‘It’s freezing.’ She shivered. ‘I’m going back inside.’
Just then, a miracle happened. A taxi with its light on turned into the street. Kate dashed to the edge of the pavement, waving frantically, and it stopped.
‘Kate!’ Will called, as she got in and slammed the door.
Heaving a sigh of relief as the taxi pulled away, Kate looked at the envelope in her hand, tempted to throw it away from her, as if it were a ticking bomb. Vouchers, she thought, turning it over in her fingers – what else would fit inside an envelope? Still, she couldn’t help wondering why, if it was vouchers, he felt it wouldn’t do for anyone else. Maybe they were for some boutique that only stocked ‘outsize’ clothing – like anything above a size ten, she thought wryly. Curious despite herself, she opened it.
Inside, there was just a card with an address written inside it and a key taped underneath. She stared at it, wondering what it meant. Suddenly she had goosebumps all over, which had nothing to do with the cold.
‘Could we go to this address instead, please?’ she asked the taxi driver, showing him the card.
She could hardly sit still as they made their way slowly through the city-centre traffic. Eventually, they pulled up outside a darkened building.
‘That’s it there, love,’ the driver said, pointing. ‘Are you sure you have the right address?’
‘Yes,’ she said shakily. ‘I think so. Can you wait, please?’ she asked, getting out, her legs so wobbly she wasn’t sure they’d hold her up.
Her fingers were trembling as she turned the key in the lock. The door swung open, and she stepped into a dark room, fumbling around for a light switch. She found it – and felt as though she had walked into a dream. She was standing in a restaurant she had never been in before, yet she recognised it. It washerrestaurant, exactly as she had always pictured it, down to the minutest detail – exactly as she had described it to Will that day in Tuscany. She walked into the kitchen, examining everything, laughing in amazed delight at every little touch.
‘Hello?’ a voice called, and she went back into the dining room. The taxi driver had followed her. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all right.’
‘Oh yes, I’m fine, thanks,’ Kate assured him, eyes bright with tears. Spotting a staircase in a corner of the room, she said, ‘I just want to check something.’
She bounded up the stairs two at a time, pushed open the door at the top and stepped out onto the roof. She turned on a light switch by the door to discover she was in the prettiest little roof garden, with tables and chairs set among planters of shrubs. Big gas heaters were dotted around while fairy lights and coloured lanterns hung in the trees.
Kate stood, gazing in wonder, as the snow covered the tables like white linen.
‘This is something else, isn’t it?’
She hadn’t been aware that the taxi driver had followed her up.
‘So, it’s going to be a restaurant. Is it yours?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are you going to call it?’
Kate swallowed the lump in her throat. There was only one explanation for all this. ‘It’s the Taj Mahal,’ she said. She remembered standing at the Taj Mahal, admiring its breathtaking beauty, and someone beside her saying,‘Just think, this was all built for love.’
‘Going to be an Indian restaurant, then, is it?’
‘Oh no.’ Kate laughed. ‘Sorry – a private joke.’
‘Well, maybe you’d better think of another name. Might be a bit misleading.’
Kate and the taxi driver went back downstairs, where she switched off the lights and locked the door.
‘So, home now?’ he asked, rubbing his hands as they got back into the cab.
‘No, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go to the O2.’
‘The Walking Wounded concert?’ He glanced at her in his mirror as he pulled out into the traffic. ‘Have you got a ticket?’
