‘It’s Nick,’ I said.
‘You’ve got feelings for him?’
I nodded, and then another round of sobs overtook me and she waited patiently for them to pass and then listened to the whole sorry story.
‘Have you tried ringing him?’
‘No, but since he left he’s only left me one message – he’s hardly bursting to hear from me.’
‘But he doesn’t know how you feel. How can he? You’ve only just realised yourself.’
I blew out a breath. ‘What would I say? “Hi Nick, sorry about laughing in your face that night and running off with another man. And in other news, I’m crazy about you”.’
Alice smiled. ‘That’s exactly what you need to say. But word it slightly differently, of course.’
‘There’s no point. He’s left the country. He was never really keen on living in England.’
‘I bet he’d like England a whole lot more if he knew how you felt about him.’
For a second, it seemed so simple. It was one phonecall...
I pushed the thought out of my head before it took root. ‘He’s with someone else.’
Alice frowned. ‘Really? So quickly?’
‘It was a badly kept secret in the industry that he was sort of seeing someone he worked with. Someone rather high-profile.’
Alice’s eyes went wide. ‘Marcie?’
I nodded.
She’d left her phone on the table, and it suddenly buzzed angrily. ‘Sorry, Zoë, I need to check who this is.’ She frowned as she read the message, then put her phone down again. ‘I’m sorry, but I need to go. I’m staying at Annette’s and apparently I’m late for the evening of pampering she has lined up.’
‘Get going, then, woman. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.’
She hopped off the stool and gave me another hug. ‘Ring him. Tell him how you feel. If you don’t do it now you’ll always wonder.’
I stayed in the coffee shop after Alice left, trying but failing to not think about what she’d said.
Should I tell Nick how I felt? It was just asking for humiliation, wasn’t it?
Thankfully, Pete rang, so I didn’t have to think about it anymore.
‘Hey, bro,’ I answered, with forced cheerfulness. ‘What’s happening?’
‘Arma-fucking-geddon,’ was his grim reply.
