‘Less of the old, please.’
‘To wonderful, amazing, inspiring friends.’
His dark blue eyes seemed so full of affection that I had to look away.
‘Cheers,’ was all I trusted myself to say.
After a couple of minutes, my heart was almost back to normal beating speed.
‘How long do you plan to stay at the hotel, Si?’
‘The firm’s put me up for a couple of weeks, but I want to find a place of my own before then.’
‘You could stay here if you like,’ I said, keeping my tone light.
‘I couldn’t impose like that.’
‘It’s no problem,’ I said. ‘I could at least give you a key. That way, you’re not hanging around outside in the heat.’
‘I know your game,’ he said, his eyes twinkling.
He did?‘What do you mean?’
‘You want to get out of cooking, don’t you? And here I was thinking you were being nice, when really, you want me to have dinner ready for you when you’re home from work.’
I gave him a shove. ‘That’s not what I meant!’
‘Bit of tidying, too? And to put the laundry on?’
‘Stop it,’ I said, trying not to squirm.
‘Basically, an unpaid housekeeper.’
‘No!’
‘Admit it, Frixie, you want me to be your slave.’
Oh God, why did I hear the word ‘sex’ in front of ‘slave’?
Simon’s phone vibrated, dissolving the – probably imagined – sexual tension.
He read his text while I topped up our glasses, surprised to find that we’d reached the bottom of our second bottle.
‘I guess I should call it a night,’ he said.
Before he left, I gave him a key, which he accepted without fuss. I mooched around the kitchen, rinsing our plates and glasses.
Were we finally on the cusp of something? The spark between us wasn’t in my head. I really wanted to ring Georgia and tell her all about it. She was the one I always turned to when it came to relationship advice. But it was late and she’d be asleep. I needed to dampen my excitement. Simon was fresh from a divorce – the ink on his decree absolute was barely dry. The last thing I wanted was to be his rebound relationship.
I twisted the taps off and dried my hands on a tea-towel. Patience, I told myself. Then went to bed with that damned Take That song drilling holes in my head.
