I almost drop the serving spoon. ‘Does he not need sleep?’
‘To be fair, he looked destroyed.’
I blush at this. ‘It was a long day.’
Yan puts his hand on my arm. ‘Emotionally destroyed.’
‘What does he want from me? I can’t ask him to stay in London. It would have to come from him. And even then, I’m not sure he could bear to let his Venezuelan colleague down.’
Yan nods. ‘While I was with him he had a call from his mum’s nursing home. She’d had a fall and he needed to go and see her.’
I nod. ‘Oh shit. Is she okay?’
‘I haven’t heard from him since. But I don’t think it was anything too serious. He was planning on seeing her today, anyway. He just had to get there earlier and probably stay longer than he intended.’
I nod.
‘In case the two of you had plans …’
I shake my head. ‘No, we’ve been firmly head-in-the-sand about it all.’
Yan smiles sadly. ‘Sometimes, it’s the only way.’
We’ve been back home for a couple of hours. Dad’s napping on the sofa, and Mum’s going through the pictures we all took on our phones so she can update her Facebook page. There are alot. She’ll probably still be doing it on Tig and Theo’s one-year anniversary.
I’m in my room watching old episodes ofAbbott Elementarywhen I get a call from the hotel.
‘We found a cufflink in your room,’ says the lady on the phone. I pause the show and sit up. ‘Would you like us to post it to you?’
‘I could come and pick it up if that’s okay?’
‘No problem. I’ll leave it at reception for you.’
I hop on the tube feeling antsy. When he came to my room last night, he’d already changed into a T-shirt and jeans. Does the cufflink belong to someone else, or did he forget it there when we slipped away earlier in the day?
But if he had, wouldn’t he have noticed it was missing sooner?
There’s a good chance it isn’t Mark’s, and I’m hauling ass into central London for no reason. Still, something compels me to go.
When I get to the hotel, and the receptionist hands it over, I recognise it immediately. Oval sterling silver, engraved with the letter ‘M’. Solid and understated, just like him.
Now that I’ve got it, I don’t know what to do. I should try to give it back to him, right? Or is he going to see through my flimsy excuse to see him one last time? I doubt he’ll have much use for it in the war zone he’s heading to.
Is there a chance he left it on purpose for me to find?
Seems a bit far-fetched, but who knows?
Fuck it. On the tube home, I text him.
But an hour later, I still haven’t heard back. When I get off the train, I walk to Yan’s – that’s acceptable, right? Maybe he’s got a lot of things to do and hasn’t seen my text.
As I approach Yan’s flat, I see Mark’s parked car and my heart soars – I haven’t missed him. He’s still here.
Yan frowns when he opens the door. ‘You okay, Nell?’
‘Would it be okay if I came up?’
‘Of course, why wouldn’t it be?’
