Page 53 of My Summer of Magic Moments

‘And … how are you, Ed?’ Claire returned the question.

‘Fine.’ He nodded slowly as if reassuring himself.

‘Okay then, I’ll just need to finish off here. But I could take my lunch hour a bit early, say in ten minutes. There’s a little coffee shop just over the road opposite the main entrance, Brooklyn’s. We could meet there.’

‘That sounds good. I’ll go and set myself up in there with a cappuccino or something. I’ll see you in a minute.’

He turned to walk away, the eyes of the office lifting again. Curiosity fizzed through the air like static. In her work environment he looked gorgeously out of place. Just as the swing doors closed on him, Andrea’s head popped up like a meerkat’s. ‘And who the fantastic fuck is that?’ She wiped her brow exaggeratedly ‘Hot or what!’

Claire stifled a giggle as Dave loomed out of his office doorway. ‘Okay, gang, enough of the side show. Back to work. Claire, my office.’

Oh shit, was she in trouble? It wasn’t as if she’d asked Ed to call in at work.

She saved the editorial she was working on, took a slow breath, and walked up the aisle to David’s door. Andrea gave her a small thumbs-up signal of encouragement from her desk.

She braced herself as she took a step inside.

‘Have you done the article on the old people’s home being threatened with closure yet?’

‘Yes, I finished that this morning. I was just going to give it a quick glance over, then forward it to you.’

‘Good, that’s fine then. Get it checked and into my inbox for three thirty. In the meantime, scarper. You can go. Believe it or not, I’m a bit of a romantic at heart. Go meet your man.’

Claire grinned. ‘Thanks.’

Though she wasn’t at all sure he was her man.

Her stomach was in knots as she put her computer into sleep mode and quickly neatened the paperwork on her desk. She grabbed her jacket and headed out of the office.

Why had he come? What was this really about? She was torn between elation and the fear of getting hurt yet again, the fear of learning something that she’d really rather not.

She walked down the two flights of stairs and out through the glass double doors at the front of the newspaper building.

He was there, sitting in the window of the coffee shop over the road. He hadn’t seen her yet. He lifted his head instinctively as she crossed.

Okay Claire, here goes. She tried out a smile, pushed open the coffee shop door. He was sat on a stool at a high table in the corner. He looked gorgeous, if somewhat apprehensive. And breathe.

‘Hey,’ was all he said, with a gentle smile.

‘Hi.’ A whole host of butterflies were jittering away in her stomach.

‘Come and sit down.’

‘So …’ She picked up the conversation they’d started in the office. ‘You found me.’

‘Yep. I did. Can I get you a coffee or anything?’

‘A latte would be great.’

He had a half-empty cup in front of him. ‘I’ll just be one sec.’ He headed over to the counter, spoke with the waitress and was soon back. ‘Right, well …’ He sat down on his stool across from her. They were close enough to touch, yet she felt a world apart. He took a slow breath as Claire held hers. ‘Claire, I didn’t want to leave things like that. With you thinking …’ he paused, looked out of the window for a second, then began rearranging the sugar sachets that were in a small white dish. ‘Ah, this is so hard to put into words. Sorry.’

‘Shall we make these a takeaway? There’s a nice park just along the road. We could walk a bit.’ Walk and talk, hopefully. She could do with some fresh air herself.

‘Yeah, that sounds good.’

The waitress was still making up her latte, so she asked for a takeaway cup and, after checking with him, another Americano for Ed.

She rejoined him, offering him his paper cup. ‘Have you been back to Bamburgh lately?’