Page 31 of Brighter Together

“You okay?” she asks.

“Yeah.” I force a smile. “Fine.”

Christina studies me for a second, but thankfully she doesn’t push.

Instead, she says, “Come to the pub tonight.”

I blink. “What?”

“We’re all meeting for our regular get-together. Tommy will be there.”

My stomach immediately fills with butterflies.

“I don’t know.”

“Why not?” she asks with a frown.

“Because these are his friends. I’d be barging into his personal life.”

“Pish-posh,” she waves me off.

I laugh.

“Did you genuinely just say pish-posh?”

“Yes, and I stand by it. I invited you. Therefore you are more than welcome to join us.”

“I’ll ask Tommy.”

“You do know he is only your boss at work?”

“I know,” I giggle. “But I work for him. I’m not turning up at his night out unless I know he’s comfortable with it.”

Something about Christina’s expression softens.

“Fair.”

Charlotte smiles. “And if he says yes, you’re coming.”

“That sounds less like an invitation and more like an order.”

“Exactly,” Christina says.

Emma laughs.

I wave the waitress over before any of them can come up with another plan for my life.

“Can we get the bill, please?”

I like them.

That thought catches me off guard.

I really do.

I have colleagues I get on with, people I chat to in the village, but I haven’t had this in a long time. Women I can sit with for an hour and somehow feel as though I’ve known them much longer.

Maybe that is why it feels so easy to say yes to the idea of tonight.