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“I will. Thank you, Martha. It was lovely to speak to you.”
“You too, my dear.”
I handed the phone back to Luke and turned to stare out of the window.
The rest of the journey was spent in silence, Luke and I both lost in our own thoughts.
I clambered out of the cab, trailing Luke into Ethan’s swanky apartment building. Well, his and Avery’s, now. It was one of those buildings with a concierge and twenty-four-hour security, marble lobbies and crystal chandeliers casually hanging in the lift. The kind where ordinary people would wince at the price of even the cheapest apartment in the block. Ethan had inherited a lot of money when his dad had passed away, which was how he could afford it, but even the most beautiful surroundings didn’t make up for losing a parent. I knew Ethan would give up everything to have his dad back.
The elderly concierge knew Luke, since he had been visiting Ethan regularly ever since he bought the apartment. I’d only been over once before, when Avery first moved in. Luke stopped to chat about the rugby, and they dived into an animated discussion about the league standings.
I smiled to myself and sent Avery a message to let her know we’d arrived and would be up shortly.
She responded a couple of minutes later to tell us to hurry up as dinner was almost ready.
“Luke?” I touched his arm, feeling his hard bicep involuntarily flex through his jacket. He looked so handsome, standing there, unguarded and happy. I don’t think I’d ever seen him dressed down before, but he did casual so well. Faded blue jeans, Converse, navy blue T-shirt that made his green eyes sparkle, leather jacket on top, dark hair artfully mussed. Not that I was thinking of his looks. At all.
I coughed and cleared my throat as he turned his emerald gaze to me.
“S-sorry, Avery just messaged to say dinner is ready.”
He gave me a lazy half-smile that made my stom
ach flip, and turned back to the concierge.
“See ya later, Henry. Give my love to May, won’t you,” he said warmly.
Henry nodded in assent, and we headed towards the lifts at the back of the lobby.
“You’re here!” Avery grabbed my arm and dragged me into the apartment, Luke sauntering in behind us and heading for Ethan, who stood at the range cooker stirring a large pan. For someone so small, Avery was surprisingly strong. I laughed and let her manhandle me, happy to see my friend.
“Mmm, something smells good.” I smiled, taking a deep, appreciative breath as the scents of Thai basil, lime, and creamy coconut hit my nostrils.
“Ethan cooked. We’ve got Thai green curry, jasmine rice, pad thai with king prawns, and I’ve made my famous iced lemon mousse for dessert.”
“That all sounds amazing,” I enthused.
“It will be. Ethan is a great cook.” Avery smiled in the direction of her boyfriend, her expression dreamy.
“Look at you, all loved up.” I grinned at her. “You two are so perfect together.”
“Speaking of perfect together”—Avery lowered her voice as she directed me to sit next to her at the dining table—“how are you getting on with Luke? Working with him?”
I stared at the stunning city view as I thought how best to answer Avery. In the end, I went with the simple truth.
“We’re getting on well. It’s…weird. It’s like we realised that we could be in the same room without arguing. We’ve been making great progress on our project. I mean, we’re not friends or anything, but there’s no hostility anymore.”
“Hmmm,” was all Avery said. She sat back in her seat and studied me intently, an unreadable expression on her face.
“What’s that look for?”
She point-blank ignored my question, hopping out of her chair and busying herself pouring drinks. She stopped for a moment to slide her arms around Ethan, and their lips met in a sweet kiss.
I sighed. Must be nice, to have someone. I mean, I was more than happy living the single life, but there were times when I wished I didn’t have to come home to an empty flat every night.
Maybe I should get a cat.
I opened my phone and started typing into the search engine.
