AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Yes,’ Max Goodwin agreed as he dropped down on the bench beside her, and Josie was momentarily distracted. She curled her lip at him, revealing her sharp white teeth, then went back to her bone.
‘I see nothing has changed there,’ he said with a grin. ‘She’s still anti-men. How are you, Alex?’
Alex stared at the choice of sandwiches in her hands for a second, then put them back into the plastic container, and for a moment wondered, in a panic-stricken kind of way, if she’d been struck dumb.
She swallowed and blinked, then looked at him at last. ‘I’m fine, thank you! What a coincidence, meeting you her
e in the park. Is Nicky—?’ She broke off as the thought struck her and she looked around.
‘No. He’s with his mother at the moment. You’ll be pleased to hear he divides his time between us quite happily.’
‘You didn’t—’ She hesitated.
‘No, I didn’t marry Cathy.’ He paused and waited, but Alex was unable to do more than moisten her lips. ‘We came to an agreement,’ he said then. ‘If there’s one thing that’s sacrosanct between us, it’s Nicky.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s amazing how everything else seems to have fallen into place. Oh, we go our own way, but on that we’re united.’
‘I’m so glad,’ Alex said. ‘I’m so very glad. Would you like a sandwich?’ She proffered the plastic container. ‘There’s egg and lettuce or ham and tomato.’
‘Thank you.’ His long fingers hovered, then he made his choice. ‘But I’d really like to know how you’re going, Alex.’
She chose her sandwich blindly as her mind raced, and her senses reeled. Nearly five months had seen some changes in Max Goodwin. Still as tall, of course; still with that elegant physique, but some of his vitality seemed to be missing. His night-dark hair was shorter and those dense blue eyes were—what? Uncharacteristically weary? As if he was under some kind of pressure again, as she’d seen him once before …
None of it made the slightest difference to his impact on her, however. It was like reaching an oasis in the desert just to be with him, talking to him, breathing him in. It was like coming in from the cold, as she’d suspected it would be when she’d followed a stranger who’d looked like him down an escalator.
But what could this turn out to be? she suddenly asked herself. A chance meeting in the park and then, for her, a whole new battle to wage with herself? That was going to happen anyway, but what could he do if she showed him how affected she still was by him?
What would it do to her if she allowed herself to hope there was more to it than met the eye and those hopes were dashed again? In the five months that he hadn’t married Cathy Spencer, he’d made no effort to contact her.
So, it stood to reason she was going to be alone, again, and the sooner she came to terms with it, the better.
‘Alex?’
She looked up at last and smiled suddenly. ‘Sorry, I was just looking back, but you were right, you know. I’m fine. I think falling prey to something like that—’ she looked rueful ‘—for the first time at the fine old age of twenty-one made it feel worse, perhaps.’
‘A crush?’ he suggested.
She nodded. ‘But I’m all together again,’ she assured him blithely and stopped, to look serious. ‘Although I have to say thank you. You were amazingly tactful, and giving me Josie, and my job, was inspired.’
‘Is there someone in your life, Alex?’ he queried.
‘Well, I haven’t quite got that far,’ she conceded. ‘But while twenty-one might be a fine old age to suffer your first crush, it’s not exactly old—it’ll come. In the meantime, I’m off to Beijing for a holiday in a month, and I’m preparing my CV for the Diplomatic Corps. I’m also taking driving lessons, or I was.’ She looked comically put out for a moment.
‘What happened?’ He glanced at her bicycle leaning against the tree.
‘I had an accident. I bumped into Simon, of all people. By the way, thanks also for all the work you’ve given him. He really appreciates it. But tell me—’ she looked at him warmly ‘—how is everyone? Margaret? And Mrs Mills? I do miss them.’
‘Everyone’s fine.’
‘And the Chinese venture?’
‘It’s all on track. So, no more panic attacks?’ His eyes were narrowed and watchful. He’d finished his sandwich and he stretched his long legs out.
She shook her head and managed to look completely carefree. ‘I really am fine.’
‘You look it,’ he murmured, taking in her skimpy outfit and the smooth creamy skin of her shoulders and arms and her legs. ‘Still the best pair of legs in town.’
Alex laughed. ‘You were very annoyed with my legs, if I recall.’ She shrugged. ‘But it’s good to be able to laugh about it in hindsight.’
‘Yes. Well—’ he pushed his fingers through his hair ‘—I can’t offer you a lift home because of the bike, but it’s been really good to see you, Alex.’
