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“Yeah, he is, but we live in the UK,” she replied.
“I flew into Heathrow. I spent a week in London before I came here. Italy next, Venice, and then Rome.”
Penny made appropriate noises of polite interest but then the cashier waved him forward and he turned back to the till. Penny looked to check where David was and found his gaze burning into her. He crossed over to her.
“Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!” she begged the cashier under her breath. Luckily the guy in front moved away toward the elevators. She sighed with relief.
“Did that jerk just try and pick you up again?” David asked fiercely, arriving by her side.
“What? No. Do you like what I found?” she asked, quickly diverting him from the subject.
“Hey, they’re neat! Well done.”
She glowed under his praise.
“I bought two; one for Dad, and one for Allie and Clare.”
“That’s great,” he said as they left the shop and waited for the elevator to take them to the third and final level.
After a spectacular ride up the length of the tower, where her view of the ground receded alarmingly, Penny couldn’t wait to disembark.
Wind whipped her hair back from her face as soon as she stepped out onto the deck. Instinctively she turned into the man next to her, assuming it was David. A steadying arm slipped around her shoulders.
“I don’t like this!” she yelled into his coat.
“Not good with heights then?” a strange male voice rumbled beneath her ear. She jerked her head up and saw the man she’d been speaking to in the gift shop. Moving away from him, she looked about frantically for David.
“Hey, man, over here, your wife needs you!” the guy yelled over the noise of the howling gale.
David arrived, his face set in bullish lines.
“Penny?” He pulled her to him possessively.
“Hi, I’m Matt. She doesn’t like heights,” her unintended rescuer introduced himself, holding out his hand.
David appeared reluctant to offer his own, so she stuck hers out and shook Matt’s.
“Hi, I’m Penny and this is my husband David,” she said quickly in an attempt to defuse the awkward situation.
“Nice to meet a fellow yank,” Matt drawled.
“Yes? Well, I’ve lived in the UK for the last nine years,” David replied stiffly.
“Yeah? Can’t say I liked London overmuch. Cramped and overcrowded, but Paris? Now you’re talking. I mean, take a look at that view! Catch you guys later,” Matt said and sauntered off.
“Jerk!” David reiterated his earlier judgement on Matt. “D’you want to go back down?” he asked, leaning in to speak over the noise of the wind.
“Yes, please,” she said with relief.
He nodded, tucked her under his arm, and guided her toward the elevator. Once inside she cuddled into him and closed her eyes, unable to look outside the glass box they were travelling in. Her knees turned to jelly.
“Hang on to me, babe, we’re nearly there,” David whispered in her ear. She tightened her arm around his waist in gratitude.
Back on level one, he took her into the café and pulled out a chair into which she sank gratefully.
“Hot chocolate?” he asked.
“Please.” She nodded.
