Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
‘Bugger,’ muttered Bets, studying the large London Underground map in front of her.
She wasn’t a complete bumpkin; she’d been into London plenty of times before – it was only a forty-minute train ride away – but rarely by herself.
Looking at her watch for the ninth time in as many seconds didn’t make her any less late.
Her finger traced one of the lines. Marylebone High Street didn’t appear to be that far from Euston, but it looked as if she’d have to go miles out of the way to change trains so as to get on the right line.
A line of sweat was already trickling down her back and her toes were complaining about the glamorous heels. With a dismayed sigh, she made her decision and hurried through the barrier and down the escalator.
Consequently, when she finally arrived at the restaurant, she was twenty minutes late; hot, bothered and extremely flustered. She remembered why she didn’t like coming into London.
‘Hey,’ said Jamie standing up when she was shown to the table by the waiter. It hadn’t helped that she suddenly realised, when she arrived in front of the ma?tre d’, that she had no idea what Jamie’s surname was. ‘I thought you’d stood me up,’ he said with a teasing grin.
‘No, I got a bit lost,’ she said, immediately wishing that she hadn’t admitted to that. It made her sound a bit useless and highlighted the vast difference between them.
He looked cool and very comfortable in a blue linen shirt rolled up at the cuffs, revealing an expensive-looking watch.
‘Not to worry.’ He smiled reassuringly at her, which didn’t actually reassure her. Just made her feel more of an idiot. ‘You’re here now. Would you like a drink?’
‘God, yes,’ she said with a hint of desperation. ‘A pint of water. It’s so hot on the tube. Sorry. I’m not used to travelling on the underground.’
‘You get used to it,’ he said, smiling again. He paused before gently adding, ‘Do you want to sit down?’
‘Oh, yes, sorry,’ she said, realising that they were still standing on opposite sides of the table.
Just how many times could she say sorry in sixty seconds?
Quickly, she yanked out the chair in front of her, unfortunately catching the table leg and making the expensive glasses, with their leggy stems, shiver and chime against each other.
Jamie’s hand shot out to still them. ‘Sorry,’ she said again.
Apparently there was no limit on apologies when you were being a complete dork.
‘It’s fine.’ He lifted his head and immediately a waiter was by his side, listening to his request for water.
‘Sparkling or still,’ asked the waiter.
Jamie looked at Bets as she was trying to fold herself into the chair, stuffing her redundant jacket under the table along with her handbag.
‘I … er … I don’t mind. Whatever you want.’
‘We’ll have sparkling,’ said Jamie.
Bets felt even more of a fool. Why hadn’t she said anything? She really didn’t like sparkling water, especially not when she was dying of thirst.
Jamie offered her a menu. ‘I hope you don’t mind but I’ve already chosen what I’m having. We’ve only got the table for another hour and a half.’
‘Oh… S—’ She stopped herself. This was turning into the most embarrassing date of all time. ‘I didn’t realise there’d be a time limit.’
Jamie shrugged. ‘It’s a popular place. They like to get as many covers as they can during service.’
Bets nodded, realising she hadn’t even looked around at the restaurant.
She made a discreet survey of the very modern interior.
The tables were clothed in pristine, crisp white linen and the chairs had a Scandinavian vibe with clean, simple lines and pale leather.
Subdued lighting created an elegant ambiance, as did the hushed voices of the other diners.
‘This is lovely,’ she said cheerfully.
‘It’s one of my favourites,’ said Jamie. ‘And the set menu for lunch is very reasonable.’
The waiter reappeared. ‘Are you ready to order?’
‘Oh, sorry, no,’ said Bets, immediately applying herself to the menu.
‘What about wine? I’m having the seabass so I was planning to have a glass of white, but if you’d like white as well, we could get a bottle.’
‘No,’ said Bets. ‘If I drink wine at lunchtime, I’ll fall asleep on you. Diet Coke will be fine for me.’
I’ll have a glass of the Sancerre,’ said Jamie, ‘and a Diet Coke for the lady.’
‘Excellent,’ said the waiter gravely and turned on his heel.
Bets’ cheeks turned red, the hot flash making her even hotter than she already was. Never before had she felt such a total and utter klutz.
She picked up the menu and fanned her face slightly. ‘I’m not going to apologise again,’ she said with a smile. ‘I will calm down in a minute.’
‘It’s all fine,’ said Jamie. ‘There’s no need to apologise.’
It didn’t feel fine to Bets.
‘What are you having?’ she asked.
‘I’m going to have the chicken parfait to start with, followed by the seabass.’
She nodded as if she had the first clue what chicken parfait was and studied the menu. What the heck was beetroot tartare when it was home? In fact half the words on the menu meant nothing to her. Velouté? Chanterelles? Sabayon? And who wanted prunes as a starter?
She was about to choose the seabass as well, even though she wasn’t a big fish fan when she noticed the ￡20 supplement.
How bad could chicken parfait be? It had chicken in it, she liked chicken.
‘I’ll have the chicken parfait and the pork,’ she said.
The waiter served their drinks and then glided away again. Bets wondered if he’d got some kind of robot blood in him. She relaxed a little.
‘So have you seen your aunt recently?’ she asked, realising that she knew very little about Jamie.
‘No, I’ve been a bit tied up. Dom’s mother isn’t very well, so I’ve had him with me a lot and I’ve been trying to juggle the school run with work and being a housewife.
It takes me an hour and a half to get him to school before I get back to my desk, so I’m having to work to catch-up once he’s gone to bed.
It’s all a bit chaotic, to be honest. Luckily, this location and the early lunch work well as I need to do the school pick-up.
’ He took what looked like a grateful sip of his wine.
‘No problem,’ said Bets. ‘That sounds very stressful.’ She ignored her slight resentment that this date had been arranged for his convenience, when she’d had to travel for well over an hour to get here, on her day off, for a date of less than an hour and a half.
‘All part of the territory,’ said Jamie, lifting his shoulders in an unconvincing shrug. ‘Plenty of women cope on their own. At least I’ve got my Aunt Margery as backup. She’s going to have Dom this weekend so that I can get a couple of interviews done.’
They chatted through their meal, mainly about Jamie’s domestic challenges, and Bets found herself feeling both sympathetic and admiring but also a little detached.
She couldn’t imagine dealing with all that.
The poor man had a lot on his plate. Thank goodness, Tiggy was the sum total of her responsibilities and she had a team around her who could pitch in to dog-sit.
She didn’t feel it would be appropriate to point out that this was definitely one of the benefits of country living – the close community.
It didn’t sound as if Jamie had much support apart from his aunt, who wasn’t exactly local.
‘Enough about me. What about you? What have you been doing?’
‘Actually, I’m about to embark on my first stand-up comedy performance.’ What had made her blurt that out? Was she trying to impress him? Or trying to show that there was more to her than he might have initially thought?
‘Seriously!’
‘Yes, and you’re the first person I’ve officially volunteered that information to.’ Bets pulled a face. ‘Unfortunately the village grapevine found out by accident and it spread like a nasty case of chicken pox.’
He laughed as she’d intended. ‘I’m honoured and impressed. That’s seriously brave. Have you always wanted to do stand-up?’
‘No.’ Bets laughed. ‘I did it on a sort of whim. I joined a six-week training course for budding comedians. When you complete the course, you and the other trainee comedians open the local comedy festival. Things have been … difficult.’ He was divorced so he wasn’t going to judge her but she didn’t want to admit she’d been dumped; it made her sound like a loser.
‘I decided I wanted to do something to break out of the mould. Make people see me in a different way.’
‘Except you didn’t want to tell anyone,’ he said with a teasing glint in his eyes.
‘I wanted it to be for me, without anyone commenting or making judgements.’
Before she knew it, it was two-thirty and Jamie had already checked his watch three times in the last five minutes.
‘Do you need to go?’ she asked.
‘Sorry, I’m paranoid about not getting to pick Dom up in time. It’s hard enough for him that his mum’s ill without worrying that he’s been abandoned at the school gate. I’m sure you get it.’
Bets didn’t. Maternal feelings had yet to kick in and while she hoped she might have children one day, it was a decision she would think long and hard about. Not everyone was cut out to be a mum, her own a case in point.
Jamie was already indicating to the waiter that he wanted the bill.
‘I’m happy to pay half,’ said Bets.
‘Absolutely not. This was my choice and I feel I’ve short-changed you. But I’ll make it up to you another time.’ He winced. ‘Although I’m not sure when that will be. I’d like to come and see your stand-up performance, if me being in the audience wouldn’t put you off.’
‘No, not at all,’ said Bets, surprised and a little stunned at this assumption. She was doing the stand-up comedy for herself, no one else. His being in the audience was totally immaterial.
Suddenly, in the spirit of the new her, she made a decision.
When they stepped outside the restaurant to go their separate ways, she said, ‘This has been really nice but I’m …
not sure you’re in the right place for dating at the moment.
It sounds as if you’ve got a lot on and …
I’m going to be honest here’—she paused, wondering if she was being a bit brutal—‘I’ve just come out of a relationship where I played second fiddle for most of my life.
I’m not sure I want to’—it sounded so callous—‘be with someone where I don’t come first.’
To her surprise, Jamie gave her an understanding smile.
Maybe it was. ‘Believe it or not, I completely get that. And I’m not in a position to offer anything else at the moment.
Not while Dom’s mum is so unwell. But I’d like to stay in touch and come and see your stand-up show. Things may change in the future.’