NIGEL
‘Why is that only the second time you’ve ever kissed me properly?’ Helen asked.
‘You didn’t enjoy the first time.’
‘I remember being pretty enthusiastic about that kiss.’
‘You looked horrified. That’s why I said it was a moment of madness. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. And Carrie and whatever his name was were there, all loved up, and it was ... a mess.’
‘How did I look horrified? I was blown away that you’d finally kissed me.
Then you backpedalled, and I thought I was stupid for deluding myself that the posh boy from the big house would ever want to be with me.
And then you cleared off to the States, and I didn’t hear a peep out of you for 25 years. ’
He could see tears forming in her eyes.
She turned away and grabbed a tissue from the box on the kitchen counter. ‘Ignore me, it’s the wine. I shouldn’t have had that last glass.’
Nigel struggled to know where to start. They stood in shocked silence on opposite sides of the room. Say something!
‘I loved spending time with you. I used to count the hours until I could see you or speak to you again. You kept me sane through the stress of uni. And all the crap with Dad. I know it’s a cliché, but you were my rock.’
‘So why did you fuck off to New York?’
‘I couldn’t just be friends. The thought of seeing you with someone else. I had a reminder of that with Adrian the other day … I wanted to get away.’
‘But no call to say you were okay, not even a postcard of the Statue of Liberty? Did you think I just wiped you from my memory? Or perhaps you wiped me from yours.’
‘Far from it. I knew if I spoke to you or you reached out to me, I’d have packed my bags and flown straight back.
God help me, I wish I had. I missed you so much.
Until Madison came into my life. And then …
she distracted me. That sounds awful, but it’s the truth.
It was never the same as with you and me.
You understand me. You’re the only one who ever has. ’
Helen sat down on the arm of the sofa and dabbed her eyes with the tissue.
She looked at the floor. ‘I felt like that about Angus too,’ she said quietly.
‘He made me laugh, he listened to me, but it wasn’t the way we are.
It’s like you’ve known me forever, even now.
Though we obviously both have a massive blind spot when it comes to understanding how we feel about one another! ’
‘Apparently.’ He sighed. ‘So what do we do?’
Helen sniffed. Her tears had stopped now. ‘I think we start making up for lost time.’
Before Nigel registered what was happening, she was in his arms, and they were holding one another as if they were scared to let go. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in the smell of her perfume. How many times had he wanted to do this over the years?
Helen eased away from him slightly so they could look at one another.
‘Can I kiss you again?’ he asked.
‘A third time? This is becoming a habit, Nige. At this rate we’ll make double figures by Easter,’ she laughed and sniffed at the same time.
‘So, can I?’
‘Of course you can, you bloody idiot.’