Chapter 19
Sometimes, Enzo thinks, the thing you weren’t remotely worried about – i.e. caring for a cactus for a mere ten days – turns out to be a disaster. And the situation that had been causing you no small degree of stress is actually fine.
In fact, as Hayley ushers everyone to the big oak table in their kitchen, and Nina dishes up, he thinks this is better than fine.
Wine has been flowing already and, despite their eagerness for him to meet their friend, Nina and Hayley’s conviviality is making this feel like any normal fun Friday evening with friends.
Never mind that Nina is serving up some kind of noodle dish so doused in soy sauce it’s completely black.
Or that – obviously – the seating arrangement has been planned so Enzo is next to Kim.
She is friendly and chatty with a dark, glossy fringe that’s so sharply cut Enzo wonders if it was trimmed by a machine rather than a human.
He can’t place her accent, but thinks possibly Midlands; it’s not one he’s hugely familiar with.
But he soon learns that she’s an old university friend of Nina’s and has her own apparently thriving business.
‘What kind of business?’ he asks.
‘It’s embarrassing, really,’ she tells him with a smile. ‘I’m a coach. Every second person’s doing it these days. I realise I’m a walking cliché.’
He chuckles although he knows nothing about the world of coaching – or specifically that there are so many different types.
‘Oh God, yeah,’ Kim says. ‘You’ve got your wellness coaches and lifestyle coaches, but it gets even more niche than that.’
‘Does it?’ Sometimes, in between fatherhood and his workload at school, Enzo feels he is failing to keep up with the modern world.
‘We had a decluttering coach once,’ announces Marianne across the table, and Zain laughs.
‘She wanted to throw all my stuff away!’
‘No, she didn’t,’ Marianne retorts. ‘She put everything in piles, that’s all. “Throw”, “Keep”, “Undecided”…’
‘Everything of mine was in “Throw”.’ Zain smirks and Enzo turns back to Kim.
‘So what kind of coach are you?’
‘I kind of cover everything,’ she says, ‘but really I’m all about making positive change.
I’m a reboot coach.’ She jabs at her noodles and hesitates, opting for a piece of relatively untainted broccoli instead.
‘It’s a strip-things-back-to-basics approach.
Like, a client comes to me when their life’s chugging along and they want a total reset – no messing around… ’
‘She’s tough,’ Hayley remarks with a laugh.
‘Well, tough gets results.’ Kim fixes Enzo with a wide smile. Her eyes are an intense blue, her lips very red. ‘Oh, listen to me, going on.’ She laughs self-deprecatingly.
‘I did ask,’ Enzo says with a smile.
‘So what about you? You’re French, right? Where are you from?’ It turns out she knows the part of Brittany where he grew up.
‘I’ve run retreats on that coast. Rented a beautiful cottage a couple of times. D’you go back often?’
‘My sister’s still there,’ he replies, ‘so yes, but not as often as when my parents were around.’
‘And you’ve been in Glasgow a while?’
‘Oh, yes. Many years now. This feels like home.’
Kim nods and looks at Nina. ‘That accent. You could listen to him reading a fridge-freezer instruction manual, right?’
Everyone laughs at this. ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ She plants a hand on Enzo’s forearm. ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you.’
‘No, it’s fine.’ Enzo chuckles, sensing himself flushing hotly, unused to this kind of direct flirting.
Because that’s what she’s doing, isn’t it?
It’s flattering – of course it is – as Kim is smart and accomplished, as well as being extremely attractive in that slightly intimidating way, with the taut muscles and gleaming white teeth.
In fact, he is surprised that she seems so keen to chat to him, and keeps expecting her to direct her attentions elsewhere.
Perhaps he’s misreading the situation and she’s like this with everyone?
Having made a decent effort with Nina’s noodles, Enzo becomes aware of Nina transmitting a silent message to him across the table.
See? Didn’t I tell you she’s great? Now more wine is poured and Nina and Kim regale the others with anecdotes from the squalid student house-share where they met.
‘I can’t believe you lived like that, Nina,’ Marianne announces, and Enzo can see why.
In their early forties, Nina and Hayley are extremely proud of their beautiful flat: all stripped wooden floors and richly patterned rugs with an eclectic array of abstract paintings and vintage prints adorning the walls.
On a low table, deep green glossy leaves and assorted cacti sprout from a variety of hand-painted pots.
Enzo turns back to Kim. ‘So you live in Glasgow now?’
‘Yep, just moved here,’ she explains. ‘Nina and Hayley have been on at me for years to do it. So if anyone fancies taking me under their wing…’ Did Enzo imagine it or did she flash a flirty smile?
‘You’re going to love it here,’ Hayley asserts as Enzo and Marianne get up to clear the table.
With a flourish, Nina sets down one of her ‘famous’ baked cheesecakes.
Enzo remembers something similar from last time – it must be her signature dessert – and is bracing himself for its Polyfilla texture when Marianne announces, ‘Oh, Zain – we brought cakes, didn’t we? Put them out too, would you?’
‘And Enzo brought cheeses,’ Hayley adds, ‘and fancy crackers.’ Everything is set out, and as they all tuck in – with everyone risking their digestive tracts with a sliver of cheesecake – Enzo is aware of Kim apparently still not being desperate to move around the room.
Even as they all relocate to the two large squashy sofas, she settles at his side.
Now he learns that she has a teenage daughter who lives mainly with her father in the Midlands. ‘Her choice, and if it makes her happy, that’s fine,’ she says, seemingly without a trace of bitterness or sadness. ‘So how about you, Enzo? What’s your situation?’
‘I have a daughter too, Mathilde. Just the one?—’
‘You’re not with her mum?’ Enzo suspects his ‘situation’ has been confirmed with Nina and Hayley already.
‘Uh, no, we split up a few years ago.’ He glances at the clock on the ornately tiled fireplace. ‘It’s her birthday tomorrow – Mathilde’s, I mean – and we’re having the day together, so…’ He smiles, placing his wine glass on the coffee table. ‘I’d better head off.’
‘Oh, which way are you going?’ Kim asks as he orders a cab. They confer, and as it transpires that it would make sense to share, they get up to leave together.
‘Thanks for a lovely evening,’ Enzo says to Nina and Hayley. ‘This has been great.’
‘Good to see you, Enzo.’ Nina gives him a look – a smirk, an eye twinkle – which he chooses not to react to, glad of the distraction of hugs all round, and politely but firmly declining the offer of a slab of dessert to take home.
‘Sure you don’t need any holes filling?’ Kim asks, laughing, as the cab pulls away.
It takes a beat for him to get it. ‘Oh, the cheesecake!’ He laughs too.
‘Sorry.’ She grins at him. ‘I’ve drunk way too much tonight.’
‘Me too,’ he says, thinking, well, that was fine, wasn’t it?
Lots of fun and nothing to get het up about.
He’s out of practice, he realises, with socialising like this – with meeting new people especially.
Laura is always telling him he’s become set in his ways.
‘Middle-aged cardigan man,’ she’s called him, which was unjustified, he felt. He doesn’t even own a cardigan.
During the short journey Kim chatters away about her work, about how she’s ‘basically there to champion my clients, though not tomorrow, thank God!’ And now she’s asking the driver to pull up outside a smart modern development.
‘This looks nice,’ Enzo says, glancing out at the neatly tended gardens.
‘Yes, I got lucky.’ An expectant pause. ‘Fancy coming up?’
Enzo hesitates because he was not expecting this – not after a casual black-noodle supper at Nina and Hayley’s.
This kind of thing never happens to him and he’s thinking, it’s an invitation, right?
And not really for coffee (unless she’s one of the increasingly rare breed who enjoys late-night caffeinated beverages).
It’s been over a year since Enzo slept with anyone – a perfectly lovely woman called Heather, an occupational therapist with three cats and the last person he’d met through an app.
They’d spent the night together a handful of times.
It had been fine – fun, even – yet at the same time somehow empty, as if they were both trying to convince themselves they were really into each other.
Something was missing and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
He looks at Kim and thinks, well, it wouldn’t be like that – maybe it would be amazing – but he still hears himself saying, ‘I’d better not. I really need to get back.’
She nods, smiling. ‘Cake to bake?’
‘Sorry?’
‘Birthday, isn’t it?’
‘Oh, yes,’ he says quickly. ‘I’m not a baker. But yeah – early start, so…’
Her clear blue eyes meet his and now her hand is on the door handle. He thinks she’s about to open it, but she seems to have a change of heart. Instead, she leans towards Enzo, and the peck on the cheek isn’t a cheek peck at all, but a proper kiss on the lips.
She pulls away and smiles broadly, showing her perfect teeth. ‘Night, then.’
Enzo is a little stunned. ‘Night!’
Kim pauses, seeming to study his face. ‘It’s been lovely meeting you, Enzo. So maybe a coffee or a drink some other time?’
‘That’d be great,’ he says, relieved now as, if anything is going to happen with Kim, then he’ll have to rev himself up to it. They quickly exchange numbers before she climbs out.
As the taxi pulls away she waves, flashing another big, bright smile, and Enzo replays the words Zain murmured into his ear as they were leaving.
‘Keep your wits about you with Kim, mate. I reckon she wants to give you a thorough reboot .’