Chapter One Present Day #3
Her phone beeped as Nico responded to her text in kind.
She laughed loudly at the thumbs-up and swallowed the bubble of happiness that rose in her throat, feeling a lot like a giddy teen who has just heard third hand from a friend of a friend that the boy she liked might actually like her in return.
The kind of moment she would have shared with Trina, if things were different.
Quickly she suppressed the image of the girl who had been her best friend, her confidante, her sounding board.
It happened like this sometimes – fleeting, crushing moments that reminded her of what she had lost. Not that this was a time for lament, not with things having gone so well with Nico and her so looking forward to her move to LA.
If the pavement had been empty and the street not nose-to-tail with cars, cabs, buses, and bikes, she might have skipped a little, not that she was the skipping kind, especially not in these heels.
Well, that and the fact that she hadn’t skipped since she was a child.
But that was one helluva good lunch. And she wasn’t referring to the overpriced gnocchi that had barely touched the sides.
Nico was smart, funny, and extremely attractive, and his aftershave was utterly divine!
She loved it! He was the full package and the kind of man she would be foolish not to invest in for a while at least. She’d suggest dinner.
Dinner and whatever followed... knowing she wouldn’t mind seeing what lurked beneath his crisp white shirt and sharp navy suit.
Her phone rang.
‘Tan, what’s up?’
She and Tan Shi had blurred the lines between colleague and friend.
She had even witnessed his marriage to Ramon last Christmas – the only one present who had not sobbed and smudged her mascara on the steps of the Marylebone registry office.
She’d done her best to mask her cynicism, knowing that marriage was not for her.
It was to her mind a bizarre and outdated contract that made little sense.
Her mum and dad, Marnie and Doug, were the one exception to the rule – deeply in love, bound by constraints that were not applicable to her – the grind of a hard life and a horizon that was always within reach.
As if they didn’t have time or energy to question their commitment, far too busy earning enough to put bread on the table and never having to contend with the bigger life questions of promotion, exploration, and risk.
Like goldfish. Happy, contented goldfish who never looked up and just kept on swimming.
As a teenager, she didn’t know whether to pity or admire them, and that was the truth.
As an adult, she only hoped that she might find a love so steadfast and unrelenting, knowing the kind of stability that could bring to a life, but she’d do so without putting on a big frock and organising a buffet.
Theirs was indeed a steadfast and unrelenting love that they were happy to share with the little girl who sat at the centre of their world.
Her wonderful, wonderful mum and dad.. .
‘Couple of things.’ Tan broke her thoughts. ‘First, Stern has come back and he likes the chandelier!’
‘That’s great news!’
She felt a familiar flush of joy that their client had approved the expensive option, knowing it would make all the difference to the final appearance, and their bottom line.
The mark-up was hefty. The ornate, coloured glass had a slight dapple and was almost iridescent – the perfect centrepiece for the open-plan foyer of the high-end apartments that would sit on top of the retail space of the renovated factory complex, only a stone’s throw from central Manchester.
It was also vital she leave the agency, which specialised in the redevelopment and regeneration of commercial premises, on a high.
This was her last commission before she took up the new position offered by her old boss, Rebecca Swinton, who was now based in LA.
Madeleine couldn’t wait to fix up her new apartment, let the heat of the Californian sun warm her muscles, and wander the coast or hike the mountains of a weekend.
A whole new life in a different environment. She was beyond excited.
‘I’m glad he likes it. We can talk about it when I get back – shan’t be much longer, an hour or so. What was the other thing?’ She came to a halt outside the narrow white stucco building with its grand Palladian-inspired porch and waited to end the call.
‘How did it go with Nico?’
‘Again, we can talk about it when I get back, but... good.’ She smiled; their time together might be short, her flights already booked, but that didn’t mean she and Nico couldn’t have an amazing couple of weeks.
Not to mention the fact her mind kept returning to the idea that it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that a man like Nico Yannis would pop up in LA now and then, although she tried not to get ahead of herself. It was, after all, only one lunch.
‘So when you say it was good, do you mean good or good good?’ he pushed.
‘Bye, Tan!’ She ended the call, and shook her head. He was such a gossip, a nosy gossip, but she loved him regardless.