Chapter Three #2
The lift doors pinged open on the ground floor and we got out and crossed the lobby, me wobbling a little in my heels because of the carpet.
I almost wanted to slip off my shoes and walk barefoot on it, to feel my feet sinking into the pile, but I didn’t suppose that would be the done thing and it definitely wouldn’t help me win over the family.
Subdued classical music was being piped out through strategically placed speakers and the open fire in the bar area had been lit, even though it was relatively warm outside last time I’d checked.
Perhaps the temperature dropped in the evenings.
A couple were sitting next to the flames nursing glasses of wine and talking softly to each other.
His hand was on her knee; her ankle was wrapped around his.
If we’d been here on our own, Nick and I could have done the same thing.
Although, saying that, since we’d moved in together eighteen months ago, we’d been going out less and less for drinks and dinner, and we hadn’t been on anything resembling a date since we’d got back from Paris.
Lou, who had married her husband Will a few years ago, had warned me about this.
She said it was important to keep that spark going, but when I tried to arrange something romantic, Nick cried off nine times out of ten citing work issues.
I didn’t suppose you got to management level in a huge company like Sky by doing nine-to-five hours, so this was the pay-off.
It was how I’d ended up living in his three-bedroom apartment in St John’s Wood and why I had to fight to pay any rent at all because he said he didn’t need me to (but I wanted to, because I didn’t want to feel like some sort of kept woman – I had a career, too, and had always paid my own way).
If it wasn’t work, it was something with Daisy.
He was always on the phone to Sophia – I heard him talking to her in hushed whispers, calming her down.
Although Nick never enlightened me, and I was never sure whether to ask or not, it seemed as though Sophia was finding it hard to deal with having a teenager at home with her all the time, and I didn’t get the impression that Nick wanted to rock the boat (or worse, have Sophia insist that Daisy live with him), and so he would listen sympathetically and reassure her that she was an amazing mother.
I felt for Daisy, actually. I knew what it was like when your parents split up and you felt like you didn’t belong anywhere and that neither of them really wanted you around anymore.
We turned the corner and entered the restaurant, which looked beautiful this evening with candles flickering on every available surface and immaculately dressed waiters swanning around with plates of exquisite-looking food.
I was determined to try something different tonight, to be adventurous.
Maybe I’d have a dish from the specials board, if I could decipher what any of them actually were.
Anyway, I was going to have to get out of my comfort zone this evening because I was pretty sure that my Italian go-to, spaghetti carbonara, would not be on the menu.
I’d caught sight of it earlier and there was a definite fine dining vibe.
I spotted Rosamund immediately, at a table by the window.
She kind of shimmered, which I thought was probably to do with the way her diamond earrings reflected the light.
She was dazzling in red, her hair even bigger and more bouffant than it had been earlier. I had to admit, she looked magnificent.
I took a deep breath. I’d got this. It was just Nick’s mum, nothing bad was going to happen.
‘OK?’ said Nick, taking my hand.
He could obviously sense that I was apprehensive, and giving him the third degree upstairs probably hadn’t helped.
‘Think so,’ I said, slotting my fingers between his.
I’d be all right as long as I stuck with him. In a few hours, it would all be over and we’d be back in our room and then tomorrow morning I’d be able to do that Room with a View thing with the window.
It was as we dropped into single file to squeeze between two tables that I saw him. Face-on, so there was no mistaking it. Sitting alone at a table to the right, looking as shocked as I was, was Aidan.
I squeezed Nick’s hand tighter, feeling light-headed, suddenly, as though my body had disconnected from my brain.
It had been him, I hadn’t been going mad.
And there he was now, staring at me with those big eyes and that perfect, perfect face.
Anger surged up inside me and I felt physically sick.
Trust him to show up now, after two years of radio silence, just as I was ready to move on properly. I hated him in that moment.
I snapped my head away, forcing myself to look at Rosamund and her diamonds, to smile and to think about what was important: Nick and his family and the life we were about to start together. Not Aidan and his stupid, broken promises.