Chapter 8
Nora wasn’t entirely lying about being away for a work thing, but she had omitted to tell Jay that she was also using it as an opportunity to catch up with one of her exes.
She had sent a friend request to ex number five, which had been immediately accepted and they had exchanged a couple of messages.
Nora had asked what was going on in Hugh’s life but he’d gone with a very general response that everything was great and how about her.
Nora decided that if she wanted to find out if she’d been too hasty in dumping him because of his nail fungus, then she needed to meet him and find out what his relationship status was and whether there was any potential.
Hugh had been keen to meet up, which was a positive start.
Nora’s course was in Leicester and thankfully that day’s session had finished on time, so she was already at the café where she had arranged to meet Hugh.
Her drink had just arrived when she saw him outside on his mobile.
It was a great opportunity to do a brief assessment.
While Nora hoped she wasn’t shallow, it didn’t do any harm to see if the previous attraction was still there.
He was rather broad at the shoulders and slim at the waist and he’d used to keep fit by training for and competing in Ironman triathlons.
Hugh turned, spotted her inside and beamed a smile at her.
It made her smile back and give him a little wave.
He’d always had a lovely smile and good teeth.
Hugh ended his call and came inside to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. ‘Nora, you look amazing.’
She was pleased because she had made quite an effort, reasoning with herself that it was worth it when she had a potential relationship to rekindle.
On an average day Nora let her hair dry naturally and put on lip balm but today her hair was styled and she’d done her make-up.
‘Thanks, Hugh, you’re looking good too.’ His hair was shorter and his arms looked toned.
She so wanted to glance downwards to his feet as he stepped forward to pull out a chair and sit down.
She closed her eyes briefly in a bid to keep her mind away from thoughts of his fungal nail infection.
That was a very long time ago. Nora didn’t like that she’d been so fickle as to dump an otherwise nice person for something so trivial and short term.
But if he didn’t spend the small amount of effort it took to look after his feet, then in her mind that didn’t bode well for other things in life, including her.
He ordered a drink and they soon slipped back into easy conversation as if they’d seen each other recently, not years ago.
He was working as a computer analyst, something he’d always wanted to do, and was looking at potential flats to buy.
This was hopefully a subtle way in to finding out some key information.
‘Working out your maximum mortgage is always a downer unless you’re buying on a joint income, in which case a lot more possibilities and properties open up.
’ She watched for his response but then worried that she was staring at him so she studied the foam on her coffee instead.
‘You’re right. It’s a bit of a wake-up call to realize you can only afford a one-bed flat when you’d been looking at three-bed semis,’ he said with a laugh. Nora wasn’t laughing because now she didn’t know if that meant he was buying solo or just had a partner on a low wage.
‘And then once you’ve found somewhere, the bills start coming in and you go out less. But that might just be me and my single income.’
‘Nah, it’s not just you,’ he said, letting out a little sigh. ‘It’s so nice to see you again, Nora. Did I already say that? Don’t think I’m a dweeb.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘And now I’ve put the word dweeb in your head so you’ll definitely think I’m one now.’
‘No I won’t. It’s good to see you too.’
He leaned on the table and fixed her with interested eyes.
‘I’m dying to know why you’ve got in touch after all this time.
I did have a mild panic that you were going to tell me I was a dad and then I remembered that my brother bumped into you a couple of times after we split up and you definitely weren’t pregnant so it can’t be that. Can it?’ He looked a little uneasy.
Thanks to Jay’s male insight Nora had already figured that she would be asked this question and she had a response prepared. ‘There’s no long-lost family reunion. I just thought that—’
‘Oh crap. Are you ill?’ Worry flashed across his face.
‘No, I’m fine. It’s just that if two people liked each other enough to date, why move on and never interact again? We have a shared history so why not stay connected in some way?’
‘But why now?’
Ah, that was an element she hadn’t prepared for.
‘Why not?’ She went back to staring at her coffee.
She wasn’t about to share any details of the mission she was on.
If she was to find out she had mistakenly ditched her perfect match, then she had to discover that for herself and not be swayed by anyone else’s emotions.
‘I wondered if you’d had an epiphany and realized I was a great guy and wanted me back.’ He looked her straight in the eye.
‘But you might be in a relationship.’
‘You’re in luck. I’m single.’ He grinned at her. At last she could mentally tick off the key question. ‘I dated this girl for nearly a year,’ he said, ‘and then she changed jobs and dumped me for some bloke she’d just started working with. I was gutted.’
‘I’m sorry. Did you think she was the one?’ asked Nora. She was also mentally totting up what she knew about Hugh, his love life before her and an estimate of how many partners he would likely have had since, in a bid to work out where he was on his own 37 per cent journey.
‘Nah, I don’t believe in that and nor do you.’ He was giving her an odd look and she stopped the calculations she was doing in her head. ‘Come on, Nora. It’s great to see you and all that, but there’s something going on.’
Nora wondered if there was a way to tell him part of her plan. She needed a few minutes to conjure up something plausible that wouldn’t have him running for the hills.
‘I’m going to pop to the restroom,’ she said, standing up.
But as she did so she bumped the table, sending a teaspoon to the floor.
Nora bent down and stuck her head under the table in search of the cutlery.
She was immediately confronted with Hugh’s feet.
He was wearing flip-flops so it was impossible not to be drawn to his toenails.
And there it was. Horror of all horrors, Hugh still had fungus and it was spreading. Nora retched.
‘You OK?’ he asked.
Nora hastily retreated from his manky toes. But she misjudged things and whacked her head on the table again, which violently jolted everything on top. ‘Sorry,’ she said, coming out from under the table to see the mess of overturned cups and spilled coffee.
Hugh was mopping things up with an already dripping serviette. ‘It’s OK. Are you all right?’
‘Yeah.’ She rubbed her head. Images of his fungus-ridden toenails swam into her mind and she retched again.
‘I don’t think you are.’ He looked concerned. ‘Shall I call you a cab or something?’
‘Honestly. I’m good. But that’s really kind of you.’
‘Shall I get more drinks?’ He looked around for a waiter.
‘Actually no, maybe I will head off. But it’s been lovely to catch up. I’m really pleased that you followed your dream of working in computers,’ said Nora, inching her way around the table.
‘It’s been great to see you again too. We mustn’t leave it so long,’ he said, giving her a hug. ‘How about next week? There’s a band on at the Red Lion pub.’ He looked keen.
‘I’ll need to check a couple of things on my calendar,’ said Nora, stepping back and forcing herself not to look down at his feet.
‘Oh yeah, sure thing.’ Hugh tried to act nonchalant.
‘It’s been lovely to see you again,’ said Nora, adding ‘apart from your feet’ in her head.
‘Take care.’ And with that she made for the exit.
As she reached the door, something stopped her.
She didn’t usually shy away from things.
Hugh was a decent person. Perhaps his single status was purely down to the toenail fungus.
She felt she needed to step up and tell him.
Nora turned around and started walking back to the table.
But within a couple of steps she could see that he had sat down, taken off his flip-flop and was now picking at his toes. He looked up and they made eye contact.
‘It’s this, isn’t it,’ he said with a grimace. Nora nodded and tried to keep down the coffee that was threatening to reappear. ‘I’ll get it sorted.’
‘Your feet will thank you and all your future girlfriends will too,’ she said with a smile.
‘When it’s all cleared up, can I give you a call?’
‘OK,’ said Nora, but even without the nausea she still felt that she and Hugh weren’t meant to be.
*
Jay had known that Bruce was a big dog but since he’d moved into Jay’s two-bedroomed new-build he appeared to be at least three times bigger than Jay remembered.
They were strangers forced to share the same space and it was going to take them both time to get used to each other.
Bruce also had to adjust to a whole new living environment.
He barked when the microwave pinged, he howled at the washing machine and he’d buried the robovac in the garden.
Bruce was standing in the hallway barking at Jay – something else he didn’t seem keen on.
The sound reverberated off the walls and the dog virtually filled the space.
There was no way around him. Jay was tempted to leave him there and pop to Nora’s on his own to feed Oliver but the rescue centre had been very clear that Bruce needed two good walks a day or he would become bored and destructive.
At the sight of those teeth, Jay was in constant fear that the thing Bruce would destroy was him.
He’d already woken up screaming thanks to a nightmare where Bruce was a werewolf ripping him to pieces.
‘Shhh,’ said Jay. Bruce continued to bark. Jay was starting to get one of his heads. ‘Shut uuup!’ he yelled.
Bruce was momentarily shocked into silence.
He tilted his head and eyed Jay afresh. Jay held up the lead and the dog watched him intently as he inched closer, moving like he was on the narrow ledge of a tall building.
He leaned towards Bruce. Jay had the clip on the lead open ready.
He was almost there. Bruce sneezed. Jay jumped.
The dog walked off. ‘Shit!’ Jay’s heart was thumping.
‘Calm down,’ he said to himself. ‘It was a sneeze.’ He was so on edge with this giant beast in the house.
With hindsight he really should have gone for the guinea pig.
It would have been better to start off his pet ownership small and work his way up to werewolf.
Jay took a deep breath. Women wanted alpha males: strong, confident and fearless.
That wasn’t completely out of reach. He strode into the kitchen just as Bruce was bounding out.
‘Bugger it!’ said Jay and he ran back up the hallway to the front door with the hound right behind him.
Cowering at the door with his arms over his face, he waited to be savaged.
Nothing happened. Jay peeped under his arm at the dog. Bruce was sitting next to him with his tongue lolling out. Jay slowly leaned in and attached the lead, feeling instantly better. ‘There, you’re not a monster, are you?’
Bruce barked, making Jay jolt and almost drop the lead. He wondered if he’d ever stop doing that.