Chapter 33
33
Pascoe & Friends had been serving London customers since 1995. In all that time, the menu hadn’t strayed too far from the original. They still served mussels with fries, a decent steak, a fish pie, along with vegetarian and even vegan dishes for the discerning modern customer.
The online reviews showed that many people came back to the restaurant once or twice a year, even once or twice a decade, and loved the fact that it wasn’t so different from how they remembered it.
Lucie hadn’t been back since that Christmas party in the late 1990s, when Pascoe’s was a premier celebrity haunt and the place to go and eat alongside a smattering of famous faces. When she arrived tonight, almost exactly on time, she could tell it wasn’t such a hot, showbiz place as it had been back then, when there was usually a handful of photographers scouting about outside, but it still exuded glamour, still allowed guests to relax as soon as they walked in, secure in the knowledge that they were going to be well looked after and would enjoy an evening of good food and good wine.
As the waiter guided her to the table, her heart did quite genuinely leap to see that Clark was already there.
And he looked just as pleased to see her as she felt to see him once again. As they kissed hello, the connection buzzed between them much more powerfully than she’d expected.
For the first half an hour, the conversation felt a little nervy and almost shy, as they caught up on what had happened since France. But as they began to eat and relax, the warm, much more intimate atmosphere began to build once again. They started to really talk… about back then, when they were working together, of course, and about their families, their businesses, their future plans.
‘I’ve decided I’m going to move back to London and start a new interior design business,’ Lucie told him.
Clark’s reaction to this was incredibly positive.
‘That’s very good! I love it – especially because I live in London too.’
She went on. ‘I think I liked myself best when I lived in the city. I don’t want to slide into being that woman of a certain age going about the suburbs in a car, spending too much time gardening, gossiping and drinking wine. Not that I’m opposed to wine.’ She gave him a wink that caused him to lean forward and kiss her on the mouth.
As she kissed him back, she immediately wished that dinner was nearly over and they could take this kissing outside and pay some proper attention to it.
‘I still feel like I have a lot to do,’ she told him.
‘Me too, me too,’ he agreed. ‘And I love this moving to the city idea… I was toying with the idea of moving out, having more space and more greenery, but you’ve convinced me it would be the wrong thing to do.’
‘Much more fun to be had in town,’ she said and they smiled conspiratorially at one another.
‘When we were younger… when you were working with me…’ he began, and Lucie could feel her heart rate skip a little because she sensed that he was going to say something important about how things were between them back then.
‘I always thought we would get together. End up together even, and I was so sorry that it didn’t happen. You lit up the office, lit up my working days, and I could not stop thinking about you, Lucie. Even when I should not have been thinking of you. You were full of ideas and creativity and I knew there was such a bright future ahead for you.’
‘I should have been with you,’ Lucie said but she smiled about it and added, ‘our timing was always terrible.’
‘No point in regretting what’s happened,’ he said, his eyes fixed intently on hers. ‘I think we should just look forward to being together now and seeing what we can inspire in each other.’
Lucie put her hand over his, and honestly felt a physical crackle of energy between them. The thought of loving him again passionately, like she had done in France, was right there at the forefront of her mind.
‘That is pretty interesting,’ she said. ‘I am completely up for seeing what we can inspire in each other.’
‘You look so exactly the way I remember you…’ he said, looking almost puzzled. ‘Weren’t you wearing a dress just like this one at that Christmas party?’
‘This is the dress,’ she admitted. ‘I’ve worn it for luck.’
‘Now that’s funny… because this is my trusty 1990s watch’ – he pointed to his wrist – ‘and I’ve worn it for luck too. And I am so waxed,’ he added, making her laugh, ‘Practically bald!’
If whoever had taken that photo of the two of them all those years ago had just happened to pass their table tonight to snap it again, they would have seen Lucie and Clark, almost three decades later, but looking as if the time and the distance between those photos had been erased.
Once again, their eyes were locked, they were totally captivated and they looked exactly like a couple.
‘Time to let the adventure begin…’ Clark said.
Lucie smiled right back at him. ‘Maybe we should go on a journey. I’ve inherited this lovely old car…’