Chapter Four
In the cab on the way home, Emily was positively fizzing. She perched on the edge of her seat, one leg crossed, jiggling up and down with excitement.
‘Well, who’d have thought? That was an interesting night. I’m so glad you suggested we go.’
I didn’t have the energy to remind her that she’d invited herself.
‘Barney definitely knows all the right people.’
‘Mmm,’ I replied, feeling a bit woozy. Despite my best intentions I’d succumbed to an extra glass of wine or two. I felt a bit light-headed as the taxi swayed around corners.
‘What fun, though. Such a mix of people. Olivia — are you still with us?’
‘Sorry, my brain’s a bit scrambled.’ And my stomach. ‘Wish I’d taken notes — some of them blurred into another towards the end.’
Ned turned out to be as good as it got. There were enough sparks there to fire up a very small Bunsen burner.
Two others had been a bit on the hopeless side.
Both probably still lived with their mother and were the kind I needed to steer clear of — the ones you go out with because you don’t want to hurt their feelings and three weeks later you’re inventing dead relatives and funerals in the Outer Hebrides to avoid another date.
At least with this speed-dating malarkey it was much easier to be hard-hearted. You could say no at the outset without hurting anyone’s feelings.
My fabulous question had met with mixed results but sorted the men from the gentlemen. Not one of them, not even Ned, came up with the right answer, which was, of course, flight as long as you don’t have to wear the tights. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for Clark Kent.
Emily was still fidgeting. She’d clearly enjoyed herself.
‘I can remember them all. There was one complete weirdo, asking me whether I could fly? Complete beer monster. Too boy-next-door for me.’ She wrinkled her nose.
That would have been Ned then.
‘That tall guy was nice, good-looking and very smart. Likes Japanese food and knows this lovely restaurant in Soho. His brother’s just written a screenplay. Offered to take me to a private screening.’ She smiled for a moment. I might have known she’d find Anthony attractive.
Then her face dissolved into a disgruntled scowl. ‘Oh my God. Did you get that short chap? Did you see that tank top? His granny must have knitted it. So much for exclusivity. How on earth did he get in past the pneumatic blonde bouncers?’
She did rattle on sometimes. My brain was addled. I was ready for bed.
‘Who?’
‘You must remember.’
I forced myself to concentrate. Tank top? And then it came to me. ‘You mean the one in blue chinos, a bit of a Tom Cruise lookalike.’
‘He was short enough, I suppose.’
‘Don’t be mean, Emily, he did have a touch of Cruise about him. He was quite good-looking in a Clark Kent kind of way. If he took those glasses off and did something with his hair he’d look a lot better.’
‘You and your CK fixation.’ She tutted. ‘He was all right, I guess but you’d have thought he’d splash out and buy a new pair of glasses. You know, try and make a good impression. Did you see the state of them? That silver duct tape holding the lenses in. Talk about style disaster.’ She shuddered.
‘So you didn’t tick his box then?’ I asked, expecting her to say, of course not. She shifted in her seat, picking at her thumbnail.
‘Speaking theoretically,’ she began.
A get-out clause if ever I heard one.
‘If . . . I was in the market . . . which of course, I’m not .
. . because I’m going out with Daniel . .
. but if I wasn’t . . . there were a couple of guys, you know .
. . I might have been interested in. That screenplay guy was quite promising.
Do you know he completes the Times crossword every day? ’
‘Yes he did mention it.’ Three times.
‘And he loves sushi.’ She sighed. ‘Clever, sophisticated and gorgeous.’
Surely she must have realised the only person he was ever going to be interested in was himself.
‘Knows some really impressive people. Great contacts. I might meet him for a drink or something. You know . . . purely platonic . . . because . . . you know, I am seeing Daniel. Just networking, you know? Did you see the guy in the Hugo Boss suit and that tie? He was at Eton. Something big in property now. A developer, I think. Offices in Kensington.’
‘Emily, he’s an estate agent.’
‘Are you sure?’ Her forehead crumpled.
I nodded. ‘Definitely. He’s a mate of Barney’s. I’ve met him before. Once tried to sell me a broom cupboard in Wimbledon.’
Her face fell in disappointment. ‘Nice suit though. How about you? Going to see anyone again?’
‘Not sure. There was one guy . . .’ I trailed off. Ned had been quite nice and it had only been three minutes. Could there be more there if I gave him a chance?
‘Which one?’
‘Guy called Ned, he was all right.’
‘Why not give it a whirl? What have you got to lose? It’s time you had a bit of fun.
Get you out of the flat. I know you had a disaster with that Mike bloke at uni, but when was the last time you went out with anyone for longer than a month.
You really need to start trusting again.
You’ll never find the one mooching around at home with Daniel and me all the time. ’
* * *
As the cab pulled up outside the flat, Emily’s face fell. ‘Shit,’ she said, looking up at her bedroom window.
‘What?’ I asked alarmed.
‘My light’s on. Daniel’s here. I wish you hadn’t given him that key.’
‘I’m sorry but that was before you were going out. Came in handy for someone else to have a key if I locked myself out. I thought you said he was meeting his folks for dinner.’
She shrugged. ‘Yeah, at the Oxo Tower. He said there was a chance he’d come by afterwards if it wasn’t too late.’
She’d changed her tune, she hadn’t mentioned that earlier.
‘I’m surprised he didn’t invite you to meet them?’ And that she wouldn’t jump at the chance for a posh dinner. ‘They’re very laid back. Lovely, especially Miriam, his stepmum. She’s quite a character.’
Emily shrugged. ‘He did.’ She gave an impish smile. ‘I’m not a meeting-the-parents kind of gal.’
Maybe she has a point. Let’s face it, she had more luck with men than me.
‘So,’ I said, fumbling with the handle of the door while shoving a ten-pound note at the cab driver.
‘I don’t want him to know where we’ve been. He’s been a bit off . . .’ She stepped down onto the pavement.
Off what? Offhand? Off as in going off her? I was dying to ask, but there was no way she’d admit a man was losing interest.
‘Where have we been?’ she said, pulling on my arm to slow my progress to the front door. ‘Think.’
‘We’ve been out. For a drink.’
‘Yes, but where?’
‘Café Lulu, perhaps?’
‘We can’t tell him that!’ she hissed in an outraged whisper.
‘Why not? It’s the truth. Just don’t mention the speed-date bit.’
‘What if he knows that they have speed-dating there?’
‘Emily, even if he did, why would he think that we’d been?’
She shrugged, pushing past me as I opened the door.
‘Don’t mind me,’ I muttered, watching her disappear up the stairs as I hung up my coat.
‘Daniel!’ Emily’s excited squeal carried down the stairs. She should have been on the stage.
Just my luck, Daniel was sitting on the sofa, looking completely at home.
‘Hi, Olivia. Been somewhere nice?’
‘Hi—’ I got no further.
Emily busily taking off her coat and dumping it on a nearby chair, interrupted.
‘We’ve been to this fabulous bar tonight.
Café Lulu, just off Charlotte Street. Really nice, wasn’t it, Olivia?
Absolutely packed. Loads of people. Met Olivia’s cousin there.
Barney. Of course you know him? He was with some friends.
If I’d known you’d be here by now, you could have joined us.
Why didn’t you phone?’ Emily stopped for breath.
Daniel looked bemused by the rapid information download. ‘I did. A couple of times, but it went straight to voicemail.’
I glanced at Emily remembering her switching off her mobile, saying she didn’t want Daniel ringing mid-date.
‘So how was Barney?’ asked Daniel looking at me. ‘Hasn’t he set up some speed-dating business? That’s what Kate told me at Piers’s wedding.’
Emily’s mouth opened and shut, her eyes widening with a quick-say-something look.
‘Loathsome as ever.’
‘Are you ever going to let sleeping hamsters lie?’ he teased.
‘Nope.’
‘Surprised you met up with him. What happened to your hate-hate relationship?’
‘Strong as ever,’ I said, shooting a now-look-what-you’ve-done glare at Emily. ‘Sadly, we bumped into him. Tea anyone?’
‘I’d love one, Olivia,’ said Emily.
Daniel frowned at her. ‘Thought it kept you awake.’
Blithely she completely ignored him and muttered, ‘Must take these shoes off,’ before disappearing to her room.
Hoping to escape I headed for the kitchen, only to find Daniel on my heels.
‘You know, Olivia, perhaps you should try one of Barney’s speed-dates.’ The gentleness in his voice made me wish things were different. ‘Get a man of your own.’
A furious blush raced along my cheekbones, I could feel it.
‘No good waiting around, hoping things will change.’
My stomach lurched, that horrible dip-in-the-road-feeling. How embarrassing. I kept my head down. If I looked at him, I might burst into tears. God, how mortifying. He knew how I felt about him. And so typical of him, giving me a gentle warning off.
Suddenly his arm was around me and he was giving me an awkward hug.
‘Olivia, I care about you.’ His fingers brushed the top of my arm and I started at the soft tingle they left. ‘I don’t want to see you hurt.’
I swallowed the lump forming in the back of my throat, breathing in the faint tang of citrus. God, he was lovely even when he was telling me he wasn’t interested. Don’t cry. Think happy thoughts. Smile. Pretend.
I managed a faint smile but tears were threatening to take over. ‘Think I’ll forget the tea,’ I said in a strained voice, and fled to my bedroom.
* * *
Daniel frowned as he followed Emily back into her room. There were undercurrents present this evening that he couldn’t keep up with.
‘Sorry about that,’ whispered Emily. ‘We were out with you know who.’ She shut the bedroom door. Ah, he’d been right. They were out with Olivia’s married man.
‘I guessed as much from the odd atmosphere when the two of you came in. I don’t get it though, she doesn’t seem happy.’ He wasn’t going to ask what the guy was like. Nothing to do with him and why should he care?
‘It’s difficult,’ said Emily, turning away fiddling with the hem of her dress. ‘You staying tonight? Thought you were playing cricket tomorrow.’ He detected the sharpness of her tone.
Cricket was still a sore point. He didn’t want to give it up — he’d played for the club since he was twelve.
After a week at work he enjoyed getting out on the pitch, but he could appreciate it was a bit of a drag for Emily.
They didn’t usually finish until seven or eight.
Even the compromise of playing every other weekend didn’t seem to have placated her.
‘Yeah.’ He grinned and slid his arms around her, getting a noseful of a perfume so strong it almost made his eyes water. ‘But I don’t have to leave until eleven tomorrow.’
She pouted, her eyes sad and doleful. ‘It’s hardly worth you staying; you might as well go home now. You’d probably rather anyway.’
He immediately felt guilty and doused the temptation to call her bluff.
He didn’t want to upset her. Something he seemed quite good at.
Despite her outward confidence and bouncy attractiveness, he’d found quite quickly that she was desperately insecure, needing constant reassurance and although her fragility made him want to look after her, sometimes it could be wearing.
He shifted the pile of clothes on the chair, transferring them to the bed and pulled her down onto his lap. ‘Emily, I’m here now. I can stay tonight.’