‘Well,’ said Jemima, ‘That was…’

‘Shit,’ said Chance checking to see he was out of earshot of other attendees.

‘Oh, thank God!’ Jemima laughed, clutching her chest in relief.

‘Yeah, it was awful,’ said Chance. ‘Never heard anything like it.’

‘But you were clapping?’ Jemima wailed.

‘Coz I thought you loved it. I heard you crying.’

‘That was the woman beside me!’

Laughter rippled through them as they realised they’d hated the reading as much as each other.

‘God, what was that line she kept using?’ Chance giggled, clicking his fingers.

‘And so it begins,’ Jemima droned, mimicking Xandria’s monotone voice, her impersonation sending them into more peals of laughter.

As they recounted their favourite pompous passages, Jemima wiped tears from her eyes. Clearly their highbrow captivity had made them hysterical, she thought, as she rested a hand on his shoulder. It felt good – solid. Was this allowed on a non-date night she wondered before pulling her hand away.

‘Man, I am soooo sorry. I thought that was going to be helpful but I’ve probably set your writing back a month!’ Chance shuddered.

‘Don’t be silly. I’m glad I came. I’ve been putting off reading The Cave, building it up as this insanely brilliant masterpiece so it’s good to see Xandria is a mere mortal too.’

‘She seems demonic, putting us through that,’ said Chance puffing his cheeks.

Their giggles slowly ebbed away and they continued their stroll through St Pancras Square, Jemima keeping a platonic distance apart. This was nice. Just strolling. Admittedly, it always felt nice, just being with Chance. Jemima felt very… present, by his side.

‘Is that a swing?’ he said pointing across the square to a giant birdcage installation.

Before Jemima could reply, Chance had already run over. He pulled back the swing seat and beckoned her to follow.

‘I’m good,’ she called.

‘Come on,’ encouraged Chance, ‘it’ll be fun.’

‘I’m fine,’ said Jemima.

Chance let go of the swing and walked back to her.

It’s not that she had a problem with swings. They seemed to give kids hours of pendulous fun. But if there was something that would make tonight feel like a date, surely Chance pushing her on a swing in the middle of Kings Cross on a wintery evening, was it – it had Richard Curtis rom-com written all over it and that wouldn’t do – because this was not a date. This was two friends, discussing a novel set in the depths of a reproductive system. Nothing more, nothing less. Chance pushed his hands into his pockets and tilted his head holding her in his gaze. Jemima looked down at her watch, drawing a slow breath. ‘I’m going to head off.’

‘No worries. I’ll walk you to the tube,’ said Chance.

‘I’m fine,’ said Jemima. ‘Thanks for tonight. It was very… informative.’

She turned and headed towards the station feeling his eyes on her. She quickened her pace.

Chapter 19

Simi

Simi stared at the breadsticks in the middle of the table cursing herself for choosing today to start her low-carb diet. She glanced at her watch. Steve was twenty-four minutes late and with each passing moment, her discomfort grew. The thought of being stood up for dinner was horrific but even sitting alone in a restaurant was excruciating. Flying solo might be fine for Jemima but Simi hated it. Even tonight, Jemima was off on her own, to some book reading. For Simi, however, the idea of doing that made her shudder. She was grateful for mobile phones. At least then she didn’t have to sit here looking like a complete Charlie Chumless, she thought, as she fired off a third text update to Meagan who was also on her date.