Chapters (50)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Ninteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Letter From the Author
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
She grinned. ‘Plenty have tried to snap me up, Andrew.’
I must have looked worried, because she said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not about to give you a speech about how I’m not looking for anything. On the other hand, I’m not going to ask you to marry me either.’
‘Phew.’
‘I do like you though.’
‘Yeah, I can tell.’
She mock-slapped me. ‘Watch it. So, anyway, you didn’t answer my question. About why you don’t have a girlfriend.’
‘Oh. Well, I did have one until about nine months ago. We were together for a couple of years.’
The hand that had been drawing spirals on my flesh stopped moving. ‘What was her name?’
‘Harriet.’
‘Harriet! Posh.’
I stroked Charlie’s shoulder. ‘She was a little bit posh, yes.’
‘Did she have a pony?’
‘As a matter of fact . . . When she was a kid, anyway. I think she had a couple.’
Charlie was silent for a second. ‘So what happened with posh pony-loving Harriet?’
I shrugged. ‘Oh, there was no big drama. We were together a couple of years, we talked about moving in together, but then it kind of went flat. Fizzled out. We’re still friends though.’
Charlie’s hand had started wandering up and down my torso again. ‘Is that her picture out there in the living room?’
‘Huh? Oh – no, that’s Sasha. My best friend.’
There was a photo of Sasha and me on holiday in Ibiza on the wall by the door. We were standing on top of a large rock, laughing. It had been a fun holiday, quite debauched, in fact.
‘She looks like a laugh.’
‘Yeah, she’s lovely. I’ll introduce you to her.’
‘Can’t wait.’
She kissed me again, wriggling closer, and the kiss grew more passionate and Charlie came closer still until she was on top of me. We made love again, and this time I was fully absorbed, not worried about anything at all, great warm rushes of happiness enveloping me as Charlie made me feel better than I’d ever felt before.
Five
Five
At some point during the next couple of days, I told Charlie about Tilly and my conversation with Rachel.
‘So I need to find something to try to cheer her up,’ I said. We were lying in bed. We had been in my bed for almost forty-eight hours, only leaving it to go to the bathroom or to eat or grab drinks.
‘You think that’s a better plan than simply talking to her?’
‘Well . . . I think what I’d like to do is take her out somewhere and then talk to her, rather than turn up and say I want to have a word with her.’
‘You’re lovely,’ she said.
I liked hearing her say things like that.
‘What kind of thing does she like doing?’ Charlie asked.