I nod. Thatistrue. Carole is the walking epitome of heart-of-gold.
‘Well,’ I say.
‘Well?’ Tom asks when I don’t continue.
‘I don’t know.’
We’re still standing about a metre apart from each other.
He takes a cautious-looking step forward so there’s now only about an arm’s length between us.
‘Would you perhaps consider going for a walk instead of dinner if dinner seems too much?’
I shake my head. ‘These shoes were not made for walking.’
‘No flip-flops in your bag?’
‘Not really flip-flop weather.’
‘Yeah.’
And then we stand there again.
‘So not a walk,’ Tom says after a bit.
‘I could do dinner,’ I suddenly decide. Seeing Tom for however long we’ve been standing here will have set me back quite a long way in recovering from him. So I might as well have dinner and hear what he has to say. If I’m honest, I am extremely curious about what he meant when he said he loved me.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yep. Ifyoustill want to?’
‘Yes, I really do.’ He takes another step closer. ‘You know what? We could just order starters to begin with. And then if you don’t want to stay you don’t have to.’
I smile at him for the first time. ‘Maybe.’
His lips edge up at the sides too, and I realise how very anxious he’s seemed the whole time we’ve been here together until now.
‘So shall we go?’ he asks. ‘If you’re sure?’
‘Yep.’
As we walk, I’m very careful not to get within arm-brushing distance and I think he’s doing the same thing, so there’s a slightly unnatural gap between us, but we do at least begin to talk semi-normally.
‘No further foot or ankle injuries?’ Tom asks as we go down the main steps out of the station.
‘None.’
‘Congratulations.’
‘Thank you. I’m very much enjoying my pain-free walking.’
He directs me across the road in the direction of the embankment. ‘I booked an Italian place. It has very good reviews.’
‘Great.’
By the time we’re shown to our table, I’m completely over the small talk. It’sfine, but Tom used the phraseIloveyou, and – obviously – I don’t really have much interest in anything right now other than establishing what he meant by that.
We’re asked for our drink options.
