‘She seemed .?.?. very into you,’ she added instead.
‘Did you think so?’ He looked unmistakably pleased. Bugger, served her right for fishing.
‘Mm, definitely. So .?.?. where did you two meet?’
‘Ally, you’re very inquisitive.’
‘Of course I am, Fran. I have to make sure she’s good enough for you,’ she teased.
A shadow crossed his face as he contemplated his pint.
‘She’s very young .?.?. Do you think she’s very young?’
‘Well, I don’t know .?.?.’ said Ally, innocently. ‘What’s very young? She’d be .?.?. twenty .?.?. what?’
‘Twenty-four.’
‘Aw, lovely.’ Not. ‘So you met her on—’
‘Tinder.’
‘Right .?.?. sure. That’d be the main one, wouldn’t it?’
Oh my God, she deserved a column inAngler’s Worldmagazine for her fishing performance. But wow, being replaced by someone ten years younger .?.?. That was something. Still, apart from the dent in her pride, there was a niggling .?.?. something. What exactly was a pretty twenty-four-year-old doing on Tinder, swiping on guys thirteen years older than herself? It happened, she supposed. But still .?.?. How was she going to phrase this?
‘So, Fran .?.?. are you two .?.?. athing?’
God, that was about as subtle as an approaching bin lorry.
He gazed towards the ceiling and huffed. ‘Naaa .?.?. naaa .?.?. We’re just, you know .?.?. It’s no big deal.’
Well, that sounded like a no .?.?. didn’t it?
‘So long as you’re happy.’ She smiled bravely. He might be all dressed up, but away from the Tadpole, he looked just like his old self. She felt a wave of affection for him, and the growing-up they’d done together. Shame it had finished when she was thirty-four.
‘I actually missed you a lot, you know,’ he blurted.
She hadn’t missed him .?.?. exactly – at least, not the monotonous routines and irregular vanilla sex. Although, being honest, Old Ally was pretty vanilla herself. They’d probably both needed a good shake-up.
‘So, here we are,’ he declared philosophically. Although he still hadn’t said where his new girlfriend was. She’d a sneaking unease that his description of their relationship didn’t exactly line up with what she’d observed that day in The Owl’s Nest – still, what else had she to go on?
They’d had two drinks and a pleasant conversation. Any more and, Ally’s good sense told her, they could become:
1) Maudlin
2) Recriminatory
3) Horny
Obviously, the right thing to do was to go home.
‘I’ll get us another,’ said Francis.
‘Lovely.’
‘So .?.?.’ He sat down and gazed at her across the table with his pale eyes and sandy fair hair that flipped outwards when it needed a trim.
‘Fran, your hair’s getting long.’
