‘Oh. But you must have had a say in the matter? I mean, if you’re going to live here, you must have had some idea as to what they were going to do. Otherwise it could have been something you completely hated.’
‘No, we discussed things. And… actually by the time the house was ready for any sort of decoration, Carly and I had been going out for a little while, so she’d got to know more of how I was – am – and what I like, and don’t like.’
‘Oh. That was handy.’
‘It was,’ he agreed, leaning forward to swipe the folder from the table. As he did so, his shirt rode up, exposing a glimpse of tanned lower back and the silvery traces of an old scar.
‘So, what happened, then?’ I said, distracting myself from the view.
‘To what?’
‘To you, and Carly, was it?’
He shook his head.
‘What?’
‘You just make me laugh. There’s no preamble with you, is there?’
I pulled my mouth to the side. ‘Would you prefer preamble?’
‘No. Not really. And definitely not from you. It wouldn’t suit. You are who you are.’
‘Now you know why my ex didn’t want me to go with him to his swanky new position in America.’
‘No, I still think he missed a trick there. But his loss is our gain, so I can’t be too hard on the bloke.’
I laid my head on his shoulder in an exaggerated gesture. ‘You say the nicest things.’
‘That’s because I’m a pushover,’ he said, without turning to look at me, but I knew he was smiling.
‘But you’re a lovely pushover.’
‘And you’re going to hurt your neck if you don’t stop arsing about.’
I pulled my head upright and grinned.
‘You didn’t answer the question.’
‘What question?’
‘Stop stalling.’
He pulled my laptop off the coffee table where I’d laid it when I came in and rested the computer onto his knees.
‘I’m not stalling. She got a job in London. Is this thing password protected?’
‘No.’
‘It should be.’
‘Oh. Well, set one up for me if you like, but don’t forget to tell me what it is.’ I veered the conversation back to the original topic. ‘London’s not that far, and you work up there every day. There must have been something else.’
Charlie was tapping away at the keys. ‘No, not really. It just wasn’t working. It wasn’t anything particular. There just weren’t any… sparks, I guess. What’s that look for?’
I hadn’t realised that the surprise I’d felt inside at Charlie and his ex not having sparks had transferred onto my face.
‘What look?’
