I shook my head. ‘Last week.’
Her eyes widened. ‘And why are you only just telling me this now?’
I picked at a hangnail on my thumb, unable to meet her eye. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t… I wasn’t sure whether it was anything.’
‘And now you are?’
I shrugged. ‘Not really.’
Rachel leaned forward and waited for me to meet her eye. When I did I saw nothing but kindness in them. ‘You know I adored Greg, Ems, but I can’t tell you how good it is to see you even thinking about someone else. Greg would want this for you. I know he would.’
‘I know,’ I said, even though I wasn’t so sure.
‘So are you seeing him again, this Nick?’
‘We’re meeting on Wednesday.’
‘Where?’
‘The same place.’
She frowned. ‘The bandstand? Why on earth are you meeting there again?’
I shrugged. It was hard to explain. Quite apart from the fact that it was clearly an important place for Nick, it felt as though it was the place we were meant to be. For now, at least. And if Iwas honest, I was worried the spell might be broken if we tried to meet somewhere else.
‘It just felt like the right thing to do,’ I said. ‘Anyway, the rose garden is pretty.’
‘Fine. But promise me you’ll go somewhere else next time? Somewhere a bit less… bird-shitty.’
‘Assuming there is a next time, you have my word,’ I said.
Rachel held her glass up and I clinked mine against it. ‘Here’s to the possibility of new beginnings,’ she said.
‘Only a possibility,’ I said.
She rolled her eyes. ‘If that’s the best I’m going to get then I’ll take it.’
As I walked home a couple of hours later, I thought about what Rachel and I had talked about. She’d wanted to find out more about Nick – check out his Instagram and Facebook accounts, see what else we could find out about him.
‘But I only know his name. I don’t even know where he lives or what his job is,’ I said.
‘That’ll do for now,’ she said.
But in the end it wasn’t enough, and we couldn’t find any trace of a Nick Flynn around thirty years old who looked or sounded anything like the man I’d just met.
‘Are you sure he told you his real name?’ she said.
‘I don’t see why he wouldn’t. But I’m not surprised he’s not on social media. I mean, he didn’t even know what Tinder was.’
‘How can he not? Does he live in the Dark Ages?’
I grinned. ‘Not everyone lives their entire lives online you know.’
‘Most people who say they don’t are lying though.’
Now, as I let myself into the house, the mystery of Nick was on my mind. Who was this man who had taken up residence in my head and seemed unwilling to leave? What was it about him that had successfully pierced the barrier I’d constructed around myself over the last two years?
I thought about the way my body had reacted when our skin touched, and I shivered. I hadn’t mentioned it to Rachel, but as I hung my coat on the peg by the front door, I felt the same feeling again, almost as though he was here, right beside me.
