‘I hope I got the size right,’ she said.
He turned them over. ‘Yep, perfect. You shouldn’t have, but thank you.’ He leant over and gave her a quick kiss. Her lips were cool and tasted of champagne.
‘You look tired,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I am.’ He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.
‘Not getting much sleep by the look of things.’
‘No, I’ve been working a lot.’
‘Is that all?’ Was it his imagination or did she seem cheered by this?
‘Yeah, that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing lately. The painting’s been going really well. I’m working on stuff for my show.’
‘That’s good. I heard you went to Mum’s card game on Friday.’
‘Yeah. I cleaned up – did she tell you? Came away with sixty cents.’
‘Whoa! If you keep that up, you’ll be able to give up painting and become a professional gambler.’
‘I’m planning to build up to a whole euro next time.’
‘Did you do anything else at the weekend?’
‘Just went out for dinner with Ali yesterday. Otherwise I’ve been living like a hermit.’ He took a gulp of champagne. ‘So, tell me all about your weekend,’ he said. He knew he had to ask, but he felt as if the words were being dragged from him.
‘It was good. We spent a lot of time with Mark’s friends, and they were all really nice. And he said maybe we could go to New York together some time.’
‘And did your lessons come in handy?’ Fuck! Why the hell had he asked that? Now she’d tell him, and he really didn’t want to know.Please don’t go into details. The idea of hearing about what she and Mark had got up to made him feel sick.
‘Yes, they were very useful. I was a credit to my teacher. You’d have been so proud of me.’
‘Great.’
‘One lesson in particular,’ she continued.
‘Well – glad I could be of help.’ He drained his glass. ‘Top-up?’ he asked, reaching for hers.
‘No, thanks.’ Her glass was still half full. Luca poured himself some more. ‘I mean, before I’d probably just have gone along with having sex because I’d have been too embarrassed to say I didn’t want it?—’
Luca froze. ‘Wait. You didn’t have sex with him?’
‘No.’
‘You mean… on the first night?’
‘All weekend. And it wasn’t because I was scared or didn’t think I could give him a killer blowjob. I just didn’t feel right about it so…’
The relief hit him like a cartoon wrecking ball, ludicrous and shocking, and he almost laughed out loud with the surprise of it, coupled with the sudden, alarming recognition –so that’s how I feel. Ali was right.
‘That’s brilliant!’ He grinned. She frowned at him. ‘I mean it’s great that you spoke up for yourself and took control,’ he amended hastily.
‘Yeah, it felt good. And it’s all thanks to you.’ She leant over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, but as she made to pull away, he put a hand on the side of her face and kissed her properly. It felt so good to be kissing her again. To think he’d almost lost her because he’d been too stupid to recognise his own feelings. He reached to pull her closer, but Claire was pushing him away.
‘I can’t,’ she said shakily.
‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ he asked, smoothing a lock of hair behind her ear.
