‘It’s nice to see you.’ He smiled. ‘Drink?’
‘Yes, please.’
‘So, what brings you round?’ he asked, as he handed her a glass of red wine. He waved her to the sofa and she sat. She took a sip of wine, feeling almost as nervous as the first time she had come here.
‘Um… well, I was thinking about…’ She wasn’t sure how to start. ‘Remember I said I’d pose for you… you know, naked?’
‘Yeah,’ he said warily, eyes narrowed.
‘Well, I never did, and I thought I should arrange to… do that.’
‘Right.’ He looked at her quizzically, his expression torn between amusement and bewilderment.
‘So, um… when would be convenient for you?’
‘Look, I’m not going to hold you to that.’
‘A promise is a promise,’ she said.
‘Well, I’m letting you off the hook.’
‘Oh, okay.’ She felt deflated. That hadn’t got her very far! Now she needed to think of something else to say, so she could casually drop her news about Mark into the conversation. ‘What have you been up to?’
‘Just working mainly,’ he said, waving at the easel by the window.
She stood and walked over to look at the painting.
‘How about you?’ he asked, as he poured himself a drink.
‘Oh, just the usual – work and writing. And I’ve broken up with Mark,’ she blurted.
‘You have?’ He swung round to her.
‘Yeah. Well… called things off. Breaking up sounds a bit dramatic since it never really got started in the first place.’
‘Who broke it off?’
‘I did.’ She studied his expression, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
‘Why?’
She shrugged. ‘I just didn’t feel that way about him. I realised I never would.’
He frowned. ‘I thought he was “the one”. Mr Right.’
‘What? Why would you think that?’
He sighed. ‘I saw your blog post,’ he admitted sheepishly. ‘I didn’t mean to read it, but your laptop was open the other morning and?—’
‘Oh!’ she gasped. Oh, Christ, he’d read that the morning after they’d had sex. He probably thought she’d just written it. No wonder he’d been a bit off with her on the way home. ‘But that wasn’t about Mark. I mean, not really. You know my blog is a load of bullshit.’
He laughed. ‘That’s true. So you broke up with him on Sunday?’ he asked, and finally she could read his expression: he was happy.
‘Yes,’ she said, smiling back at him.
‘Does this mean?—’
‘We can be fuck buddies now!’ she exclaimed.
