‘You?’ she asks, sensing his tension and thinking again of the strain with his family.
‘Never bad with you in view.’
She rolls her eyes, but grins as she tries some of the food already laid out for them and ‘mmm’s in response. It somehow tastes of a home that felt slightly out of reach to Anika back when she was that girl unsure how to define her place in the world. It’s incredible that she’s only justnowgetting started making herself known – and it’s still hard to wrap her head around the circumstances that jolted her into doing so. Her thoughts drift, uninvited, towards her doctor’s appointment tomorrow, and Anika reaches for her wine glass and swallows some.
Cam watches her as he chews a mouthful of food. He arrived at her flat that evening, with a small holdall that he joked only contained a pair of boxers and a toothbrush – he just wantedto make it ‘ceremonial’. The sensation of seeing him, even after only one day apart, truly lit her up.
‘Earth to Ms Lapo?’ Cam says now, seeing her lost in thought.
‘Hm? Sorry.’ She smiles. ‘I’m looking forward to this. And to later …’
‘Absolutely,’ he replies, licking some sauce off his finger suggestively. ‘How comes you’re working from home tomorrow anyway?’
‘Doctor’s appointment for a blood test.’ Anika freezes as she lifts her glass to her mouth again. She didn’t mean to tell him that.
‘Oh, seen. But everything’s—’
‘Totally fine. It’s completely routine.’
Cam’s mouth sets into a line of query, but Anika steps in again quickly. ‘Anyway … So how was your day, dear?’ she asks jokily.
Cam observes her a beat longer before leaning back in his chair with a light smirk. ‘You mean you weren’t locked in to the show this morning from seven in the a.m.?’
‘I actually was,’ she says, scrubbing her finger over a spot of oil she managed to spill on the tablecloth. ‘First thing I do when I wake up is tune in to hear your voice. From way back since you started the show, actually.’ The sincerity in her voice sounds soft, self-conscious, and Anika can sense that a joke Cam was planning has dissolved into appreciation. Her face heats at her admission. It’s true, even if she’s just listening on her phone while brushing her teeth in Cam’s bathroom. On the evenings they’ve spent the night together in the last week or so, he’s left her sleeping in his bed to head to work at the crack of dawn, trusting that she’d be fine to just pull the door shut after her. Trusting her with all his things.
‘I like that,’ Cam says to her simply, in response to her confession. Their fingers intertwine again across the table just as two waiters appear carrying the first of many plates that beginto cover the table’s surface – bowls of rice, stews, banku, tilapia, kelewele and more.
‘Blimey,’ Anika mutters under her breath, even as the heavenly smells hit her nostrils. ‘Aunty Nadia is not messing about!’
Cam bugs his eyes out in agreement, but, just as they’re about to dig in, Anika sees him look up over her shoulder towards the restaurant’s entrance. He shakes his head and puts down the spoon he was using to serve food. ‘I hadn’t realised she was coming in here tonight. They practically never go out on a weeknight, man.’ He looks uncertain. ‘My mum’s here.’
‘OK, no prob—’
‘Listen, I was round there the day before yesterday. I mentioned we’d been seeing each other …’ Cam looks past Anika towards the entrance again. She turns to look over her shoulder to see Cam’s mother warmly greeting a table full of people near the door. She can’t help a little thrill of giddiness that he’s told his mum about her, though she’s not sure where he’s going with this.
‘Oh, yeah?’
‘Yeah.’ He scratches his temple. ‘Thing is, when I said your name, Mum said that a friend of hers knew your mum, and it came up about you having been our neighbour back then …’
‘OK … ?’
His jaw tightens. ‘I guess they’ve also been talking about you going to hospital. You know how aunties get. I told her that you’re fine, but I just wanted to warn you in case that comes up, too …’
‘Oh!’ Anika straightens up again, shaking her head dismissively. ‘Don’t worry about that part.’ Cam regards her with a mildly puzzled expression. Anika fixes a smile on her face as Gifty Asiedu roams into view.
‘Is that my son?’ she asks gregariously, her tall, ample figure appearing beside her table. She’s dressed in a burnt-orange two-piece, her wig black with glossy curls. Cam stands to greet her as she pulls him into a light hug. Anika stands, too.
‘Mum, this is Anika,’ he says, and Anika can see him shooting bubbles of meaning towards his mother with his eyes, though Gifty ignores him.
‘Hello, Aunty,’ Anika says politely, smiling.
‘This is your friend who used to be our neighbour?’
Cam affirms that she is, glancing at Anika and then down at the table.
‘Ah, OK …’ Gifty looks her up and down, lingering around her midriff. ‘How is … uh …’ She hesitates. Anika reaches calmly down to grab her napkin and dab it to the corners of her mouth to hide her faint smile. ‘How is your mother?’ Gifty finally says.
God bless that diary.‘She’s good, thank you. She moved up to Highgate with her new husband a couple of years ago.’
