‘I’m sorry about this. I didn’t know you’d be here. The she-devil Sal strikes again, am I right?’ His deep voice rumbled against her cheek.
Eleanor laughed and felt her body relax. ‘I’m sorry for notreplying to your message, it’s just the—’ But before she could finish her excuses, Ben’s voice cut across.
‘It’s fine. Honestly, don’t worry about it.’ Eleanor could hear the sincerity in his voice. ‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘Erm, yes please, that would be great.’ She tried to check her reflection in the window behind him, praying her face wasn’t as bright red and flushed as it felt.
‘White or red?’ Ben held aloft two bottles from the countertop, blocking her view.
‘White, please.’
I am going to kill you, Sally Moreno. I am going to bloody kill you.
Ben handed her a large glass of wine. ‘Here you go.’
‘Thank you very much.’ Eleanor smiled sweetly, forcing all aggressive thoughts of Sal out of her mind.
‘Sal told me you were coming here with an old friend. I’m assuming he’s the redhead I just saw?’ Ben asked.
‘Erm.’ She took a large gulp. ‘Yeah, that’s him.’
‘That’s cool. How do you two know each other?’
‘We grew up together.’ Eleanor took another large mouthful of wine.
‘Aha! So, he’s the person I need to befriend if I want to know all your secrets? Where’s he got to? Maybe I need to introduce myself again,’ he joked, exaggeratedly looking around the room.
‘That’s a good point. I actually have no idea. Sal has probably got him cornered somewhere.’
‘You’d better go and save him then.’
‘No, he’ll be fine.’ Eleanor waved the air flippantly.
‘Go!’ Ben urged. ‘I don’t mind sharing you for tonight.’ He flashed her a mischievous grin, which did nothing to help Eleanor’s already flushed face.
‘OK.’ She nodded, aware that she probably should try to avoid appearing like a cold-hearted friend in front of the guy she wanted to impress.
You want to impress him?
Oh, shut up …
‘I’ll see you in a bit?’
‘I’ll be here all night.’ Ben smiled.
God, he’s so handsome when he smiles.
Eleanor turned away and began to scan the room for Fin’s trademark hair. There were about twenty people crammed into Sal’s moderately sized kitchen diner, which made it very noisy and very busy. It didn’t take long to spot him though, talking to a couple of friends that Eleanor recognized from Sal’s previous parties. She made her way over to the other side of the room, nodding polite hellos to familiar faces as she went.
‘Eleanor!’ The man talking to Fin waved her over enthusiastically.
‘Hi Marcus, how are you?’ She kissed him once on each cheek and turned to greet his wife. ‘Hi Amy. You look amazing, congratulations!’ She pointed to the swollen tummy that was peeking out beneath the folds of her dress.
‘Thanks, five months gone already, how mad is that?’ Amy gushed. ‘Fin here tells us you were friends at school.’
‘That’s right.’ Eleanor nodded.
‘Wow, it’s so great that you’ve stayed in touch for all this time,’ Amy marvelled. ‘I hope this little guy makes a friend for life like you two have.’ She rubbed her stomach affectionately.
