“But then he ended up seeing Sam.”
Pete nods. “Exactly. They have their thing. And I’m happy for him that he has that. And we agreed that I could have the same. But the reality is hard for him, I understand that.”
I don’t even want to suggest this, but I do. “So, should we even be carrying on like this, seeing each other? Should we just cool it for a bit?”
“God, no!” Pete says. “I really want to keep seeing you and getting to know you.” He squeezes my hand as he speaks. “It’ll just take a bit of time for James to adjust. It’s not like we’re going behind his back.”
I can feel my overthinking engine revving up, so I take a sip of my drink to shut it up. “Do you think he even likes me?”
“James doesn’t dislike you,” Pete says quickly. “He just… worries. About me. About us. About everything.”
I nod.
There’s a pause, and I decide to go for it. “Pete, can I ask about Chris?”
He stiffens. “What about him?”
“Sam mentioned him last night. And then it got… weird.”
“Weird?”
“Weird. You all just looked weird and uncomfortable.”
“Well, no one likes talking about exes in front of the new boyfriend. Especially when I hadn’t mentioned him before.”
There’s a temporary burst of joy in my chest as Pete uses the word “boyfriend”, before my brain brings me back into the conversation. “No, I get that.”
“I was angry with Sam for bringing it up. He just loves to stir up trouble.”
He stares into his glass for a long moment. “Anyway, that’s all over now. Chris and I… we were together for two years. And then he… left.”
“Left?”
Peteshrugs. “He went away. Moved. I don’t know, it was all very sudden…” He trails off, swallowing hard.
I want to ask more, but I can see it’s costing him to even say this much. So, I nod, trying to make my face look sympathetic and not like I’m mentally rewriting this as the opening scene of a Netflix documentary.
“Okay,” I say softly. “I get it.” I take a short breath and continue. “I had a close friend, not a boyfriend — Guy.”
Guy. Why am I bringing up Guy?
“A work colleague,” I continue. “We were really close. But then one day, he just wasn’t around anymore.”
“What happened?” Pete asks.
I don’t really want to go into this now.
“Long story, I’ll tell you one day, but I suppose what I’m saying is I know what it’s like when someone leaves your life quickly.”
Pete smiles and places his hand on mine, and the air between us shifts in a good way.
“I really want to make this work with us,” he says quietly. “James just needs a bit of time to come around.”
I nod, heart doing that embarrassing swoopy thing. “I want this too.”
“Then we’ll take our time,” Pete says, grinning. “You’ll win him over.”
“Oh, absolutely,” I say, my grin turning smug. “I’m very charming when I want to be. Give me three dinners and a bottle of wine and he’ll be asking me to move in.”
