Hattie smiled, to avoid saying something that would make her look as rude as she felt like being.
The awards seemed to take forever and, much to Hattie’s annoyance, Luke didn’t win his. In fact, no one on their table did. It didn’t prevent a lot of raucous applause and more drinks being ordered.
Hattie was wondering when Luke might want to leave when he got up. ‘Come and have a drink, Hattie,’ he said, putting his hand under her elbow.
Hattie stood up immediately. ‘That would be great.’ She ignored the comments and the ‘oohs!’ that followed them, and made her way as quickly through the tables as she could.
‘I am so sorry about this, Hattie!’ said Luke as soon as they’d reached the bar. ‘Most of the time they are perfectly nice lads with nice wives and families. But give them free alcohol and they all seem to go crazy.’
Hattie smiled and put her hand on his arm. ‘It’s OK. I get it. And it’s not your fault.’
‘Can I persuade you to have a brandy or something? You’ve hardly drunk a drop all evening.’
‘I’ve got an early start. But a gin and tonic would be nice if we can find somewhere quiet to drink it.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I don’t want to be late.’
‘We could take it upstairs. Sit on the sofa and look at the view?’
The thought of being completely alone with Luke gave her a frisson of something she couldn’t identify. ‘That would be lovely, but would it look rude to your friends?’
‘Tell you what, you go upstairs. I’ll make our excuses and come up with the drinks.’
‘That sounds a wonderful plan, Luke. Thank you.’
Hattie went up to the room, happy to think she and Luke could have some peace and quiet together. It probably made her a boring person, she told herself, but no one can be a party animal all the time.
She kicked off her shoes and then went to the bathroom to check on her appearance. It wasn’t that she wanted to look glamorous for Luke, she told her reflection in the mirror, just that she wanted to make sure her mascara was in more or less the right place. For a moment she considered taking her hair down, but as the flower was still where it was supposed to be, she left it. She did take out her earrings though.
Then she padded across to the window, drew back the curtains and pulled the small sofa in front of the window. The hotel had lovely gardens and they looked enchanting in the summer twilight. Had things been different, she would have liked to explore them but now the prospect of sitting quietly with Luke, having a peaceful drink, seemed exactly what she wanted to be doing. Just for a second, she thought about the outfit she was going to wear tomorrow. She hadn’t put it in her case. It was in its plastic cover, hanging up in the back of her car. She could almost hear Mary’s voice asking why she and Luke weren’t romantically involved, but she pushed the thought away.
Considering he had to say goodbye to his cohort and get drinks, he was quite quick. He had steak sandwiches, chips, chocolate mousse and half a bottle of red wine as well as her gin and tonic.
‘I don’t think you ate very much, did you? And you may not have time for breakfast in the morning, so I thought a bit of nicer food might be good. And I know you don’t want to drink much, but you could have a glass of red with the steak sandwich, if that’s what you fancy.’
‘Luke! How did you know I’d be hungry? Down there I didn’t really feel like eating and I didn’t dare drink much, but now, when it’s just us, my appetite has come back. I’d love a glass of red.’
She had intended to ask Luke what he’d told his friends about their relationship, but she didn’t need to know now. She wasn’t going to see them again.
He found a little table for the food and they sat on the sofa. Their arms were touching and it seemed quite cosy, but, as Hattie reminded herself, it was nothing they hadn’t done before.
So they ate and drank in companionable silence, looking at the closely mown lawns beyond which was a lake with trees full of fairy lights round it.
‘I must get some fairy lights for Mary’s garden,’ said Hattie. ‘It could look really pretty.’
‘How is it, living with Mary? I know you’re very fond of her but living with her could upset the balance.’
‘I don’t think it will. We get on very well. And in a way, me being there in the mornings and evenings means we see each other a lot but not for terribly long. So it’s casual. She’s very self-sufficient really, but we like eating together. It might be different when Xandercomes back from his holiday with his dad for the new term. But for now it’s working really well for both of us.’
‘I’m glad. It is a nice house.’
‘I must have told you a dozen times, it’s my favourite house.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘I’d like to try and buy it when Mary moves. I just can’t bear the thought of anyone else owning it.’
‘I know Mary would leave it to you if she could.’
‘But we know she can’t, and besides, if she moves into a care home, which is what she wants to do, she’ll need to sell the house to pay for it. Or Clive will.’
‘Hmm,’ said Luke. ‘Unless Clive agrees to spend quite a bit more money on it, it’ll affect its value.’
‘Which would work well for me!’ said Hattie. ‘Although, who am I kidding? I have got savings, quite a bit in my eyes, but I won’t be able to afford to buy that house.’
