‘A pup sounds like a nice thing but I’m guessing it’s not.’
Renee shook her head and Dixie found herself copying. ‘I’m afraid it means they sold you a pile of crap.’
‘It’s probably not good for me but I think I’ll join you in a G&T and I’ll get petrol tomorrow,’ said Dixie, as Renee put her arm around her shoulders.
‘My aunt swore by having a bar of Cadburys Dairy Milk and a large gin every day and she lived to be a hundred and two.’
‘That’s a good recommendation for a long and happy life.’
‘And shewashappy, right until the end,’ said Renee. ‘Of course, she didn’t have a tooth in her head and she believed there were fairies living in her commode but, apart from that, she was grand.’
8
Nora wasn’t entirely lying about being away for a work thing, but she had omitted to tell Jay that she was also using it as an opportunity to catch up with one of her exes. She had sent a friend request to ex number five, which had been immediately accepted and they had exchanged a couple of messages. Nora had asked what was going on in Hugh’s life but he’d gone with a very general response that everything was great and how about her. Nora decided that if she wanted to find out if she’d been too hasty in dumping him because of his nail fungus, then she needed to meet him and find out what his relationship status was and whether there was any potential. Hugh had been keen to meet up, which was a positive start.
Nora’s course was in Leicester and thankfully that day’s session had finished on time, so she was already at the café where she had arranged to meet Hugh. Her drink had just arrived when she saw him outside on his mobile. It was a great opportunity to do a brief assessment. While Nora hoped she wasn’t shallow, it didn’tdo any harm to see if the previous attraction was still there. He was rather broad at the shoulders and slim at the waist and he’d used to keep fit by training for and competing in Ironman triathlons. Hugh turned, spotted her inside and beamed a smile at her. It made her smile back and give him a little wave. He’d always had a lovely smile and good teeth.
Hugh ended his call and came inside to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. ‘Nora, you look amazing.’
She was pleased because she had made quite an effort, reasoning with herself that it was worth it when she had a potential relationship to rekindle. On an average day Nora let her hair dry naturally and put on lip balm but today her hair was styled and she’d done her make-up. ‘Thanks, Hugh, you’re looking good too.’ His hair was shorter and his arms looked toned. She so wanted to glance downwards to his feet as he stepped forward to pull out a chair and sit down. She closed her eyes briefly in a bid to keep her mind away from thoughts of his fungal nail infection. That was a very long time ago. Nora didn’t like that she’d been so fickle as to dump an otherwise nice person for something so trivial and short term. But if he didn’t spend the small amount of effort it took to look after his feet, then in her mind that didn’t bode well for other things in life, including her.
He ordered a drink and they soon slipped back into easy conversation as if they’d seen each other recently, not years ago. He was working as a computer analyst, something he’d always wanted to do, and was looking atpotential flats to buy. This was hopefully a subtle way in to finding out some key information. ‘Working out your maximum mortgage is always a downer unless you’re buying on a joint income, in which case a lot more possibilities and properties open up.’ She watched for his response but then worried that she was staring at him so she studied the foam on her coffee instead.
‘You’re right. It’s a bit of a wake-up call to realize you can only afford a one-bed flat when you’d been looking at three-bed semis,’ he said with a laugh. Nora wasn’t laughing because now she didn’t know if that meant he was buying solo or just had a partner on a low wage.
‘And then once you’ve found somewhere, the bills start coming in and you go out less. But that might just be me and my single income.’
‘Nah, it’s not just you,’ he said, letting out a little sigh. ‘It’s so nice to see you again, Nora. Did I already say that? Don’t think I’m a dweeb.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘And now I’ve put the word dweeb in your head so you’ll definitely think I’m one now.’
‘No I won’t. It’s good to see you too.’
He leaned on the table and fixed her with interested eyes. ‘I’m dying to know why you’ve got in touch after all this time. I did have a mild panic that you were going to tell me I was a dad and then I remembered that my brother bumped into you a couple of times after we split up and you definitely weren’t pregnant so it can’t be that. Can it?’ He looked a little uneasy.
Thanks to Jay’s male insight Nora had already figuredthat she would be asked this question and she had a response prepared. ‘There’s no long-lost family reunion. I just thought that—’
‘Oh crap. Are you ill?’ Worry flashed across his face.
‘No, I’m fine. It’s just that if two people liked each other enough to date, why move on and never interact again? We have a shared history so why not stay connected in some way?’
‘But why now?’
Ah, that was an element she hadn’t prepared for. ‘Why not?’ She went back to staring at her coffee. She wasn’t about to share any details of the mission she was on. If she was to find out she had mistakenly ditched her perfect match, then she had to discover that for herself and not be swayed by anyone else’s emotions.
‘I wondered if you’d had an epiphany and realized I was a great guy and wanted me back.’ He looked her straight in the eye.
‘But you might be in a relationship.’
‘You’re in luck. I’m single.’ He grinned at her. At last she could mentally tick off the key question. ‘I dated this girl for nearly a year,’ he said, ‘and then she changed jobs and dumped me for some bloke she’d just started working with. I was gutted.’
‘I’m sorry. Did you think she was the one?’ asked Nora. She was also mentally totting up what she knew about Hugh, his love life before her and an estimate of how many partners he would likely have had since, in a bid to work out where he was on his own 37 per cent journey.
‘Nah, I don’t believe in that and nor do you.’ He was giving her an odd look and she stopped the calculations she was doing in her head. ‘Come on, Nora. It’s great to see you and all that, but there’s something going on.’
Nora wondered if there was a way to tell him part of her plan. She needed a few minutes to conjure up something plausible that wouldn’t have him running for the hills.
‘I’m going to pop to the restroom,’ she said, standing up. But as she did so she bumped the table, sending a teaspoon to the floor. Nora bent down and stuck her head under the table in search of the cutlery. She was immediately confronted with Hugh’s feet. He was wearing flip-flops so it was impossible not to be drawn to his toenails. And there it was. Horror of all horrors, Hugh still had fungus and it was spreading. Nora retched.
‘You OK?’ he asked.
