How true that was.
Jay had been quiet at the start of Crafting and Cocktails on Tuesday evening but after a couple of Renee’s newly perfected Espresso Martinis he perked up. But when he checked his phone for the umpteenth time, Nora had to say something.
‘Is everything OK?’
‘Hmm.’ It took him a moment to pull his eyes away from his phone. ‘Just some weirdos on social media. There seem to be more and more of them for some reason.’
‘Is it the paparazzi photos?’ Pictures of Jay and Tasha leaving the restaurant had been all over the internet.
‘Yeah, I guess that’s what it is.’ Jay put his phone away and went back to his knitting.
‘That’s why Liza Minnelli used to love Monaco. No paparazzi allowed.’ Renee laughed. ‘It’s a bloody good job really given the things we got up to.’
Renee began telling a story about Jackie Stewart winning the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix but Nora found she was distracted. Jay had something on his mind, and it hurt her to see that it was troubling him.
Wednesday whizzed by as Nora was meeting Liam after work in the pub they used to like to go to when they were dating, the Anne of Cleves. It was in Burton Street and had an olde-worlde charm without being kitsch. Nora was first to arrive so she got herself a Diet Coke and pondered whether to sit in the corner by the fire like they used to do. Was that too obvious? Then again, the odds of him remembering were probably slim and too obscure for even her to work out. She was standing by the bar with her drink in one hand and a gift bag in the other when Liam walked in. He’d always been handsome but a few years had made a big difference. His hair was shorter and neater but his boyish good looks were now more chiselled. He had matured and so had his dress sense. A crisp white shirt under a casual jacket looked good on him and a huge improvement on the tight T-shirts he’d favoured when they’d dated.
‘Hey, Nora.’ He put his arms out but immediately seemed unsure of what should happen next. They gave each other a peck on the cheek in an uncoordinated fashion. ‘What are you drinking?’
‘Diet Coke. But I’ve already got one.’ She raised her glass as evidence.
‘OK. I’ll join you. Did you want any peanuts? Do you still like peanuts?’
‘I do but no thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ll grab a seat.’
‘The one by the fire is free,’ he said, pointing keenly. It seemed he did remember. This was a great start.
When Liam took off his jacket and sat down she could see he’d kept himself in good shape. She put the gift bag on the table and pushed it towards him. ‘I probably should have done this a lot sooner. But anyway, there you go.’ She pointed awkwardly at the bag.
He peered inside. ‘A sticky willy!’ he said, possibly a little louder than was necessary as it made the woman at the next table spin around. She didn’t hide the fact she was checking them out in a very judgemental manner.
‘Because I killed yours and I’m sorry,’ Nora said. ‘Better late than never and all that.’
‘You didn’t need to,’ he said, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off the plant since he’d been presented with it. ‘I was a bit of a dick about the whole thing. I think I was going through an angsty emotional phase at the time and you took the brunt of that. I thought about apologizing so many times but never got around to it.’
‘Me too.’ That had gone a lot better than she’d dared to hope.
Hours flew by. Conversation had quickly turned to reminiscing and the awful lot of shared history they had. They’d quickly settled back into easy chatter. Memories bred memories as they opened doors to shared jokes and funny stories. They had been friends before they had dated, which made it a double blow when they’d split up. That was something she didn’t ever want to go through again. Making friends had always been hard for Nora, and life had frequently shown her that letting people get close made you vulnerable. They still shared the same sense of humour and ended up laughing so hard it hurt, making the nosy lady from the next table tut and shake her head a lot. More soft drinks were consumed and they shared a bag of peanuts just like they used to do. When the landlord called time they both checked their watches in disbelief. The evening had whizzed by and Nora’s tummy muscles had had a good workout from laughing so hard.
Liam’s eyes widened. ‘Getting chucked out of a pub, that reminds me of—’
‘Sasha’s birthday do at the White Hart when you walked out with their flowerpot on your head and nobody stopped you,’ said Nora, finishing his sentence before getting the giggles again. When the laughter faded they held each other’s gaze. That had been the night they had first kissed. Looking at him now, the details of that kiss were suddenly clear in her mind. It wouldn’t havetaken much for her to hold his face in her hands once more and kiss him. His features were so familiar and yet he had changed and she wanted to get to know him all over again.
Liam blinked and the moment was gone. ‘We’d better get going. But it has been so, so good to catch-up. It’s been too long.’
‘It has.’ Was that it? Were they going to part ways? If they did, it was likely they’d not meet for another few years. Nora was in a quandary. She wanted to see Liam again but only if he wanted to see her. Unfortunately she didn’t have much time to work it all out because Liam was on his feet and getting ready to leave. Nora grabbed her bag and followed him into the car park.
‘I’m parked over there,’ said Liam, squeezing his key fob and making an Audi a few cars away beep and flash its lights.
She sensed his hesitation. ‘I can’t believe how quick the evening went. We literally only talked about the good old days, which makes us sound ancient. I didn’t even ask you about what you’re up to now.’ She knew he was working as an accountant and was single from their text messages but not much else.
‘That means we’ve got stuff to talk about next time,’ he said.
She pointed at him for no good reason. ‘You’re right. We’d best get something in the diary.’
‘I’ll message you.’ He scanned her up and down. ‘Take care, Nora.’ He gave her a brief hug and a kisson the cheek before striding off to his car, leaving her pondering.
As soon as she got in, Nora updated her spreadsheet and called Dixie to tell her all about her evening. She was still hunting down snacks with her head in the fridge while she relayed everything that had happened, and her friend made the right noises in the right places as all good friends should.
