‘Heterochromia.’ Sabrina announced.
‘You what?’
‘You have different coloured irises– that’s what it’s called.’
‘Clever and beautiful, a wicked combination.’ Lowen bit his lip as he looked at her. She looked away, feeling her cheeks redden. She couldn’t recall feeling anything like this even when she had first met Dominic at a soap awards after-party. It was as if some sort of electric current was running between them. She felt compelled to smile. She went to fiddle with her long hair, then realised there wasn’t any there to fiddle with. Pushing her glasses up on her nose, she took a huge gulp of wine, then another for good measure.
‘You should have got a taxi.’ Lowen took a drink.
She laughed. ‘I’m a terrible drunk and I wouldn’t want you taking advantage of me.’
‘Are you sure?’ He laughed back. ‘Anyway, obviously I’m here not for pleasantries but to ensure you sign the contract for the unit.’
She stuck her tongue out at him. ‘Well, you need to do better than just buying me a white wine, then, don’t you.’
‘Oh, really?’ Lowen pushed his tongue into the side of his mouth.
‘Lowen Kellow! I meant buy me dinner. I saw a tasty steak and kidney pie on the blackboard.’
‘Then your wish is my command, Jilly Dickens.’
With food on order, Lowen returned to the table and lifted her hand to get a better look at the huge diamond sat on it. ‘He must have loved you?’
‘Not enough, clearly.’ Sabrina sighed.
‘Then he was a fool.’ He squeezed her hand.
With a huge slug of wine, a visible deep breath and a defiant, ‘Yes, he was a bloody fool wasn’t he!’ Sabrina Swift ripped off her engagement ring and shoved it in the zipped pocket of her handbag.
Five large wines, six cloudy ciders and a whole lot of flirty talk later, the pair stood in the car park next to Sabrina’s convertible.
‘Well, you clearly can’t drive home,’ Lowen said, stating the obvious, his Devonian accent far more evident with a drink on board.
‘I know that, you know that, the police know that and oh shit how am I going to get back?’
‘Where do you live? If it’s not far I can try and get you a cab or as that’s not easy down here, I could always walk you.’
Sabrina had enough sense about her to know that she couldn’t face being on foot and pressing the Kevrinek gate intercom in this state. Then she remembered Isaac saying that she could cut through from the public footpath that ran alongside the cliff, without the gate having to be opened.
‘I’m gonna walk myself it’s fine.’
‘I get it, you don’t trust yourself with me.’ Lowen said in a dead-pan voice, grabbing her hand as he did so and kissing it. ‘It’s OK, Miss Dickens, I shall ring a cab for you. Where to?’
‘Kevrinek please.’
‘Ah, you’re staying with the great Isaac Benson himself, are you? How do you know him?’
‘Umm. It’s a long story.’
Lowen held the handset to his ear for a minute. ‘Nah. Just ringing out. I guessed we’d have trouble getting a car on a Friday night.’
‘We’ll have to walk along the cliff path. It’s going to be so dark. Are you sure you don’t mind walking with me?’
‘I’ve got a torch on my phone, it’s fine.’ He put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’
By the time the pair of them had finished the remainder of the bottle of champagne in the fridge as well as every snack that she had left in the welcome basket, they were properly smashed.
‘Did you call the engagement off, then?’ Lowen asked out of nowhere.
