“I’ll ignore that. New glasses?”
I touched them nervously. “Kind of. I only wear them when I gooutout.”
“They suit you. Make you look like a sexy secretary, but I’m sure that’s not the look you were going for.”
I knew he was laughing at me inside, amused. He’d told me when I was nineteen that I didn’t give myself enough credit in any area apart from that I knew I was smart.
“I was going for passable and something easy to take off when I got home.” Which was where I wanted to be right now.
Carter raised his brows. “Who’s going to be taking them off?”
I frowned. “Me - ” I was thrown. Was he flirting? That was flirting. Was Carter flirting with me?
“You’re not planning on going home with anyone tonight?”
“Other than Harriet, but she won’t be taking my clothes off. Although Harriet might be going home with someone.” I saw her with her hand resting on the chest of the man she was talking to. “Good for her.”
“It’s always the quiet ones.” Carter was grinning too. “She moves soon, doesn’t she?”
“Another four weeks. We’re all going to Stratford-Upon-Avon next weekend for a couple of nights and measuring up her new house.” I was looking forward to it; as much as I loved London, getting away was good from time to time. “I’m not looking forward to her leaving, but it’ll be good to go to Stratford and see her regularly.”
“It will.” He was watching me, but I couldn’t work out why. It was like I was being studied, a medical specimen maybe.
“How’ve you been? I haven’t seen much of you.”
“Busy. A friend of mine’s moving to London to set up a bookshop and she’s staying with me for a bit so I’ve been receiving deliveries every few hours, or that’s what it felt like. Plus work.”
“Plus work. I know how that feels. What’s your friend called?” This was what Harriet had mentioned.
“Laurie. She’s nice – you’ll like her.”
I wasn’t sure I would.
“How long’s she staying with you for?”
Carter smiled. “You still don’t like other people staying in that house.”
“It still feels like mine.”
“You never lived there.”
“Moot point. Is she staying a while?”
He shrugged. “She’s looking at the flat above the shop she’s opening, but she needs to sort some money out first. It won’t be for very long.” A door near to us opened and a couple came inside. The room was filled with more noise, a crescendo. Ilooked over to where the stairs were and saw a good dozen more people arriving. “Want to go outside for a bit?”
I nodded. “I don’t have my coat.”
“It’s not too cold. The wind has stopped anyway.” He took my now empty glass off me and placed it down on a nearby table, holding his hand out for me to take it. I did, something we’d done as teenagers so we didn’t lose each other, or because he knew that crowds weren’t my thing as this was the only way I’d get through them.
It felt different than it had done when we were younger.
The sound of the crowd dimmed as the door closed behind me, the noise muffled and distant, London’s night surrounding us. We walked, my hand still in Carter’s, ending up at the side that overlooked Thames. The London Eye was lit up against a patchwork of navy blues, the streetlamps meaning the sky was never truly black. Fairy lights graced the veranda, ropes of them on the floor, a few candles in hurricane lanterns. It was pretty and quiet, a million miles away from everyone else because no one else was outside.
“Have you been avoiding me?”
I should’ve known Carter had motivation for getting me somewhere quiet.
“Yes.” No point trying to dig my way out of that one.
