‘Leo!’ she chided but her eyes sparkled, like he knew they would. Anna loved her dance music and she had quite a voice. ‘I want to get this done.’
‘Don’t be boring,’ he said. In their flat she’d happily sung along to anthemic choruses in perfect tune, while dancing with unselfconscious musicality.
‘I’m not boring.’ She glared at him.
‘Yes, you are,’ he said, knowing he’d found the touchpaper to her fuse. She never turned down a challenge.
She threw down her sandpaper, gave him the side eye and took the hand he held out.
He notched up the volume, the bass thumped out and there she was, instantly appearing in front of him. Anna Love, waving her arms above her head, her hips swinging, her eyes closed as she sang along.
He slipped out to the kitchen to grab two bottles of beer and handed her one. She took a sip before using it as a microphone, bellowing out the lines, her eyes laughing at him as she moved around. Every now and then she’d clink her bottle against his as she spun around, shaking her hair.
‘No Limit’came on and she grinned at him, picking up the beat, whirling gracefully like wind through a wheatfield. They danced to another three songs before they both collapsed breathless on the floor.
‘God, that was fun,’ said Anna laughing up at him, lifting her bottle to her lips, her eyes dancing with energy and mischief.
It hit him like a lightning bolt and almost felled him on the spot. Anna Love, the woman he’d once loved. There she was again. Shining and happy. It was as if she’d stepped out of a shadow and was suddenly in full colour again, like she’d been six years ago. Inside he felt a quick clutch of fear.
‘I’d forgotten,’ she said, her eyes turning sad. ‘Forgotten what fun … what dancing…’ She swallowed and picked at the beer label. He caught the sheen of tears for an instant before she blinked. ‘And now you’ve successfully distracted me. I reckon I can get the rest of this done –’ she gestured to the table top ‘– before we go down to Michaela and Jan’s. Damn, I was going to nip and out get something to take.’
‘Why don’t I nip out now and get some flowers and a case of beer and you can carry on.’ He shot her a wink, as much to keep things matey as to hide the nip of alarm. He wasn’t going to fall for her again. He couldn’t. He might not survive a second time. ‘And I’ll leave the music on for you.’
As he left the room, he nodded to himself. She was still smiling and singing along as she wielded her sandpaper and block – that line between her eyebrows banished.
* * *
A couple of hours later, they stood on their neighbours’ doorstep, him clutching a crate of beer while Anna held the bunch of flowers he’d picked up from the little corner shop.
‘Ahoj,’ Jan greeted them and invited them in. There was already a hubbub of noise coming from the inside of the flat.
‘Oh, wow,’ said Anna. ‘This is lovely.’
‘Thanks,’ said Jan. ‘It’s mainly Michaela’s work, although I did the floor.’
‘It’s gorgeous,’ she said and immediately bent down to smooth her hand over the wide, oak boards lining the floor. ‘And the skirtings.’ Leo glanced at them, not really sure what she was talking about. All he noticed was the nice cosy glow created by the soft lighting and the group of people crowded together in the living room.
‘Everyone, this is Leo and Anna. They’re the Brits upstairs.’ Jan pressed a beer into his hand and quickly introduced them to Petra and Andrej, Tereza and Marek, Zdenka and Lubica. Leo blinked and grinned. ‘Nice to meet you all. I’ll try and remember all your names.’
‘Hello,’ said Anna, a little shyly, almost tucking herself behind him.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Zdenka, smiling back at him from soft brown eyes. He couldn’t miss the spark of appreciation there. ‘There are only two of you. We will remember your names.’
‘Leo,’ Michaela greeted him. ‘Anna. I’m so happy that you are here.’
‘Thank you. These are for you.’ Anna handed her the flowers.
‘Thank you. Come, take a seat.’ She guided Leo to a chair next to the small armchair in which Zdenka sat with Lubica on her other side. ‘Anna, come with me. You wanted to see how dumplings are made.’ She led Anna away while Leo sat down. The two women immediately engaged him in conversation asking him what he thought about Prague, where he lived in England and how long he was staying.
He surveyed the décor and commented on the fine fashion drawings on the walls. ‘That’s Michaela,’ said Zdenka. ‘She’s very talented. She makes her own clothes and has an online shop with Lubica.’
Lubica leaned over. ‘We make all sorts of things to sell – felt hats, scarves, socks – and Ondrej built the website for us. And Zdenka looks after our social media. She’s an influencer. We were all at school together.’
‘Part-time influencer,’ Zdenka added. ‘The rest of the time I’m the marketing manager for a commercial property company. It’s very dull. I post lots of pictures of offices and empty spaces. It’s much more fun doing clothes and accessories. Are you on Instagram?’ she asked. ‘You could be a model.’ She gave the buttons on his shirt a thorough examination as if contemplating undoing them there and then to check out the goods.
‘I’m on Instagram,’ said Leo. ‘Not tried my hand at modelling.’ Not his thing at all, even though he’d had quite a few offers over the years, most of which were probably because his stepfather was an Italian movie star, although this summer he’d been approached by a model-agency scout on the beach in Italy.
‘You should give it a try. I’d love to feature you on my Insta account. I’ve got some men’s shirts that came in last week.’ She eyed him with a predatory gleam in her eye. ‘We could have some fun doing a shoot.’
