He'd caught up with Olivia, but they didn’t talk about Hargreaves or her stepping down. She was in wind-down mode to spend Christmas with her family, although as prime minister she was never on holiday, or off duty. If anything happened, Edward would usually cover as her deputy, but it would depend on the circumstances. Some situations demanded her presence, which wasn’t a slight on anyone else, it was just what the public expected.
The chief of staff had droned on about the calendar for January for almost two hours. The guy was excellent at his job, but uptight, and it was hard to get any form of emotion from him. Edward’s afternoon was packed with meetings. Why did so many people need to speak to him before Christmas? At least he had lunch with Derek to break the monotony of the day. They were meeting at a restaurant in Covent Garden, so he made use of his driver to get there quickly.
London was ready for Christmas. The weather was unseasonably warm– you still needed a coat, though scarves and gloves weren’t a necessity like they would be in January– but everything else screamed Christmas. The streets were packed with people shopping for presents and enjoying festive activities, there were food trucks and pop-up stalls, and every shop you went past had Christmas music blasting out of it. He’d loved this time of the year when his mother was still around, but once it was just him and his dad, there’d been no magic to it. They’d met up on the day, had a meal, exchanged token gifts, and then had a drink while his dad kept banging on at him about meeting the right woman to settle down with so he could become a grandfather before he died.
Edward wondered what Milo thought of Christmas. It wasn’t something they’d talked about. Given his mum was no longer around, it might be a sad time for him, so Edward had avoided the subject. Would Milo be on his own, or would he be with one of his friends? He’d only met Lexie once, but he couldn’t imagine someone like her would leave one of her friends on his own at Christmas. He’d exchanged numbers with Milo now, which meant he could delete the app, but he hadn’t because he didn’t want to lose all their message history, which had been restored when Milo had unblocked him. He had no intention of going back on there for any other reason, though.
The car pulled to a stop outside the restaurant, although it was more like a brasserie. He’d been here a few times overthe years, but it was under new ownership now and seemed to be a lot more successful than it once was. Given its location, it should have been constantly busy, but the place used to be empty. That had changed about six months ago. Walking inside, he spotted Derek, so he pointed him out to the maître d’ and went over to greet his friend. Edward looked around to check if there was anyone else he knew here.
“Relax, Eddie. I already scoped the place out.”
He shook his head, laughing.
“I ordered us a bottle of red,” Derek said, holding the bottle up and gesturing to his empty glass.
“I’ve got meetings all afternoon.”
“I thought you said they were all on Teams.”
“Fair point. Fill her up.”
Derek filled his glass and gave him a knowing look.
“What?”
“Do I need to ask the question?”
“He stayed the weekend.”
“At your place?”
Edward nodded and could feel his face heating as he remembered everything they’d done.
“That good was it?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Just keep doing whatever puts that smile on your face.”
“How can I do that?”
“I think you know how it all works by now.”
Edward rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Let’s be serious for a moment,” said Derek, lowering his voice. “Is this just fun, or something more serious?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.”
“Mouth full was it?”
Edward couldn’t help but snort, but he was mindful they were in a public place and didn’t want to be overheard having a conversation like this. Before Derek could sayanything else, their server came over to take their order. They both went for the steak. The new chef they’d brought in here was excellent and cooked it to perfection.
Once the server left them, Derek leaned back in his chair and sipped his wine. He watched Edward intently, as if he was waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t find the silence uncomfortable. It was a great asset for dealing with politicians, who always loved to talk constantly about themselves.
“I’ve got an idea,” said Derek, leaning forward.
“Why does that sound terrifying?”
