He restarts the show, and we watch another two episodes until he has to go and get ready. Aidan is taking him on a date tonight, and he has to look perfect. I don’t think that will take too long, but apparently, he has a whole process.
I stay downstairs and contemplate my own dinner options, Pax keeping me company until Aidan and Rain head out in an overwhelming cloud of aftershave and fragrance.
I take the easy route for dinner, shoving a frozen ham and pineapple pizza into the oven. The fact Rain bought this pizza for me, knowing it was my favourite, even though he thinks pineapple on pizza is the devil’s work, warms my heart. I unashamedly eat the whole thing. Nash told me I needed to gain some weight, after all.
When my food has gone down, I wrap up in Aidan’s old winter coat, which he said I could use until I got a new one, and snap Pax’s collar into place, switching on the flashing light that hangs off the collar so I can find him in the dark.
head off up the river path with Pax running a short way ahead, sniffing what seems like every blade of grass he comes across. It rained earlier and is now freezing cold, so I’m careful on the slippery ground.
My warm breath creates clouds of fog with every exhale, and the way the moonlight illuminates the small puffs is almost otherworldly. The water of the river glistens with an icy pallor, looking just as uninviting as it surely is. As I make my way along the path lit only by the moon and the torch on my phone, I realise I haven’t spoken to Emma since I left Coventry.
I look ahead and see the orange blinkinglight on Pax’s collar as he sniffs a wooden bench. Taking a seat, I pull up Emma’s contact and press dial.
“He’s alive,” she cries when she answers, her attempt at a Dr Frankenstein impression making me laugh and simultaneously roll my eyes.
“Ha ha,” I grumble. “Sorry I haven’t called yet. It’s been… a lot.”
“Are ye OK?” concern immediately apparent in her voice.
“I’m fine, honestly.” And it’s true. I am fine. If a little disheartened.
I tell her about my journey here, about Rain and Aidan collecting me at the train station, and how paranoid I’d been that I’d turn up to see Dan’s black BMW in the station car park. I tell her about Nash, and how he checked me over, and how kind he is, and how he fed the ducks with me after buying me a coffee, and how he took me to the beach to see the seals, and-
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute,” she rushes. “So, you’ve met this unicorn, and you like him, and he likes you—”
“He doesn’t like me,” I interrupt. She’s silent for a second.
“I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”
“You’ve never even met him,” I say, indignant.
“I don’t think I need to read the whole book to understand the plot of this particular romance story.” I don’t respond, unsure what I would even say. “Do you like him?” she asks more softly. I sigh dreamily.
“Holy Helena Bonham-Carter, do I want that man,” I gush, and she laughs.
“So, what’s stopping you?”
I can’t go through this whole story again, so I give her the simplest truth.
“He told me he wants to be friends.”
“Ouch,” she winces. I can hear her wincing through the damn phone. “What does Rain say?”
“Oh, you know, just that I should send Nash increasingly ridiculous selfies and tempt him into wanting me back.”
“I think Rain and I will get along just fine,” she chuckles. “That sounds like a great idea.”
This. This is what I mean when I say thatshe and Rain are not the kind of level-headed friends I need right now. Rain is a hopeless romantic, like me, and Emma is a chaos gremlin of the highest order.
I shake my head, even though she can’t see me.
“Or is it really juvenile and something that will actually just prove to him that he’s far too mature for someone like me?”
She seems to consider this, and I move the topic forwards.
“Anyway, enough about me. What have you been up to? How’s John? How’s the gym?” I hope that’s enough topics of conversation to distract her.
We chat for twenty minutes or so, long enough for Pax to have given up on his explorations and taken a seat beside me – literally beside me. He’s sitting on the bench, his head level with mine, staring at me as if to say, ‘can we go home yet?’
