‘I did,’ I said.
Mia leaned forward on the table, looking from me to Marcus and back again.
‘Are you two official?’
I took a mouthful of water so that I didn’t have to speak, desperately hoping that somebody else would step in. I remembered what Marcus and I had said – no direct lying. Vagueness, mystery and ambiguity were the key words to remember here.
‘It’s early days,’ said Marcus, thankfully taking the lead. ‘We haven’t known each other for very long.’
‘Where did you meet?’ asked Mia.
‘On a flight,’ I said, deciding a version of the truth was the best way to play it. Less margin for error. All I needed to do was ham up our initial exchange a little bit (okay, a lot), even if in my opinion it did seem completely unbelievable. Was anyone actually going to buy any of this?
‘And what, it was love at first sight?’ asked Mia.
‘No need to put a label on it. We met, we hit it off, we’re seeing how it goes. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starving and I’d like to enjoy my meal without being interrogated about my love life. Rice, anyone?’ said Marcus, picking up an exquisite ceramic bowl and offering it around the table.
‘Yes, please,’ I said, grateful to him for shutting Mia down.
This was clearly a case of the less said, the better.
As the evening went on, we managed to ward off any more questions from Mia. Patrick and Dean were good company, and Nick made us laugh with his raucous Aussie sense of humour. I talked as little as possible while also wanting to appear interested and engaged, acutely aware of remembering anything that would be useful for my article. Part of me was glad when the dinner was over and I was in the carheading back to my hotel. As well as picking up the bill, Marcus had insisted on dropping me off, even though I’d told him I was perfectly capable of calling myself an Uber.
‘Ubers aren’t allowed in Monaco,’ he’d informed me in no uncertain terms. ‘I’ll get my car to make a stop.’
Marcus rested his head on the back of his seat, letting out a huge sigh.
‘How do you think that went?’ he asked.
‘Haven’t got a clue,’ I answered honestly. ‘Although Mia was clearly a detective in another life.’
‘If she spent less time worrying about what everyone else was doing and more time focusing on her game, she’d be moving up the ranks a lot faster than she is currently,’ said Marcus.
‘She’s number five in the world, isn’t she?’
‘But she could be number one if she put the work in.’
‘And what about you?’ I asked, taking a risk. It had been a nice enough evening – did I really want to risk spoiling it by asking the wrong question? ‘Is being world number one something you think you can achieve?’
There were a few beats of silence before Marcus spoke again.
‘Of course. That’s what I think every time I step out on court – that I can win, and then I can win again and again. Otherwise what would be the point?’
I got it. Sort of. It wasn’t like you could go into a game with a defeatist attitude just because somebody was ranked higher than you. But I also wasn’t a competitive person, and the thought of setting myself up for repeated disappointment, because being the absolute best in the world was the only thing that would make me happy, filled me with dread. What else made him tick, other than tennis? What else filled him with joy? Because I was yet to find a single thing.
‘Are you going to put that in your piece?’ he asked, turning to look at me in the dark.
‘I don’t know. Are you going to ask me that every time you say something profound?’
He smiled. I liked it when he did that, although it was only ever a half-smile, a sort of turning up of the corners of his mouth. Did he ever laugh uncontrollably about something, the sort of laugh that left you clutching your stomach with tears rolling down your cheeks? I doubted it. That would require a loss of control and that seemed like something Marcus was reluctant to do.
‘You do know that you can pull out of our arrangement at any time, right?’ said Marcus.
‘Um, yes? That’s what I assumed?’
What were they going to do if I changed my mind –makeme pretend to fancy him?
‘I hope you didn’t feel under pressure to say yes to all of this – I know Dean can be extremely persuasive. And you’ve only just come out of a relationship. It could get messy when your ex finds out,’ said Marcus.
