‘Leeds,’ he replies.
‘To do what?’
‘Aviation.’
‘Did you always know you wanted to fly?’
‘It was my only passion other than drawing.’
I may not be at my most coherent right now, but it’s impossible to miss the melancholy in his voice.
As soon as we fall silent, my head begins to spin.
‘Are you all right?’ Tom asks.
‘Gravity really,reallywants me to cartwheel.’
‘Do you want to take my arm?’ he asks with a small laugh.
I cast him a look and screw up my nose, not wanting to embarrass myself.
But embarrass myself is exactly what I do because the sideways glance throws me off balance.
‘Shit, Liv, you almost fell in the stream!’ he gasps, grabbing my arm and hauling me back onto the road.
‘Oh God,’ I mutter, mortified. ‘I don’t usually drink that much.’
‘You obviously needed to let your hair down,’ he says with a chuckle.
The comment brings back memories of the summer after I’d left university.
Tom puts his arm around my shoulders and suddenly that’sallI’m thinking about.
‘Is this okay?’ he asks cautiously, peeking down at me.
‘More than,’ I reply, leaning into him a little. I steady myself further by putting my arm around his waist and my free hand on his chest. He’s so solid and strong and steady. I feel very confident that he’ll keep me upright. ‘Do you go to the gym?’
I’m going to regret blurting that out tomorrow.
He huffs out a laugh. ‘There’s equipment at work. There wasn’t much else to do while we were waiting for a call.’
‘So you just sat there and lifted weights all day?’
‘Not quite,’ he replies with amusement. ‘During quietspells, if we weren’t team training, I’d cook, sleep, read, work out, sometimes even play the piano.’
‘There’s one at your work?’
‘Our building is like a home away from home. You have to be on call for over twenty-four hours at a time.’
‘I have a piano upstairs!’
‘I know, I’ve heard you playing.’
‘Have you?’ I pull a face at the thought.
‘What? You’re good.’
‘No, no.’ I shake my head. ‘I won’t be able to play now that I know someone’s listening.’
