“I noticed.” Char grins at me. “I just asked you if I resembled a tyrannosaurus rex and you said yes.”
“Christ.” I press a hand to my forehead. “I think I’m just tired. And you definitely don’t resemble a tyrannosaurus rex.”
“That’s a relief.” Char rests her chin in her hand and raises her eyebrows. “So, you gonna tell me what’s got you all swoony? Or do I have to guess?”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, I’m swoony now?”
“Of course you are. I know that look.” She points at my face. “Come on, spill. What happened when Dom took you home?”
“It doesn’t have to be Dom, you know?”
“But I know it is,” she says with a grin. “Come on, tell me all your filthy little secrets.”
I glance around the busy cafe. Why did we have to pick Portobello Road on a sodding Sunday afternoon to have this chat? I clear my throat and lean closer across the table.
“There are no filthy little secrets. He just… He…” I squirm in my seat, my cheeks flushing. “He carried me to the front door is all.”
“Hecarriedyou?” Char smothers a laugh with her hands. “As in, out of the car?”
“Yes,” I mutter. “He… didn’t want my shoes to get wet.”
“Oh mygod.” Char clutches her hands to her chest. “That is so romantic!”
I sink down in my chair, wishing the ground would swallow me up. “Please keep your voice down.”
“No one cares, babes, it’s fine.”
“It’s not… fine, though is it?” I chew on my lip. “I… I might have kissed him.”
Char squeals so loudly, the waitress comes over and asks if everything is alright. Char orders us another round of coffees and assures her we’re fine, but the waitress still looks like she’s about two steps away from kicking us out.
“Youkissed him?” Char hisses, leaning across the table. “You kissed him and you didn’t immediately tell me?” She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over chest with a sniff. “I’m offended.”
“It… It wasn’t a real kiss, I suppose.”
Char lifts an eyebrow. “Where did you kiss him?”
I inhale through my nose, huffing out a breath and avoiding her eyes. “On the mouth.”
Char wriggles in her chair and flaps her hands back and forth. “And you didn’tcall me immediately?”
“I didn’t… Oh god.” I cover my face with my hands and laugh helplessly. “I didn’t want to tell you because I shouldn’t have done it.” I look at her and shrug. “It were just… so sweet, you know? He was carrying me through the rain, and he was looking at me with his big blue eyes, and… I just gave him a quick peck on the lips. It weren’t, like, tongue and everything.”
Char sighs. “I bet he’d be great with his tongue though.”
“Charlotte,no.” I point a finger at her. “Stop it.”
“But why?” Char asks, throwing her hands up.
“Because he’s my sodding father-in-law.” I take a deep breath, and Char watches me with a sly smile on her face. “When I’m not around him, I can tell myself, you know, it’s just a crush. That he’s being nice to me and he’s looked after me, and that’s all it is. I can push it away, rationalise it, yeah? But then, we’re together and…” I trail off, running a hand through my hair, looking down at my hands in my lap as though an answer can be found there.
“You realise you want to tear his clothes off and marry him and buy a house in Surrey somewhere?” Char laughs when I roll my eyes. “Mia, come on. You feel safe with him. He obviously cares about you, and he thinks you’re gorgeous. His eyes nearly dropped out of his head at the gala.”
“I know.” I roll my head on my shoulders and groan. “I asked him to come to the opening tonight, you know Davino’s restaurant?”
“Ooh, and did he say yes?”
“Course he did.”
