‘Well, you know Mo,’ he answers with a telling frown.
‘She does,’ the man himself adds, chuckling. ‘And aren’t you glad you don’t live next door to me these days, William?’
‘Pure pish,’ he answers. ‘Are you coming with me or going back with Izzy, here?’
‘I’ll travel with Izzy. See if I can get on the same flight to London this afternoon.’
‘Oh, but Greg was going to follow me to make sure I get onto the highway okay.’ The look on her face is one of concern and though I feel that concern myself, I don’t allow it to show.
‘No need,’ Will answers. ‘I’m going over Inverness way. I’ll follow you.’
I want to yell out that it’s nothing to do with him. That we started this thing together, and that we’ll end it on our own terms, but then it strikes me that this might be the best way. That if she leaves with her friends, I won’t be tempted to ask her to stay another day. Another night. A lifetime.
So I say nothing. Not even as those blue eyes send me such beseeching looks. Pleading that turns to disappointment, hardening into something that resembles betrayal.
‘You have my number,’ she says at the doorway with a determined air. I nod but don’t confirm. I don’t want to open my mouth for fear of what might come out of it. ‘I’m going to expect you to call,’ she adds resolutely. She throws her arms around my neck, and though I might not be able to say what this time has meant to me, I tell her by the strength of my hold.
‘And to think we almost had sex in this very doorway.’
‘Torturous minx.’ I hold her even tighter, burying my nose in her fragrant hair.
‘This isn’t done. One day in the not too distant future, you’re going to take me out to the local pub and get me drunk. Then you’re going to bring me back to this very door and press yourself into me while I fight with the lock. You’ll nibble my neck and slide your hands under my sweater while wrestling with my jeans. And then the door will fall open, and we’ll fall inside and—’
‘I’ll bend you over the arm of the sofa and fuck you from behind—fuck you so hard that you’ll cry.’
‘A new addition to the scenario? I look forward to it.’
And with that, I hold her so tight her feet come up from the ground.
‘Come on, Izzy,’ Mo calls from the car. ‘There’s only so many ways you can say goodbye.’
‘Ah, if only he knew,’ she says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. ‘You’ll call me. I know you will.’
And then she’s gone—bustled out into her tiny red rental. Her bags are already on the back seat, and her pals are in a hurry. There’s barely time for a last perfunctory hug as she stands on the wrong side of my blue painted door as her car becomes tinier on the road.
‘Santa came early this year, did he no’?’
I turn to Jim spread out on the sofa, his arm hooked on the arm that I’d mentally reserved for Isobel.
‘Some blokes have all the luck,’ he adds with a grin.
I pull the door open, standing back from it as I answer, ‘Off you fuck, Jim.’
