‘Seriously?’
I don’t judge. I promise, I don’t. But I am a little worried of having two naked diners in my coffee shop. It won’t take much for someone to walk by, and then gossip will spread like the wildfires we’re getting more frequently.
‘I’ll ask them to remain clothed.’
‘What happened to staying invisible?’
‘He’s here!’
‘Who? Tim?’
‘No, the delivery driver.’ Will opens the door, meeting the Greek bearded man outside. He takes a bag of Greek food, tipping the driver, before heading back inside. The aroma ofsomething spicy greets me, my stomach rumbling. God, I could eat now. ‘Quick, help me get all of this ready.’
Ten minutes later, we’ve plated up braised chicken and shallots, with spiced potato and Halloumi fries on the side, along with a Greek salad that Mum would be envious of. From outside, I hear a voice calling out for someone to ‘wait a second’, and then a man hurries to our door, pushing it instead of pulling.
‘Tim?’ I ask, but Will is already frantically rushing to the door.
‘Oh my God,’ Tim says, looking around the place, seeing the food. ‘All of this? Really?’
‘She wants excitement, passion,’ Will says. ‘Does she know we did this?’
‘No, not at all,’ Tim replies.
‘Good. Keep it secret. Sam and I are going to disappear. You’ve got two hours. Show her how much you love her, Tim.’
‘Appropriately,’ I hasten to add, and Will nudges me out of my own coffee shop, and up my apartment stairs.
‘Tim, you didn’t?’ I hear a female voice, which must be Jemima’s, say. ‘Oh, and you got my favourite food, too. What’s brought this on?’
‘I want you to remember how much I love you,’ Tim’s voice says, but Will drags me away from eavesdropping at the top of the stairs.
‘Is there a way we can monitor them?’ Will asks me, closing my apartment door quietly.
‘No, I’m not creepy.’
‘You’ve never installed CCTV?’
‘Never needed it. Now, they’ll be busy down there. Fancy a drink?’
‘Please. I’m exhausted after all of that.’
Sitting on my sofa, I fire up the PS5. Will choses to play a remastered version of the original Tomb Raider game, and I hand him the controls. His fingers brush mine.
‘What you did for them was nice, you know.’
‘I felt bad for her yesterday,’ Will says, as his fingers clamour over the controls as Lara shoots a T-Rex. ‘She gave me Jackie Collins and I thought, she’s a romance girlie looking for a good time.’
‘Don’t encourage the nudists,’ I joke.
‘Hey, I’m a nudist now, apparently.’
Jesus Christ. I run my thumbnails over my palms, trying to distract myself from the vision of Will naked. My other hand covers my lap, afraid of revealing my thoughts to him. ‘Yeah, how did that go?’
‘Oddly enjoyable,’ Will says, his eyes never leaving the screen. Lara flips, her guns drawn, her bullets firing. The T-Rex hisses, snapping his jaws at her. ‘I think I might do it again.’
Good God.
‘A new-found passion?’
