I snort. “I’m pretty sure someone has followed you around in life telling you the same thing.”
He shoots me a look. “You know damn well that’s not true. Cynthia would have had a shit fit if that happened.”
“She’ll have more of a one if she catches you using the words ‘shit fit’.”
He starts to laugh. “True.”
“How are they?”
“Same as usual.”
“How very terrifying.” I look sideways at him when he laughs. “I saw Cynthia last year.”
His head shoots around. “My grandmother? Really?”
“She came to my exhibition in London.”
“She didwhat?”
I chuckle. “I know. I don’t think she was there for the art.”
“She’s very suspicious of artistic things because there are usually emotions involved.”
“She was actually very pleasant.” I pause. “And also, rather threatening.”
He stops walking, and I turn to face him. “Shethreatenedyou?”
“Don’t be silly. She’s far too well-mannered for that. She merely suggested that Inotthink of treating you so badly again.”
His mouth drops open, and he stares at me. Eventually, I reach over and cup his chin in my hand. I move his jaw so it looks like he’s speaking and say in a squeaky version of his voice, “That’s very interesting, Reuben. Please tell me some more stories, Reuben. You’re the handsomest man in the whole wideworld, Reuben.”
He bats my hand away. “That is not what I sound like.”
“Of course not.”
“Wow. I can’t believe she did that.”
“Are you mad?” I look at him curiously. He never reacts the way I think he’s going to. It’s a part of his prodigious charm.
“Nah.” He grins wide and white, his eyes twinkling with mirth. “She’s quite scary, isn’t she?”
“Afghanistan looked a safer place at that point in time.”
He laughs. “Wow. She actuallythreatenedyou.”
“You’ve already said that. I somehow feel thatthisis the thing that pleases you most.” I hesitate as he laughs. “She also told me not to give up on you.”
His laughter fades. “What? Why on earth would she say that?”
I tilt my head as I look at his gorgeous face, considering numerous ways I’d like to respond.She’d noted how pathetically I’d asked after you. She’d heard the way my voice caught on your name the way it always does. And she’d taken one look at me and known I was still in love with you. Will always be in love with you.
In the end, I say, “Who knows? She was probably covering all the angles of potential future problems.”
“Maybe. She would have made a cracking criminal overlord, but only if the criminal world matched their tea towels with the curtains.” He gives me a crooked smile when I laugh. “I’ve actually got a lot closer to her in recent years.”
“Really?”
He nods. “I think I understand her more. She wasn’t good with the kind of closeness I wanted as a kid, but that was down to her own upbringing. As an adult, she’s a pretty interesting person. And she makes me laugh.”
