Remember the other week, when I was telling you about my trip to Asda and the argument with the shop assistant about the price of Whiskas? I’ll tell you now, love, halfway through that story I could sense you’d stopped listening, and I realized what a sad old sod I’d become. If I think back to when we were younger, to all the things we thought we’d achieve with our lives, and now look at us: two old fogies talking about the price of cat food.
CHAPTER
5
Libs, wake up!”
Something warm and sticky prodded Libby’s face, jolting her out of her dream. She groaned and buried her head under the pillow. “What time is it?”
“Late o’clock, lazybones. Granny and Grandpa are here, and they want to know where you are,” Hector said, prodding her again, this time in the back.
“Tell them I’m coming,” she mumbled, and waited for the sound of his feet padding out of the room.
Libby had slept badly again. It had been a fortnight now and she’d still not heard a word from Simon, but every night he turned up around two a.m. to haunt her dreams. Last night, he’d been running and Libby had been trying to catch him, but for some reason, she was dressed in a chicken outfit and she kept falling over her giant bird feet. Now all she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but she had to face the torment of a family Sunday lunch.
Libby reached for her phone to check the time, and almost dropped it. On the lock screen was a missed-call notification from Simon.
She sat up, her mouth suddenly bone-dry. Was this it? After fourteen long days, and sleepless nights, of uncertainty and heartache and patronizing sympathy from Rebecca, was it finally coming to an end? Libby took a deep breath to steady herself, then pressedcall.
“Libby.”
The way he said her name made the skin on the back of her neck prickle. “Simon.”
“I’m so glad you rang back.”
Libby felt relief flood through her body, but she tried to keep her voice cool. He needed to do some serious groveling, after all. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. Work’s been crazy busy, as you can imagine. I hear you’re staying with Tom and the Gorgon.”
Libby smiled, despite herself. In the early days of their relationship, Simon had given Rebecca that secret nickname, claiming that one look from her could turn anyone to stone.
“Yeah, it’s been intense.”
“You must be getting sick and tired of all the chia seeds. How’s Hector?”
“He’s good. I gave him a Percy Pig the other day and it was like he’d died and gone to heaven.”
Simon laughed and Libby felt her heart lift. God, she’d missed that sound. She waited for the apologies to begin.
“Look, Libs, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to call you. And I’m sorry for the way I handled everything. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing taking you to that restaurant, but I realize it was a terrible idea. I’m so sorry.”
There was a wobble in his voice, and Libby wanted to reach down the phone and hold him. This was the Simon she knew and loved, the Simon who brought her a cup of tea in bed everymorning and left her little love notes stuck on the fridge. The Simon whom she’d planned her future with. So even though Libby knew she should have been yelling at him right now, forcing him to grovel and beg, all she really wanted to do was jump on a train and rush back to Surrey. If she left soon, she could be back home by midafternoon.
“You have every right to hate me after everything I said,” Simon continued, interrupting her mental packing. “I know I’ve really hurt you, and I’m so sorry about that.”
Libby took a deep breath. “The last two weeks have been hell, Si. And you’re right—you handled it all really badly. But I don’t hate you.”
“Oh, Libs, thank god,” he said, and she could hear the relief in his voice. “I’m so glad you said that, because there’s something I want to ask you.”
From downstairs, Libby heard the shrill ring of her mum’s laughter, and she pictured her family’s delighted faces when she told them that she and Simon were back together. She could almost hear her sister’s satisfaction.What did I tell you? Give him a few weeks and he’ll come running back...
“Libby?”
“Sorry. I’m listening.”
“Okay, so...”
He sounded so nervous, Libby almost wanted to laugh.
