Murray pressed his lips to my hair. ‘I love you too.’
He pulled back. My lipstick was all over his collar. ‘See you at work tomorrow, okay?’
I nodded.
He answered the phone. ‘Cooper! Sorry about that – couldn’t work out which one of my pockets my phone was in. How’s things?’
His voice trailed off as he left, the bar door swinging shut behind him. I watched him go, wondering if I’d just made the best decision of my life, or the absolute worst.
I needed another drink.
I left our table and went to the bar instead, sitting on one of the barstools and hooking my ankles around the crossbar. The bartender set down the glass he was polishing. ‘What can I get you, love?’
‘Alcohol.’
‘I think I can make that happen.’
He had a slight burr to his voice – Irish, maybe, or Scottish. ‘Breakup?’ he asked, taking a bottle of whiskey down from the top shelf.
‘No. Kind of the opposite.’
He put the glass down in front of me. ‘That’s not what it looked like.’
I raised an eyebrow.
He looked back, undaunted.
‘That was my best friend,’ I said. ‘He absolutely railed me last night on top of a washing machine.’
‘Interesting choice. The washing machine, that is. High degree of difficulty.’
I snorted.
‘The man a high degree of difficulty too?’
‘No. It’s just…’ I sighed, looking down at my drink. ‘He’s just getting out of a very long, very serious relationship. And I’m…’
‘What?’ he said, after I’d let the silence hang too long. ‘Too stunningly beautiful for the likes of him?’
‘Nowthisis a high degree of difficulty. You hitting on me right now.’
The bartender flashed me a smile. ‘You’ve not touched your drink.’
‘I’m not much of a whiskey drinker.’
‘Well, then, you should have been more specific when you ordered then, shouldn’t you? But give it a try. You might like it.’
I hesitated.
‘Come on then,’ he said. ‘Are you ready to be brave?’
I took a sip. It burned going down.
‘I’m stealing that line,’ I said. ‘I’m a reality TV producer. I can make a lot of people do a lot of things by asking them a question like that.’
‘Now that’s an interesting career.’ He spread his hands wide on the bar. ‘Tell me more about that.’
I started laughing.
