He glanced at his phone and saw the call was from a work colleague. If someone was trying to reach him at this time in the evening, it could only be because there was some sort of problem.
“Sorry, I need to answer this call,” Tom said, gesturing with the phone. “It’s work.”
“Of course,” Carole said. “I’ll finish clearing the table.”
Moving out of her way while she worked, Tom answered the phone. His work colleague on the other end of the call immediately launched into a frantic account about key information that had mysteriously vanished from the draft sales proposal they were due to finalise the next day before sendingto a prospective client. It took several minutes to calm down his younger colleague by promising to log in to the system right away and help get to the bottom of the problem.
When Tom ended the call, he gave Carole an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, but there’s a problem at work and I need to get to my laptop and help sort it out.”
“I caught the gist of it. I hope it won’t mean a late night for you.”
“Me too.” Tom gestured to the cleared kitchen table and the plates Carole was loading into the dishwasher. “Let me help you finish dealing with this lot before I go.”
“Don’t be silly, I’ll take care of it. You go and help your colleague. Judging by how hard you worked to calm them down, it sounds like they need you sooner rather than later.”
Tom glanced again at the pile of dishes, but Carole waved him towards the door.
“I’ve got this, Tom. Even if you didn’t have to rush off, I still wouldn’t let you deal with all this washing up. That’s no way to treat a dinner guest.”
“I’m sorry to leave so soon,” Tom said and meant it.
“It’s fine. At least you’d finished eating before your work call came through.”
“Thanks again for dinner. It was wonderful. I’ll cook next time.”
He hadn’t meant to add the impromptu invitation but was glad he did when he saw Carole smile and nod.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
They’d reached the front door. Tom was about to say something else—about the delicious meal she’d cooked, about how much he’d enjoyed her company, about how he wished he didn’t have to rush off—but before he could get a word out, his phone pinged with a message from his frantic colleague, askingif he was logged in yet and reporting yet another error he’d discovered in the sales proposal documents.
With a sigh, Tom opened the door, then lifted his arm in a farewell gesture that ended with him pulling Carole into an awkward hug that left her sort of half-pressed into his side. Embarrassed at the clumsy overture, Tom stepped outside.
“Good luck solving your work emergency,” Carole said and waved him off.
“Thanks, I’ll need it.”
He dashed around to his front door and waved goodbye as he fished his keys from his pockets.
This wasn’t how he’d imagined tonight ending.
Considering some of the fantastical thoughts that had sprung into his head about how this nightcouldhave ended, Tom wondered if it was just as well that he’d been forced home to deal with work.
The soft candlelight and the amazing food and the heady wine and the beautiful woman sitting across from him all evening had pushed him dangerously close to doing something he might have regretted.
Mighthave regretted?Wouldhave regretted.
Carole was his neighbour. His next-door neighbour. There was nowhere to hide if he made a terrible mistake such as… pulling her into his arms and kissing her as if his life depended on it.
Once inside the quiet stillness of his own house, Tom dug his laptop from his bag and switched it on, grateful for the diversion of a thorny work problem to take his mind off the madness of what he might’ve done if he was still in Carole’s kitchen.
Thank goodness for work data that mysteriously vanished into thin air and for panicking colleagues in need of immediate rescue.
