Page 89 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

He frowned again. He’d never liked that game. Not since their fourth date anyway, when she’d asked him to play and he’d discovered he couldn’t beat her at it. Si was a man who liked to win.

‘Yes, my little event turned out to be quite big in the end,’ said Jo. She was surprised at the sound of her own voice. She never used to contradict him. And she sounded – well – confident.

‘That’s great, Jo.’

He spoke in a way you’d speak to a child who’d brought home a terrible painting from nursery but you wanted to encourage their efforts. Jo felt her confidence beginning to melt away again. How did he manage to do that to her? Every single time.

She took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to let him.

‘Anyway, how’ve you been?’ he said. ‘Met anyone new?’

‘No,’ said Jo, wishing she could say she was loved up with someone but she wasn’t going to lie about it.

‘I bet I’m a tough act to follow, aren’t I?’

She took a deep breath. ‘I wouldn’t quite say that. Let’s say I’m looking for a different kind of guy these days.’

She wanted to add, And I’d never even go on a date with you; your name only scores 2 points in Scrabble. But he’d only scoff.

‘Yeah, sure.’ He clearly didn’t believe her.

‘Have you?’ she said. ‘I mean, are you with anyone? Did you remarry?’

Damn. She shouldn’t have said that. Shouldn’t have given him any indication that she had even the tiniest interest in him or his life. She didn’t want him having that satisfaction. Didn’t want him thinking that she ever thought about him.

Si smirked. ‘Yeah, yeah, I did remarry.’

‘What’s she like?’ Jo couldn’t help herself.

‘She’s lovely. Blonde – I always did like blondes.’

‘Yeah, you used to nag me to dye my hair.’

‘Not nag, Jo. Come on. I used to encourage you. I wanted you to make the best of yourself. And I see you have dyed it now – though I’m not sure I’d have gone for red. It washes you out somewhat.’

‘I like red,’ said Jo. ‘It goes with my green eyes.’

He looked sceptical but said nothing.

‘What do you want, Si? You must want something if you’ve sought me out like this, but I haven’t a clue what it is.’

‘I wanted to see you. To remember the good times.’

‘There were good times?’ she said. She sounded bitter. She hadn’t meant to sound bitter. That wasn’t good; he’d think she still cared about him, that she was still upset that things didn’t work out.

‘Come on. There were good times. Do you remember when we first met? I was bowled over by you. Desperate for you to go out with me. And you loved the attention, didn’t you? Lapped it all up.’

That was true. She had loved it. She couldn’t believe it, not at first, that a man like Si would want to go on a date with her. Jo had spent her entire life wanting people to like her and now someone like Si said he did. After only one date. And then there’d been another date and another one after that. She’d felt validated. And he didn’t just want to date her; he wanted a relationship. In fact, he had seemed smitten with her.

She remembered the day when an expensive bouquet of roses arrived in the solicitors’ office where she worked; her colleagues had been amazed and delighted for her.

Then there’d been the dress: a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress that didn’t suit her as it clung in the wrong places, but Si seemed to like it.

‘Much more elegant than what you usually wear,’ he’d said.

Jo had thought the gift was romantic. Gemma had been sceptical. ‘He’s trying to improve you,’ she’d said. ‘That’s not a good sign. He should accept you as you are.’

Jo had dismissed all of her friend’s warnings. Si was being kind. She’d never had a man pay her this much attention. Couldn’t Gemma let her enjoy it? She was probably jealous; her long-term boyfriend Jack was doing his PhD and didn’t have the money to shower Gemma with gifts.