Our Stop(62)

Eddie liked being asked to run errands – he wanted to be the guy you could call to pick up bits on the way home.

‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Text me if you need anything else?’

‘I will,’ Nadia replied. ‘Are you having a nice time? Did you tell them I’m excited to meet them some time soon?’

Eddie looked across at his friend, watching her watch her kids and husband. He lowered the phone from his mouth and said to Callie, ‘Nadia said she looks forward to meeting you.’

‘Oh!’ said Callie. ‘Us too, Nadia! We’ve heard such great things!’

The unspoken truth between Callie and Eddie had been that the very reason Nadia hadn’t met them yet was because Eddie was still unsure. Or rather, Eddie was unsure that Nadia was sure.

‘I’ve gotta get back to my breakfast, babe, but I’ll see you in about an hour, okay?’

‘Okay! See you soon!’

She hung up.

Callie signalled across to the waitress for the bill, saying to Eddie, ‘You know, it’s only been, like, six weeks. Nobody has to be sure after just six weeks. I know you fell pretty hard at the beginning, but it can take time to grow a love. Maybe she is thinking of somebody else, but doesn’t want to be.’

‘That’s true,’ said Eddie. ‘Like I told you, her ex was a mean sonofabitch. But I’m nothing like him.’

Callie handed the waitress her card and said to him, ‘We’ve got this. Thank you for being such a wonderful godfather.’

Eddie smiled. ‘Thank you, Callie.’ He looked out across the park, seeing Matt and the girls headed back towards them. He wondered if he and Callie had a sort of telepathic married people’s link, wherein Matt knew it was time to come back because Callie had settled up the bill, or Callie knew to settle up because Matt was about to leave the park and come back across with the girls.

‘Uncle Eddie!’ the youngest, Lily, squealed as he emerged with their mother from behind the glass door and onto the street. She ran towards him and Eddie scooped her up. Holding her out in front of him from under her armpits so that their eyes were level, Eddie said, ‘Was that fun? Did you have fun at the park?’

‘Yeah,’ Lily said, kicking her feet with glee as she was suspended in the air.

‘Shall I give you this pound I have in my pocket and take you to the shop?’ Eddie said.

‘Yes! Yes!’ Lily squealed, at which her older sister tugged on the bottom of Eddie’s t-shirt and said, ‘Do I get a pound?’

Eddie put Lily back on the ground and knelt down to Bianca.

‘You do,’ he said, opening up his palm, flat, to reveal two one-pound coins. Bianca took both of them and handed one to her sister, and the pair led the way to the newsagent, discussing what they would buy.

‘Typical Uncle Eddie,’ Matt said. ‘Loading the kids up on sugar and then handing them back.’

‘Ahhh,’ said Eddie. ‘They might surprise you and buy an apple.’

‘You gonna be this deluded when you’re a dad?’ Matt joked, and Eddie rolled his eyes. He didn’t reply, but he thought to himself how much he’d like that – how much he’d like to be a dad. But the woman he was dating – he wasn’t sure she was the one. He watched as Callie gave a wink over the top of his head to her husband, the two of them in their own little world, even if just for a second, their two kids trundling ahead. Their love looked like he wanted his love to feel, but he knew, even though it was inconvenient, that Nadia wouldn’t be to him what Callie was to Matt. Maybe Callie had been right. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t explain it. It didn’t make it wrong. It just meant that right now, it wasn’t perfectly right.





37


Nadia


‘Whatcha reading?’ Eddie said, sneaking up behind Nadia and kissing her cheek as she sat at the bar of the Dean Street Townhouse, nursing an oatmilk latte. The weather had turned colder that late September week, forcing the population of London to switch from light jackets to lined macs, and open-toed sandals to ankle boots with socks. As Nadia had walked across Blackfriars Bridge and up past Somerset House and through Covent Garden, she’d gradually caught a chill on her bare legs that meant by the time she’d got to Soho she needed warming right through. As she’d supped at her coffee she already had a sneaking suspicion that it was too late, that she’d wake up sick tomorrow morning. She really hoped not. She was the grumpiest sick person in the world.

‘Gah!’ she said, flicking the newspaper closed guiltily.

Eddie slid into the spot next to her. ‘I’ve never seen somebody so embarrassed to be caught reading the paper,’ he said, good-naturedly. ‘Were you reading the Missed Connections section again? You’re obsessed!’

Nadia grimaced, trying to look playful. It was true, she did still check the Missed Connections, just in case. (In case of what? she thought. In case some random guy wants to stand me up again?)

‘I just think it’s romantic,’ she said to him, sliding the paper away from her.

‘I think having the courage to chat up a beautiful woman sat alone at a bar is romantic,’ said Eddie, opening the drinks menu. He looked across to her and winked. He liked sitting side by side with her at a bar – it felt like ‘their’ thing, since that’s how they’d met.