This Could Change Everything(50)

‘There you are,’ said a quiet voice behind him, and Lucas almost dropped his coffee cup.

He turned, and there was Giselle in the doorway, smiling sleepily at him. Her glossy auburn curls fell loose past her shoulders, and she was wearing her grey-and-white stripy nightshirt. Rubbing her eyes, she padded across to join him. ‘I woke up and you weren’t there.’

‘Couldn’t sleep,’ said Lucas. ‘Thought a nightcap might help.’

‘Coffee’s just going to keep you awake.’ She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and placing a hand on his exposed upper chest. ‘It’s chilly down here. How can you be so warm?’

He flexed a bicep. ‘I’m just so manly.’

Giselle laughed. ‘Why couldn’t you sleep?’

‘No idea, just one of those things.’ Lucas reached for his coffee cup and downed the contents. ‘Let’s give it another try, shall we? Sorry if I woke you.’

She shivered. ‘I’m freezing now. You’ll have to warm me up.’

But it was OK, she didn’t mean it in a wild-sex way. Last night she’d finished a late shift and in a few short hours would be starting an early one. Sliding down from his high stool, Lucas put his arm around her and they prepared to leave the bar.

Just before he switched off the lights, Giselle pointed to his photograph on the wall. ‘Who’s that guy over there? He’s pretty good-looking. I could go for someone like him.’

If you knew what was going through his head right now, you wouldn’t be so keen.

‘He comes in here quite often. I’ll get his number for you,’ Lucas said aloud.





Chapter 23


It was Friday evening at last; this week it had taken far longer than it usually did for Friday to come around. Next time, Conor vowed, when he asked a woman out on a date and she seemed every bit as keen as he was, he would just say, ‘How about tomorrow?’ instead.

Anyway, he was here now, approaching Belinda’s address in Pucklechurch and wondering if she was as nervous as he was.

Finally, following the sat nav’s instructions, he turned into Limes Avenue and pulled up outside number 36. Before he even had time to switch off the car’s engine, the front door to number 38 flew open and Caz appeared in the brightly lit doorway.

Great, just what you need on the brink of your first date.

But when he climbed out of the car and Caz briskly beckoned him over, Conor wondered if she was about to tell him the date had been cancelled.

‘OK, two things,’ Caz announced when only a chain-link fence separated them.

‘And they are?’ said Conor.

‘If you break Belinda’s heart, you’ll have me to answer to.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You heard. She deserves to be happy. Be nice to her. Don’t be a bastard.’

‘What makes you think I would be?’

‘Most men are bastards.’

‘You were the one who set us up in the first place.’

‘I know. And that’s one more reason to do as you’re told and not let me down.’

‘Listen, it’s one dinner, that’s all. I seriously doubt any hearts will be broken.’ Conor straightened. ‘OK if I go now?’

‘No. I said there were two things.’

He sighed. ‘What’s the second?’

Caz smirked. ‘Well, I was going to tell you you’ve got a black smudge on your cheek, but maybe I won’t bother after all.’

Oh God, he’d stopped on the way over to fill up with petrol, and there’d been an oily residue on the pump handle. He patted his jacket pockets in search of a handkerchief, without success.

‘Come here.’ Caz produced a Kleenex and pulled him forward by his lapels in order to briskly scrub the offending smudge from his cheek. For a moment he’d thought she might spit on the tissue first. ‘There, done. Now off you go and have a nice evening.’

Conor gave the side of his face a wipe and reluctantly said, ‘Thanks.’

‘She’s my friend. I’m on your side.’ Caz fixed him with a stern gaze. ‘Just make sure you don’t spoil it.’

Evie, as any self-respecting teenager would be, was sitting cross-legged in front of the TV in the living room, simultaneously painting her nails purple and checking texts on her mobile phone.

‘Hi,’ she said when Belinda had introduced Conor. ‘You’re keen!’

‘Sorry?’ Was ‘keen’ one of those recently refurbished words he no longer entirely understood, like ‘bad’ and ‘wicked’ and ‘sick’?

‘Early,’ Evie explained. ‘It’s only five to eight.’

‘Ah, yes. Sorry. The sat nav was a bit overefficient. I would have waited in the car,’ said Conor, ‘but your neighbour wanted a word with me.’

‘I’ll just get my shoes on,’ said Belinda. ‘Won’t be a minute.’

When she’d left them alone together, Evie said, ‘So where are we going?’

For the second time, Conor heard himself saying, ‘Sorry?’

‘You’re taking us out to dinner. I just wondered which restaurant we’re off to?’

‘Er . . . Giorgio’s in Bath.’ Could he just turn up and ask them to change it to a booking for three? Would that be possible on a Friday evening, or—