When in Rome... (3 page)

“Is there a point to this nice little chitchat?” I sound stern, and am pleased. This is a lot better than standing in the rain without an umbrella.

“It was nice seeing you the other day.”

“Well.” I realize I don’t have anywhere to go with this particular statement. I am certainly not ready to say it was nice seeing him, too—especially as it was very far from nice.

“I thought it would be nice to see you properly.”

Properly as in without clothes? I wonder, and then get annoyed with myself. Honestly, this guy has been a complete shithead and I’m being utterly pathetic and wondering if he still fancies me.

I wonder if he does still fancy me.

“You’re a shithead.”

“Ah. Yes, you’re right. A total shithead. But a shithead who would love to buy you a slap-up lunch if you’d let him.”

“A slap-up lunch? Mike, since when are you able to cobble together enough money for that? And the car . . . surely you aren’t actually a success, are you?”

Am I flirting? It feels like I’m flirting. I am a bad person.

“I can’t deny it: I have money. Actually, I’m a huge success. I’m in business. Meet me and we can call it a business lunch.”

Why is it that even when I’m cross with Mike he makes me smile and forget what it is that made me cross in the first place? It’s always been the same: our arguments always blew over really quickly; neither of us could ever be bothered staying pissed off. David on the other hand takes things to heart much more. It took days and days to convince him that I wasn’t serious when I said I would be forced to leave him for Elvis Presley if he came back to life. And once I turned up at his place three hours after I’d said I would and he went absolutely mad. He actually shouted at me for about twenty minutes about how I need to take my safety a lot more seriously! Having said that, he was very apologetic the next day and said it was all his fault (I never followed the logic on that one, but who was I to disagree). And the following week he got me a mobile phone so that I could call him if I was ever late again. Nigel was beside himself when he saw it—apparently it’s some super phone that transmits at its own special frequency and you can only get one if you’re some hotshot spy or something. David got it from one of his clients—I suppose there are benefits to being an accountant after all.

“So will you meet me for lunch?”

Something tells me that I should say no, but before I can give myself time to think I find myself saying yes.

“And David won’t mind?”

“David has nothing to mind. We are having a business lunch.”

“Of course we are. Okay, be at The Place at one.”

“Maybe,” I tease, and put the phone down. I can feel that my cheeks are hot and I try to casually turn back to my computer.

“So who was that then—got a new admirer have you?” asks Denise.

“Admirer? No! No, it’s just an old friend, very old—not him, I mean we’ve known each other for ages; we’re just, you know, catching up over lunch, it’s nothing!”

She is looking at me oddly. “I was only joking,” she ventures. “You’re with David, aren’t you?”

I turn back to my computer to get on with some work, but my mind is buzzing. Lunch with Mike? I don’t have much time. It’ll take me twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, which means I’ve got about an hour to put on some makeup, and rehearse all the incredibly smart things I’m going to say about my fabulous life.

Before I can start to bullet-point the exciting things I can talk about (my new curtain rail is all I can think of right now, and I’m not sure that’s really going to make Mike realize he was stupid to leave me), Nigel walks over to me.

I hate it when Nigel comes over to my desk. He kind of leans over so he can see exactly what I’m doing, which is generally surfing on the Internet or writing e-mails to my friends, and then he makes some sarcastic remark about how he’s assuming I’ll be staying late that evening to catch up on all my work. So whenever I see him moving in my direction, I always jump up and get to his desk before he can get to mine. One time we did actually collide, which wasn’t a very pleasant experience, but I say you take the rough with the smooth.

But this time I’m too preoccupied with Mike to notice Nigel slithering over, and before I know it he’s about two inches away from me. Luckily, I am at least looking at my research report. Unluckily, I have so far managed only to type the heading.

“Looks like you’ll be working over lunch, if that’s all you’ve done this morning,” Nigel smirks. I smile lamely.

“Actually, Nigel, I was wondering if I could take a slightly longer lunch today.” I’m trying to sound assertive, but I’m not sure it’s working. We published a CD-ROM once on business communications skills and it said that to be assertive you need to look people straight in the eye and never deviate from your message. But I hate looking Nigel in the eye. He’s got such thick glasses it’s difficult to properly see his eyes through the glare, and he’s generally got a huge spot somewhere on his face and I always end up looking at that instead.

“That will be quite impossible,” says Nigel flatly. “We’ve got far too much work on.”

Okay, this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.

“But I’ve got a hospital appointment at one, and I’ve really got to go,” I wail. I’ve simply got to make lunch with Mike. And while it said on the CD-ROM that you should never make an excuse (that weakens your position, apparently), I’m not deviating too much from my overriding message of needing to go early.

“A hospital appointment? For what?”

I pretend to look embarrassed. “Women’s stuff,” I whisper.

Nigel moves back quickly.

“Very well. You may leave at twelve-thirty, but I expect you to be back at your desk by two o’clock on the dot.”

Thank the Lord. I check that I’ve got my lipstick and mascara in my purse and go to the Ladies to get ready.

The Place is a very smart restaurant in Kensington. I have only been there once before, for a meal with my mother, who took me there to inform me that she was getting married. I didn’t know about her break up from husband number three, and apparently nor did he (yet), but this didn’t worry her unduly. My mother is the most unlikely man-eater. I mean, she looks her age (fifty-six), reads theDaily Mail , and thinks bikinis are vulgar. But she certainly knows how to make men fall at her feet. She left Dad when I was just five, and the two of us moved in with Brett, an American businessman who had a huge apartment in Grosvenor Square in London. That lasted about three years; she then decided she wanted a house and Brett preferred apartments, so that was the end of that. She met, and married, Stan, who was sweet but a bit old for my liking. (Brett and I used to go roller-skating in Hyde Park, but Stan’s idea of an active day was walking over to a bench and sitting down on it. When you are eight and full of energy, sitting on a bench is not exactly a good day out.) Stan had a big house in Dulwich Village and we lived there for a good five years, until my mother met William, who owned an antiques shop in Kensington and kept giving her antiques until she agreed to move in with him. We lived above the shop in Kensington Church Street, which was great because it was the perfect place to meet boys and that’s all I really cared about then. Candy lived round the corner and we soon started hanging out together (whenever she was home from her smart boarding school, which seemed to be a lot; I’ve never understood why the more expensive the school, the shorter the amount of time you have to stay there) with the sole intention of attracting attention from the opposite sex. My mother never married William, and the day I went off to university she told me about a new love, Stephen. Stephen became husband number three—he was in mergers and acquisitions and my mother got heavily into throwing dinner parties and being a corporate wife. Not for long, though. She came to stay with me my final year and complained that she never saw Stephen—mergers and acquisitions were too time consuming for her liking and she missed having someone around in the evenings. I think in the end she sent Stephen a fax when he was on some business trip or other telling him it was over. And then she met me for lunch, at The Place.

Mike is waiting for me at the bar, champagne bottle in hand.

“So, Mr. Business Executive,” I say, accepting a glass from him and brushing his hand with mine. Accidentally? On purpose? I’m not sure. “You seem to be doing very well for yourself. Are you going to tell me where all this money is coming from, or are you going to do your usual trick of ordering everything on the menu and then asking at the end if I can put it on my credit card until your money comes through?”

“Ah, now there’s a gamble for you!” Mike winks.

I let him lead me to our table, and study the menu.

“The sole is very good,” Mike murmurs, picking up the wine list.

“Does this business meeting have an agenda?”

Mike looks at me quizzically, raising one eyebrow.

“I want to know why you want to see me now when you’ve made no effort to contact me for two years.”

“Has it really been that long?”

He’s doing that soppy-eyed look at me. I hate that. It always works and I end up smiling stupidly and letting him get away with whatever he’s done this time.

“Yes, it bloody well has been that long.”

I catch the eye of a girl a few tables away. She looks away immediately. This sort of thing happens a lot when you’re out with Mike. People just stare at him. Once we were in the pub and there was this gorgeous guy in there who kept catching my eye. I was feeling pretty good about it and after a while mentioned it to Mike in an offhand sort of way. (You should always make sure your date understands how desirable you are, according to Candy. She does things like sending flowers to herself, which is probably taking things a bit far, but I understand the sentiment.) Anyway, rather than looking impressed and challenging my admirer to a dual, Mike laughed, spluttering into his drink, and told me that actually the guy had been checkinghim out all evening. I mean the audacity of it! Except that when I studied the guy more closely I realized that Mike was right. It was hopeless. Not only did he get loads of female attention, but he even got more male attention than I did.

“I see,” says Mike, putting his hand through his hair. He suddenly grins at me. “Okay, well, when I saw you on Saturday, I just realized how long it’s been, and I thought it would be nice to see you properly, that’s all. I’m sure I must owe you lunch anyway.”

“You owe me food for a year actually.”

Mike raises an eyebrow. He has good eyebrows. No straggly bits, good shape. His eyes are good, too—they’re soft and dark and surrounded by thick luscious eyelashes. I would kill for eyelashes like that.

“You’re looking gorgeous,” he says softly. You see what I mean? It’s impossible to stay angry. I feel myself go red. I realize I’ve got to change the subject if I’m going to keep from making a fool of myself.

“Okay, so tell me about your great business deals then. What are you, an investment banker?”

Mike rolls his eyes and sits back in his chair. “An entrepreneur, my dear. I am the owner of London’s coolest new record label and club promotions company.”

Bastard. Only Mike could make serious money and be doing something really cool. I better not tell David.

“And you’re actually staying solvent?”

“What do you think?”

The waiter comes over and refills our glasses. We order some food—I choose octopus salad to start, followed by the chicken. I’d actually prefer the sole, but I don’t want to look like I’m listening to Mike’s advice. When the waiter leaves we’re silent for a while.

“So how are things with David?”

Does he really want to know or is he teasing me? I decide to play it straight.

“Actually, things couldn’t be better. He’s gorgeous. We’re really happy.” All of which is true, but for some reason I’m turning red again and my face is twisting into a stupid smile. Mike sits back in his chair.

“Never really saw the two of you together. Thought you could do better than an accountant. But if it works for you . . .”

How does he do that? Make an insult sound like a compliment, so that when you get angry it looks like you’re overreacting. The thing is, he’s got a point. I never saw myself ending up with an accountant either. It doesn’t really sit with my image of myself as a girl-about-town. But there’s no way I’m going to let Mike think he’s hit a sore point.

“Look,” I say defensively, noticing that the restaurant is getting very hot. “You have no right to say anything about David, or to ask about us being together. You left, remember, and you didn’t even have the guts to tell me to my face. You are a pig and an idiot, and I don’t know why I’m even here.” My voice has taken on a slightly squeaky tone, so I stop talking and give him one of my best “I am really far too busy for this conversation” looks.

But Mike grins again like he’s pleased with himself for getting a rise out of me, and before I can stop myself my lips start curling upward. God, he’s sexy. I mean, obviously he’s a total bastard, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive, are they? I make myself look cross with him. The last thing I want is for him to realize that I still think he’s utterly gorgeous.

The food arrives and I gratefully start to eat. Actually it’s delicious. I love restaurant food. I would eat out every day and every night if I could. And when I couldn’t be bothered to go out, I’d order in. I have friends who are great cooks, but all that chopping and marinating is just so boring, especially as nothing I cook ever turns out like it should. I’m only interested in the Jamie Oliver–style chuck-it-in-a-pan-and-hope-for-the-best cooking, but whenever I’ve tried chucking it all in, I end up with some sort of hideous, tasteless muck. I blame my mother, of course. She doesn’t cook either, except for souffle. I think she figured that as no one else can do a good souffle, it was something worth working at. Everything else she leaves to Marks & Spencer’s or Harrod’s Food Hall.

I look up to see Mike watching me closely. He picks up his glass.

“To old friends?”

I hesitate. Am I really ready to forgive and forget?