Page 51 of The Key to My Heart

‘And what about you?’ I pour in the eggs, turn down the heat. ‘You were onlineverylate the other night.’

Tom raises his eyebrows. ‘Was I?’

‘Well, I went to send you this meme about birds – heron-themed, actually – and thought, no, Nat, it’s two a.m., nobody is awake at two a.m. But then I saw you were online.’

‘You should’ve sent it,’ he says. ‘Why didn’t you?’

‘Didn’t want to interrupt anything,’ I say. ‘Thought you might have been … you know …’ I give him a big, ludicrous wink and he laughs.

‘Well, regardless of any …’ and he throws another ridiculous wink back at me. ‘Herons always welcome.’

‘Ah, so he’s not denying it,’ I tease. ‘And I promise, you can tell me, I won’t tell your mum.’

Tom smiles sheepishly, sips his coffee. ‘Ah. Nothing much to tell,’ he says.

‘And how is your mum, by the way? I texted, but she took ages to read it, Jason said she’s not been well.’

Tom sighs noisily, and it tapers off into a groan. ‘Don’t ask, Foxes. Seriously. Save yourself.’

‘Oh shit, what do you mean? Is she all right?’

Tom shrugs, then stretches in the seat. His T-shirt rides up revealing a tiny glimpse of toned stomach.‘Who knows? She got a phone call, from one of her mates – Angela? And it turns out, this Angela could’ve sworn she saw Dad over near his work, by the river, with another woman. Outside a restaurant. Holdinghands—’

‘Oh my God.’

‘I know,’ he says flatly. ‘Mum was … well, obviously she was gutted. We were over there for my brother’s birthday, and then this phone call comes, like a fuckingbomb, and Dad was late, said he was caught at work … Anyway, long story short, he denied it, said it was Angela being a bit nuts because she can’t stand him – and, to be fair, she can’t. Same as most of Mum’s friends.’

‘God,’ I say. ‘I’m sorry. That sounds …awful.’

Tom takes in a big breath, his broad chest rising beneath the black material of his T-shirt. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘But – God. He’s such a good fucking liar, and he’s always so devastated.’ He scoffs, a short burst of laughter. ‘Seriously, Natalie, he’s so convincing. But he schmoozes for a living these days, it’s all corporate shit, securing all these mega contracts, huge high-rises and stuff, so … transferrable skills, I guess. Anyway, it’s all blown over now and they’re even talking about an anniversary party which …’ He winces, a muscle pulsing in his jaw. ‘Can you imagine? Aparty? Celebrating their bloody marriage? Makes me wanna … emigrate or, like … go into witness protection.’

‘Don’t do that.’ I smile at him sadly, take the pan off the heat. ‘And do you believe him? About the woman?’

Tom turns his hands over on the breakfast bar counter, showing his palms, and grimaces. ‘I just don’t know. As Isaid … he’s so convincing. Plus, it’s where he works and they’re forever taking clients out for drinks and meals and all that shit, so, who knows? Could’ve been absolutely nothing. Could’ve been Angela reading something into nothing. Or it could be something. With him, it could go either way. He had a thing with a woman at work before, so … ’ He sips his coffee. ‘Anyway.Where’s this breakfast that isn’t sausages?’

I slide a plate across the breakfast bar towards him. ‘Here. And you’re sure you’re okay? I can’t even imagine having to deal with drama from my parents. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?’

‘Ah.’ Tom gives a heavy shrug, the large, round muscles of his shoulders rising and falling. ‘And course, I’m fine. Always am. But now – I’m afraid you’re going to have to cleanse the palate and tell me all about your hot date with Notebook Joe. I want a dissertation. I want a fuckin’ – I don’t know. A Wikipedia page. Sub-headings. Quotes. All of it. ’

‘Of course,’ I laugh, sitting opposite him with my own plate. ‘But first things first—’

‘It wasn’t a date,’ says Tom. ‘Yeah, yeah,okay, sure, whatever you say—’

‘Well, yes,’ I reply, pointing my fork at him. ‘I was definitely going to say that, but what I was going to say first was that there was music left again. Practically gave him a heart attack and I’m not a hundred per cent sure he didn’t alert some sort of authority about me, but – it was there. Brand new piece.’

‘Really?’

‘Yup. I was so excited. Practically yelped in the station.’

Tom laughs. ‘Course you did.’

‘I need to load up my suspects list,’ I say. ‘Get staking out, again maybe.’

‘Yoursuspects list?’

‘I have one, on my phone. A list of people it could be.’

‘Interesting,’ says, Tom. ‘Who’s on it?’

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