Page 46 of Not in a Million Years

‘So how about we call a truce? We don’t have to be best mates, but can we not—’

‘Land each other in hospital with minor stab wounds?’ I joked.

‘Yeah, that. Or major ones. Although I guess at least then we’d be company for Andy.’

I laughed. ‘Okay, fine. Truce it is.’

He reached out a hand, and I shook it. His palm was dry and warm, and I could feel calluses on his skin.

‘Dinner in town tonight?’ he suggested.

‘Okay. But you’re going to have to do the cat-whispering. None of the buggers would talk to me when I tried earlier.’

‘Can’t think why, given your warm and easygoing personality.’

I laughed again. It felt easier this time, more natural. And once we’d returned to the car and Daniel was driving carefully down the other side of the steep pass, I found I was barely afraid at all.

Seventeen

‘I am so fucking hungover,’ I moaned into my coffee the next morning. ‘So hungover. Legit dying.’

‘I blame you,’ Daniel said. His face was pale under the golden stubble, and he sipped his coffee cautiously, like it was an emergency kill-or-cure situation. ‘You suggested the raki shots.’

‘Yeah, but the second bottle of wine was all on you,’ I countered. ‘And we weren’t to know that they’d give us two extra rounds of shots on the house.’

‘They liked us because you fed most of your seabass to the cats. Therefore, it’s mostly your fault.’

‘But the cats only came to our table in the first place because you were there. If I’d been on my own, they’d have left me alone, seabass or no seabass.’

‘I don’t know if I can risk that cheese and egg thing today.’ Daniel pushed his sunglasses up on his head and winced at the bright morning light. His eyes were red-rimmed with dark hollows under them, and I was pretty sure mine looked much the same.

‘I thought you were all about taking risks? Living life to the max. All that mad shit.’

‘There’s living life to the max, and then there’s spewing up my breakfast.’

‘You know what?’ I said, standing up and gripping the edge of the table for a second as the room wheeled giddily around me, then came to a stop. ‘I’m going in. If it doesn’t break me, it’ll make me stronger.’

‘Fair play,’ Daniel said. ‘All right, I’ll join you. But if it all goes horribly wrong…’

‘You’ll blame me. Heard and understood.’

Giggling like idiots, we made our way up to the counter. Daniel ordered for both of us, showing the guy the picture of the dish we wanted on his phone and repeating its name in Turkish, laughing as his pronunciation was repeatedly corrected. A few minutes later, we returned to our table with laden frying pans.

‘Genuinely, Kate, I’m not sure about this.’ Warily, Daniel poked the food with his fork, lifting a long string of melted cheese.

I followed suit, raising a mouthful cautiously to my lips. It smelled deliciously of spicy sausage, perfectly runny egg yolk, butter, cheese and some sort of peppery seasoning. I gave my queasy stomach a moment to get used to the idea, then ate it.

‘Oh my God, that’s good.’ I took another forkful, tearing off a piece of bread and dunking it in the pan. ‘I reckon this is going to sort us out, I really do.’

‘If you say so.’ Daniel dug in, eating one large forkful and then another. ‘Okay, I believe you might just be right.’

‘I’m always right,’ I said. ‘You ought to know this by now.’

‘Must be hard work being so perfect.’

‘Sure is. Especially when there are people in the world who refuse to acknowledge my effortless superiority.’

Daniel laughed. ‘So what, in your infallible judgement, should we do this morning?’

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