Page 59 of The Spark

Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

‘Well, the ultimate would obviously be to design an iconic structure. To have my name on something world-class, like... a concert hall, or a museum, or—’

‘—the next Gherkin,’ Lara chips in, speaking slowly. And then she looks directly at me, and her eyes say, What the hell?

Luckily, at this point, our main courses arrive and the moment moves on.

Before we eat, Lara throws back a handful of brightly coloured tablets from a rose-gold box retrieved from her handbag.

Next to her, Felix is doing the same. ‘Orders of the detox,’ he says. ‘You wouldn’t believe how many rules we’re breaking tonight just to have a stir-fry.’

I notice Lara squeezing his hand again, looking right into his eyes. Reassurance, perhaps, that she’s fully on board with his health obsessions?

The noodle dish she’s chosen has pretty much zero kick. In the old days, she would have been the one ordering a curry with three chili symbols and a warning triangle on the menu, furiously refusing any fluids that might counteract the heat.

As we start eating, Lara suddenly looks up and lifts her fork, tapping it against the air. ‘Oh,’ she says, to Ash. ‘I knew I was missing something. I remember you.’

My heart leaps to my throat.

‘Weren’t you the guy who got struck by lightning?’

‘What?’ Felix says, incredulously.

‘Yes!’ she says. ‘I read about it at the time. My mum cut something out of the paper for me. She was trying to distract me, probably. I think the headline was something like, ASHLEY’S MIRACLE ESCAPE.’

‘Your real name is Ashley?’ I ask him, wondering how I managed to miss that.

‘I mean, only officially. Nobody ever calls me that. Not even my parents.’

‘Hold on,’ Felix chips in. ‘You... got struck by lightning?’

‘Yep,’ Ash says, politely. ‘It was a long time ago, though.’

Felix gapes for a couple of moments. ‘What... in the hell does that feel like?’

‘I don’t actually remember, fortunately.’

Felix nods, holds up a hand. ‘Apologies. Didn’t mean to pry. Just... wanted to make sure getting struck by lightning wasn’t one of those British turns of phrase I don’t quite get.’

By now, opposite me, Lara is sitting up very straight. ‘It was just around the corner,’ she says slowly, like the pieces are slotting together in her mind. ‘It was the same night, Neve. It was the same night as—’

I shake my head at her silently, pleading with my eyes.

‘The same night as what?’ Ash says, looking between us both.

Despite having searched for Jamie online, I guess he never checked the dates. And I know he hasn’t made the connection between his accident and Jamie’s death. Why would he?

‘Nothing,’ Lara says quickly, rearranging her shocked expression. ‘Sorry. Nothing. Crossed wires.’

Back at my place, Lara calls as I’m in the kitchen getting water. Though her avatar is blank, it still feels strange to see her name on my phone screen after all this time.

Ash is upstairs, stuck messaging in a group chat, but I shut the kitchen door, just to be sure.

The world has quieted, the only light the diffuse orange glow of the streetlamp from the alleyway behind my garden.

‘Are you by yourself?’

‘Yes, I’m in the kitchen.’

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