Page 10 of The Spark

‘Hey, this is Neve. Neve, meet...’ He trailed off, then shrugged.

‘Claire,’ she said, with a look that could have curdled milk.

I did feel a bit sorry for her, as she walked away. She’d brought her A-game and worn her smallest pair of shorts, and Jamie hadn’t so much as clocked her name.

Chapter 6.

Now

Not long after I get home from the art gallery, my phone rings. I have just sorted through today’s post and put a wash on, and now I’m tidying crockery from the draining board.

I’ve been unsettled since meeting Ash earlier. Not necessarily in a negative way – but enough to make me feel that sitting still is not an option.

I take a tentative look at the screen, praying it’s not the barn conversion guy trying to advance his deadlines. I’m not averse to working weekends, but the last few days have been hectic and I’d been planning on being lazy for the next forty-eight hours, pottering around the house.

Jamie would have loved this place. I bought it partly because it reminded me so much of the house we shared for two years at uni. Sometimes, I take a detour along Edinburgh Road just so I can look at it again, feel the memories reel through me.

It’s Parveen. I put her on speaker.

‘How was the private view?’

‘Yeah, yeah. Nice try, Parv.’

I can tell she’s smiling before she even replies. ‘Oh, come on. A man that gorgeous cannot go to waste. If I can’t have him, someone needs to, and that someone should be you.’

‘I already told you, I’m not looking.’

‘Remind me why again?’

‘I’m busy. And I don’t have the energy to date. They all want to have sex in cars.’

‘That was one time, one guy, Neve.’

‘Anyway – how do you even know Ash is single? He might be married with three kids and one on the way.’

‘I asked one of his colleagues, after my meeting this morning. Told her I knew someone who’d be his dream match.’

‘Please tell me you’re joking.’

We both know she isn’t.

‘Anyway, come on. Why aren’t you and Ash getting wasted in a pub together right now? I need some salacious gossip in my life. I’m currently wiping shepherd’s pie off a wall.’

I pause, looking down at the cloth in my hand. ‘Sometimes I think you don’t know me at all.’

‘I do know there is zero shepherd’s pie on your walls. You have no excuse.’

‘The private view wasn’t that kind of vibe.’

‘It was free wine on a Friday night.’

I give my draining board one last buff.

‘Please, Neve. What have you got to lose?’

‘My sanity. Good night, Parv.’

But a few minutes later, despite everything I’ve said and feel, I find myself fishing his card from my wallet.

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