Page 49 of The Match Faker

Back in the day when this restaurant first opened, it was the talk of the town. I’d always wanted to go. Liam and I had even spoken about saving up enough money to take me, so I’d hoped we could go after the school dance. But of course that had never happened.

‘So did you ever end up coming here?’ Liam asked.

‘No, but I always wanted to.’

‘Why didn’t you come with your ex?’

‘Boris wasn’t really very adventurous when it came to food.’

Our relationship wasn’t that exciting. We moved in together when we were twenty-four and quickly settled into a routine. When I left uni I got a customer services job at a local bank and Boris went into sales. After work we’d come home, have dinner, watch TV and go to bed.

Boris always went to the pub with his friends on Fridays and Saturdays and would rather watch football with them than go on a romantic evening out with me. If I wasn’t at home reading or watching TV, I’d meet up with Trudy or go to my parents’. It was scary how easy it was to get stuck in a rut and how one year just merged into the next.

‘I never understood what you saw in him.’ Liam shook his head.

I’d asked myself the same question so many times.

‘I thought he was… nice.’ That was true. To a degree.

I’d thought it was because I loved him. But really it was the familiarity and safeness I believed the relationship gave me. That sense of belonging.

At the time I didn’t think it was a bad relationship, per se. I’d reasoned that it could’ve been a lot worse. Boris wasn’t violent or physically abusive. I’d believed he was faithful and we got along okay. I just thought that it was natural for things to go a bit stale after you’d been with someone for a while.

I knew from the single friends that I’d eventually paired up how hard it was to find a partner. I listened to their stories of the failed dates. And I told myself I was lucky to have found love so young and that I didn’t have to go through what they did.

When I decided to start my own business, I was disappointed that Boris wasn’t supportive, but I let that slide. With all the extra work that was coming my way, the last thing I needed was extra stress. I thought it was better to have the stability of a long-term relationship. I believed it’d impress clients too. Little did I know that Boris’s actions would force my hand. There was no way I could stay after what he did to me.

‘Are we talking about the same Boris? The one I remembered used you.’ Liam was right again. ‘Why did you break up?’

‘I’d rather not talk about it.’ I swallowed the lump in my throat.

‘Fair enough.’

‘And you? Did you ever have a proper girlfriend?’ I quickly deflected the question onto him.

‘What do you mean by proper?’

‘A girlfriend that lasted more than one night…’ I raised my eyebrow.

‘So you don’t want to talk about your relationships but you want me to talk about mine?’

‘I was just… making conversation.’

‘Food will be here in a minute.’ He rested his elbows on the table, then fixed his gaze on me. I was glad he’d changed the subject, but why was he staring?

‘Do I have something on my face?’ I dabbed the napkin around my mouth self-consciously.

‘No.’ He didn’t look away. I reached into my handbag and pulled out my powder compact. I must have lipstick on my teeth.

‘You’re staring,’ I whispered.

‘I’m not staring, I’m looking into your beautiful eyes.’

‘What?’ I blinked quickly. ‘Why?’

‘Because we’re on a date… and like I just said, the food will be here soon, which means so will the waiters…’

‘Oh… oh, yeah. Got it.’ I nodded absentmindedly. ‘Sorry.’

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