Page 65 of The Best Number

“Perhaps you could join them,” Cassidy suggests with a wink. I laugh but can’t figure out how to respond. How do I say that I only want to be with Cassidy and Tom? No one else. Especially when it was me that up and left, just as things were getting good. As much as I am enjoying New York, there’s a twinge of regret for what I walked away from.

We chat for a bit longer, but it’s clear that Tom is getting ready to head out to the bar. I watch as he pulls a t-shirt branded with the bar’s logo over his head.

“Hey, sorry, guys. I need to run. There’s a delivery due in and I need to be there so Abby doesn’t turn into Supergirl and lift everything by herself. You guys keep chatting though.”

“Actually I should crack on with this editing so I can take that break later,” Cassidy says with a wink in Tom’s direction. “It’s been lovely to see your face, Jack. Can we do it more often?”

“Er, yeah, I’ll see what I can do. It’s early Saturday morning here. Maybe the same time next week?” They both agree they can make it work as the call comes to an end.

I heave a sigh afterwards and wonder what the hell I’m doing in New York when I could be with those guys. Sure, it’s exciting visiting a new place, but the work I’m doing here is pretty similar to what I was doing back home and at least there I was getting laid on the regular. It’s laughable that I’ve not had sex since I left them a month ago. I’ve had more than one offer, but I’ve turned them down. I can’t even think about sleeping with someone else when there are two amazing people in the UK that blew my mind with everything we got up to. There’s no way a one-night stand could live up to the stuff that Cassidy, Tom, and I were doing together. Maybe I should see if they’d be up for some exhibitionism and video call me next time they are getting down to it. At least I’d be able to get myself off while I watched.

One month later

New York is still awesome, but I’m constantly aware that it’s missing something. Two somethings. Cassidy and Tom. I’ve been speaking to them every Saturday morning on video call. A couple of times I’ve got up earlier so we can talk for longer. With increasing frequency, I wake up hard, having dreamt about them and all the filthy things we did together.I really fucking miss them.

It’s Friday morning and I’m just arriving at the office. Brad, the lead on the project I’ve been working on, is out on the open plan office floor as I make my way over to the group of desks myself and the project team have been using. He looks up, watching as I walk towards him.

“Jack, got a minute?”

“Sure thing. Let me just put my bag down.”

I follow him across the office space to one of the meeting rooms. It all feels quite ominous as he shuts the door and gestures for me to take a seat.

“I’ll cut to the chase, Jack. We’re really pleased with the work you’ve been doing. We know your original contract was for three months, but we’d like to extend that to a year.”

“Wow,” is all I can think of to say. Here I have been, counting down the days to the end of the contract, thinking I’d be back in the UK with Tom and Cassidy and grovelling to see if they’d take me back. And now this. I can see that Brad is now watching me, expecting me to say more.

“Can I have some time to think about it?” I ask.

He frowns. “What’s there to think about? When you accepted this contract, you told us you wanted to stay longer. Have you changed your mind?”

“I’m very grateful that you’ve given me this opportunity. I just don’t want to rush into anything.”

“Okay, well, not everyone is being offered the extension, so you have a little bit of time, but I’ll need to make other arrangements if you’re not going to accept. Could you get back to me as soon as possible?”

“Sure thing—would after the weekend be okay?” I wonder if I'm pushing my luck asking for three days to think about this. But he agrees and we chat about the progress we’ve made this week. I’m eager to crack on, so make my excuses and head out to my desk to get stuck in for the day.

At lunchtime, Tara, one of the permanent members of staff, stops at my desk, asking if I want her to pick me up anything for lunch. It’s not the first time she’s done it, but today I take her by surprise when I ask, “Actually, would you be up for somecompany? I could do with some fresh air.” She smiles and we head out of the office together.

“I’m so glad you wanted to come for lunch, Jack.” She gives me a shy smile as we are walking along to a local deli. “How about we sit in?”

I agree and we are soon in a queue with what feels like half of New York, waiting to order food.

We find a small table and take a seat.

“How are you finding New York?”

“It’s great. I’m grateful to have this opportunity.”

“Is there anything you still want to see that you haven’t?” she asks. “I’m happy to be your tour guide. I don’t have any plans this weekend.”

I can’t decide if she’s coming on to me or not. I don’t want to be presumptuous and assume she is. Perhaps she’s just being friendly to the visiting Brit.

“I’ve been quite fortunate to see quite a lot of the sights already,” I tell her with a smile and notice a small frown of disappointment at my reply.

I get distracted when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see it’s an incoming call from Cassidy. I do the mental time zone calculation in my head and realise it’s early Friday evening there. It’s unusual for her to call me at this time because she knows I’m working. Perhaps something is wrong.

I grimace across at Tara before saying, “I think I need to take this. It’s a call from the UK.”

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