Page 21 of Love Me Till Wednesday

‘Wednesday. They’re booking me on an early morning flight from Heathrow. ’

Lisa laughed.

‘Why’s that funny?’

‘I know a song about that. “When you say goodbye, I’ll cry.” Some of my more profound lyrics.’

He looked at her, baffled.

‘From Love Me Till Wednesday.’

‘Oh yeah.’

Lisa pretended to be indignant. ‘Your favourite song, you said.’

‘It is. I’m just rubbish at remembering the words.’ He kissed her again. ‘I will always love you.’

‘That’s someone else’s song.’ She got up, went back to the cooker and took the bolognese sauce off the hob.

‘I meant what I said. I wasn’t quoting Whitney Houston,’ he said.

‘It was written by Dolly, actually. Dolly Parton.’ She walked back over to the table. ‘I will always love you too. Now, how hungry are you?’ she whispered in his ear.

‘Depends whether we’re talking about food or not.’

‘Definitely not food,’ she said, unbuttoning his shirt.

‘I'm going to miss you so much.’ Lisa whispered to Nick as they lay in bed together on Tuesday night. She was acutely aware of his big suitcase sitting by the bedroom door, waiting to disappear with him in the small hours of the morning.

He kissed her forehead and held her close. ‘I'll be counting the days, all 42 of them.’

Lisa snuggled deeper under the duvet to get as close to him as possible. ‘So will I.’

‘Part of me still doesn't want to go,’ he murmured in her ear.

‘I think I can guess which part.’

Nick reluctantly pulled away and checked the alarm clock settings for the umpteenth time. ‘I'll try not to wake you up when I leave.’

‘I don't mind.’

‘I suspect you might make me late if I do,’ he said, grinning.

‘And how would I do that?’ Lisa murmured in his ear, moving her finger slowly down his bare chest and onto his stomach.

The bedroom door flung open before she got any lower. A tall man stood silhouetted in the doorway. ‘Oh! Excusez moi.’

‘Try the next room on the right,’ she said. ‘I need to get a lock on my door,’ she said to Nick as the door closed behind the intruder.

‘Mel’s new conquest?’ Nick asked.

‘Hopefully. I gather discussing early twentieth-century French literature is quite a turn-on.’

‘Lise,’ Nick said tentatively. ‘How about we look at getting a place together? Just the two of us. What do you think?’

Lisa smiled. The novelty of spending time with Nick hadn’t worn off even after six months of barely being apart. If anything, she was more in love with him than ever. She couldn’t have asked for a more kind and caring boyfriend. Her gut reaction that first day had been right. They were soulmates.

‘I think that that’s a very good idea.‘ She kissed him. ‘No random men wandering into our room at night. That would definitely be a plus point.’

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