Page 79 of The Last One to See Him

Again he raises his eyebrows. ‘Is that right? If only you knew just how young it really is.’

‘How old are you, then?’ Her heart pumps faster. She silently prays that he’s not too much older.Twenty is fine. Maybe even twenty-five.

‘Old enough to be your dad,’ he says. ‘I’m thirty-nine last time I checked.’ Although when you get to my age, you kind of stop keeping count. Gets too depressing otherwise.’

Disappointed, she does a quick calculation. ‘You’re right. Youareold enough to be my dad.’ But still she wonders how someone so attractive can ever feel depressed.

He laughs. ‘Told you. What’s your name?’

She tells him and asks him his.

‘Graham,’ he says.

‘So why are you sad, Graham? Wife left you?’ She’s already noticed the absence of a wedding ring on his finger.

‘Are you always this sassy?’ he asks, smiling. ‘That will get you far in life, I’m sure.’

‘Guilty as charged,’ she says, feeling flattered that she’s making him smile when he’d looked so down before.

He stands up, and holds out his hand. ‘Nice to meet you, Miss Sass.’ And then he’s gone, leaving a yearning ache in her stomach.

She sees him five more times in the park, on the same bench where they first met. She’s never worked out what he was sad about, but since then he’s always seemed happy when he’s talking to her. Maybe she’s as good for him as he is for her.

Each time they meet, they talk – for nearly an hour most times, before he says he has to get home. She doesn’t want to ask him if there’s a girlfriend waiting for him at home – that would ruin everything. Instead, she keeps him in their bubble, one that no one outside it would ever understand.

It’s a Friday evening when she next sees him in the park, this time playing football with his friends. She told her mum she’s studying at Collette’s house. She doesn’t even get on with Collette, but her mum wouldn’t know that – she never listens, too wrapped up in work and her own busy life.

Graham spots her on the bench – their bench – and winks at her before turning back to his game. A jolt of excitement passes through her, something she’s never felt, even though she’s messed around with boys before.

For forty minutes she sits watching the game, and as it ends and Graham’s friends disperse, she’s once again alone with him. He takes his time gathering his things and then glancing around, brings them over to the bench and sits down, bending down to untie his football boots. ‘Like football, do you?’ he says, grinning. ‘Noticed you were watching us.’

Not ‘us’ – you.‘I like things about it,’ she says, fluttering her eyelashes.

He raises his eyebrows just like he did when she first met him, and she feels as if she’ll explode. How can a man this age do this to her? She doesn’t understand it, but she wants to feel more of it, to see how good he could make her feel.

‘Where have all your friends gone?’ she asks, to keep him talking.

‘They’re not really my friends. We just play football every week. I don’t usually socialise with them.’ He packs his football boots in his bag and stands. ‘Well, enjoy your evening.’

‘Wait,’ she says. ‘Are you going already?’

‘Yeah, it’s late and I need to eat. Sorry, Miss Sass.’

‘We could eat together somewhere?’ she says, unsure where this bold proposition has come from. ‘You could buy me a drink.’

He laughs, a loud splutter that makes her feel small and pathetic, and then his expression changes. ‘I think you should go home now.’ His tone is soft and kind, but this makes her feel even more pathetic. She’s tried to seduce an older man and he’s turned her down.

She stares at him, defiant, longing for him. ‘Don’t go.’

He sighs. ‘This is dangerous,’ he says. ‘I shouldn’t even be talking to you. I’m an adult and you’re…you’re not.’

‘I practically am,’ she says.

‘Listen – you need to do me a favour.’

‘Anything,’ she says.

‘Go home. And never, ever talk to men like this again. You’re young – there’s plenty of time for all of…all of this. Don’t be in such a rush.’

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