Page 57 of The Wedding Game

I chuckle. ‘Do you want to forget this and go get some drinks?’

‘No-o-o.’ She elongates the word. ‘Let’s stay to the end. Ice-skating’s not as bad as I remember. How long is the session booked for?’

‘An hour.’

‘Oh, fuck that! Drinks, please.’

I lead her towards the entrance to the rink and we make our way off.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she says as we hand back our skates and head towards the wooden ski-chalet-style buildings where food and drinks stalls have been set up.

‘You don’t need to apologise,’ I reply. ‘It was funny. Your response was not at all what I was expecting.’

We buy eggnog from a vendor, at Lexie’s insistence, and instead of sitting, we wander around, stopping to watch the other ice-skaters.

‘This is much nicer,’ she tells me, as the buzz of people and the din of early festive enjoyment swirls around us.

‘Cheers!’ I lift my disposable cup and she knocks hers against mine as we watch skaters whizz around. ‘Well done for getting the job.’

‘Well done for making a cool fifteen hundred dollars,’ she counters.

‘Ha, yeah. Don’t quit now – I won’t get it otherwise. I’m sad you’re going home, by the way.’

‘Are you?’ she asks doubtfully. ‘I’ve not seen all that much of you.’

Yeah, there’s a reason for that, I think. Instead I say, ‘I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit preoccupied in the evenings, but our office chats have been nice.’What an insipid thing to say.

‘How’s it going with your new woman?’ she probes.

I look away. ‘Yeah, it’s OK …’ Although my answer sounds vague, it’s not meant to. I follow it up with, ‘You can never really tell, can you?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asks.

I look back at her. ‘You think it’s going well and then,bam!– they dump you, and it’s … shock and awe. Like a Michael Bay film, explosions going off everywhere for no reason whatsoever.’

Lexie issues a short, sharp chuckle.

‘You’d probably see it coming, right?’ she offers. ‘If it wasn’t going well, one of you would see it. One of you wouldsaysomething. Although, in fairness, I didn’t see it coming the last time I got cheated on and then dumped,’ she goes on, gazing into the distance while she thinks about this.

‘Thanks for those words of encouragement,’ I joke. On thefar side of the rink, a man whizzes backwards at speed. We watch him spin and turn like an Olympian.

‘How do they do that?’ Lexie mutters.

‘Skills. So, it’s going well with Josh then?’ I ask and I realise there was no sleek transition whatsoever into that question and it didn’t sound as casual out loud as it had done in my head.

‘It is. I really like him,’ she replies bashfully.

‘Good,’ I say and I’m struck for a moment by how awkward this is.

‘I’m having a nice time,’ Lexie comments, obviously wanting to change the subject. She looks as if she means it. ‘Ice-skating notwithstanding. I’ve loved it here. I can’t believe how quickly two weeks have flown.’

‘Likewise,’ I reply and sip my eggnog, which is violently sweet. ‘You haven’t had the urge to move here then?’ I test. ‘New York hasn’t worked its charms on you?’

‘Afraid not. I do love it, though. I am a city girl at heart, remember. My love for London knows no bounds. But I’d miss my friends and my family too much to relocate.’

‘How’s being wedded to the city going to work, with Josh in the country then?’ I ask.

‘OK, I think. I practically moved in with him for a few weeks and it worked perfectly fine.’ I see Lexie narrow her eyes after she says this and I wonder how true this comment is.

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