Page 39 of Love in Tune

‘Yup. He arrived on the dot.’

‘And …?’ Tash said, drawing the word out.

‘And he was … funny?’ Honey said, taking her time to choose the best word to summarise Robin without doing him a disservice.

Tash’s green eyes clouded. ‘Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?’

‘Umm, funny ha-ha? He was actually really good company, I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in years. Present company excepted, of course,’ she said, and saw Nell’s shoulders relax a little.

‘I’m getting the feeling that there was no romance involved,’ Tash frowned as she put her empty mug down on the low mahogany table.

‘None at all,’ Honey supplied merrily. ‘Nell, how well do you know Robin?’

Her friend looked a little shifty and glad to see the waiter advancing on them. ‘Well, not massively, obviously. In fact, not at all, really, but I’ve heard him play the piano and he’s practically Mozart.’

‘So what did he look like?’ Tash asked, after they’d placed their orders.

Honey already felt a sense of loyalty to her new friend. ‘He was quite sweet,’ she said, and then, ‘in a short, round, hairy Leo Sayer kind of way.’

Tash shot daggers at Nell. ‘Jesus, Nell, what were you trying to do? Sabotage things?’

‘He’s nice,’ Nell protested. ‘And he was the only pianist I knew.’

Honey nodded. ‘He was really great, Tash; you’d have loved him. Not nice in a sexy way, but then I wasn’t his cup of tea either. He told me he’s looking for a chubby brunette who’s into line dancing.’

Nell started to laugh. ‘I’m sorry, Honey. I promise to try harder next time.’

‘No more.’ Honey smiled, but shook her head firmly. ‘That’s why I wanted to meet up today. Please girls, you’ve tried and I’m honestly grateful, but this just isn’t working out. Deano was hung up on his ex, and Robin … well, he was lovely, but this whole piano man idea is proper bonkers when you stop to think about it, isn’t it?’

‘How about we widen it to other musicians? I saw a sexy cellist at the theatre the other night, the span of his fingers was something else,’ Tash said, splaying her fingers wide to demonstrate.

‘The theatre?’ Nell sounded more surprised by Tash’s social engagements than the cellist’s hands.

Tash nodded. ‘I know! And it wasn’t even a pantomime! Yusef is into all this highbrow stuff, I think he’s turned on by the idea of educating me.’ Her merry eyes danced. ‘I’m not complaining. He had his hand down my shirt through most of the second half and he let me drive his Porsche home.’

‘Not that highbrow then,’ Nell said dryly.

‘He’s filthy rich and filthy dirty, just the way I like ’em.’ Tash’s grin was pure filth too as she winked at the blushing teenage waiter who’d just placed their food down. He spilt a little of Nell’s soup over the edge of the bowl in panic and then tripped on the strap of Honey’s bag in his haste to get away.

As usual, brunch was delicious, soul food they’d built their friendship over for many years. Honey valued these two women like sisters, and listening to them share confidences and laugh softly as they ate, she knew it was time to tell them about Hal.

‘Honey, I know we haven’t come up with the best of candidates yet, but let’s not give up,’ Nell said, her mouth set in a serious line. ‘If nothing else, you’re having fun, and that’s better than staying home alone, right?’

‘I love you both for trying,’ Honey said, covering Nell’s hand and giving it a squeeze, ‘but the thing is, I’m snowed under with all of this drama happening at work, and I’ve kind of got myself ever-so-slightly involved with my neighbour, and Mimi and Lucille need my help with some personal stuff that’s come up …’ she trailed off as Nell placed her spoon abruptly down and Tash held up her hand as if to stop traffic.

‘Hold it right there, lady. Back up.’

Honey had sandwiched the relevant part of her speech in the middle, not because she didn’t want to tell them, but more because she didn’t really know what to tell them. On the one hand, there wasn’t really very much to tell. It wasn’t as if she and Hal were romantically involved on any level that could be deemed as normal; one kiss was hardly enough to call off the search. But then on the other hand, it wasn’t about the kiss at all, and that was where she could really use some advice.

‘Your neighbour?’ Nell said. ‘Not the angry one with blood all over his hands?’

Tash looked from Nell to Honey. ‘He sounds delightful. What have I missed here?’

Honey sighed heavily, unsure where to start. ‘Yeah, that one,’ she said, glancing at Nell, and then studiously lining up the bangles on her wrist as she decided how to put it.

‘Have you shagged him?’ Tash burst out, staring at Honey. ‘Oh my God, he made you orgasm, didn’t he?’

The beetroot-faced waiter, who’d just plucked up the courage to clear their plates, put them straight back down and walked away.

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