Page 72 of Love in Tune

‘Or pillows,’ Mimi had nodded.

Pillowy pancakes sounded good. Honey pulled herself up, and then reached for her phone when it buzzed and flopped back to check her messages.

Brunch?from Nell.

Café at eleven?from Tash.

Honey considered her options. A slow, chatty wake up with Nell and Tash over buckets of cappuccino and food she didn’t have to cook herself, or risk being knocked back by Dr Jekyll over the way? Only one of those options offered anything close to certainty or safety, or even a guarantee of food.

She sent a text to both girls.See you there in an hour.

An hour somehow became an hour and fifteen, and Honey pushed the café door open expecting to find Tash and Nell already halfway down their first cups of coffee and berating her for her lateness. Weird then, that neither of them were in evidence at all. Tash wasn’t especially known for her punctuality, but Nell hated running late for anything. She was the only person Honey knew who set her phone alarm to wake her up ten minutes before her alarm clock, just in case. She also knew what Simon had started to use those extra ten minutes for these days, thanks to a tipsy conversation when Nell had revealed far too much about their suddenly sexed-up love life. Ordering her usual coffee as she passed the counter, Honey dropped down onto a well-squished sofa and threw her bag on the floor beside her.

After leafing through the paper for five minutes with one eye on the door, Honey reached down and rummaged in the bottom of her bag for her phone.

‘Ma’am, are you Honeysuckle?’

Keeping her eyes cast downwards for a couple of seconds, Honey stopped rummaging and realised she’d been had. She knew without looking up that Elvis had just entered the building.

Turning her face up and her smile on, she slid her phone onto the low coffee table and pulled herself to her feet.

‘I am,’ she said, half holding out her hand awkwardly and trying to remember his name, because she was pretty sure it wasn’t actually Elvis.

He grinned infectiously as he took her hand in his big warm one and dipped his head to kiss her cheek. Honey smelled fresh cologne and washing powder, and found herself impressed by his cleanliness and his big easy confident kid smile.

‘Christian,’ he murmured. ‘Shall we?’ He nodded towards a table for two by the window. ‘I’m starving.’

He pulled out her chair and transferred her coffee to the new table, and while he talked eggs with the waitress, Honey fired off a quick text to Tash and Nell.

You’re both dead to me.

The waitress looked enquiringly towards Honey with her pad in her hand.

‘I’ll have the same,’ she said with a bright smile, even though she’d tuned out and had no idea what Christian had ordered.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘I like a girl with a healthy appetite.’

Honey shrugged, unconcerned. She’d eaten at the café dozens of times, there wasn’t anything on the menu she didn’t like.

‘So Tash tells me you play the piano,’ Honey opened the conversation with an invitation to talk about himself, as advised by all the best guides to a successful first date.

He nodded, and pushed his fingers through his chestnut brown hair when it fell in his eyes. Cute, in a Clark Kent kind of way.

‘My whole family’s musical. My mother is a brilliant cellist, she went all around the world when she was younger. That’s how she met my dad,’ he said, as Honey listened to his deep, rich voice and wondered if he sang.

‘Is he a musician too?’

Christian laughed. ‘Actually no, he isn’t. He’s a surgeon. He fixed Mom’s arm when she broke it and feared she’d never play again. She likes to say she was so grateful that she married him.’

Honey relaxed as she listened to him tell her about the rest of his family. They sounded a scarily bright bunch; his brother, the violinist, his elder sister, the talented flautist.

‘You’ve got your own band right there,’ she smiled, impressed.

‘I know. Move over the Von Trapps, right?’

They paused as the waitress appeared with a pot of tea and placed it down on the table with a couple of fresh cups.

‘English breakfast tea,’ she said. ‘I’ll be right back with the food.’

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