Page 54 of Take a Moment

‘Life’s too short for that nonsense.’

I bite my lip coyly. ‘Then in that case… how would you like me to show you round Birmingham?’

Matt throws back his head and laughs loudly. ‘That would be great.’

‘Excellent. Err, I might need your number again.’

‘I can’t believe you deleted it. That’s harsh.’

‘I’m sorry, I was—’

‘I’m kidding.’ He gives me a flirty nudge, which sends a tingling sensation right through my body. ‘Got your phone handy?’

I pull out my phone and we exchange numbers.

‘Right then,’ says Matt. ‘I’ll wait to hear from you. Hopefully go better than last time.’

I flush with embarrassment. I can’t blame him for wondering if I’ll actually follow through this time. Even though he’s joking, I feel the need to reassure him. ‘I’ll be in touch after the weekend. I mean it this time.’

He fixes me with his spellbinding gaze once more. ‘I look forward to hearing from you, Alex.’

My stomach responds by melting into a little puddle. Matt walks off and returns to his companions. He says something in response to their questioning looks, then his sister looks across and gives me a friendly smile, which I tentatively return.

‘Oh my goodness, what just happened?’ Sasha suddenly rushes across to me. ‘I’ve been waiting over there because I didn’t want to interrupt and risk ruining things for you.’

I give her a mischievous smile. ‘The basic run-down: that’s his sister, he’s still single and we’re going on a date.’

‘A-ma-zing.’ Sasha bounces on her toes and claps her hands excitedly. ‘Let’s get one more drink and you can tell meeverything.’

Chapter 19

By the time Monday rolls round, I’m shattered and almost dragging myself to work. I’ve used Sasha’s visit as an experiment, and now have results, which are that I really need some rest at the weekends. The up-side, though, is that I coped much better than I expected. I can feel reasonably confident about having a life again, as long as I don’t go at it like I do in the office. And that’s fine. I can settle for ‘work hard, play moderately’.

Sasha and I certainly made the most of our time together. As a follow-on from Friday night, we spent Saturday morning wandering round the impressive interior of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, with its ornamental ironwork, eye-catching high ceilings and colourful mosaicked floors. We then made a pit stop at the museum’s Edwardian Tearooms for a scrumptious afternoon tea, before going shopping at the Bullring – which included an inordinate amount of time spent in Selfridges. The evening was spent on the couch in front of an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. On Sunday, we checked out the stylish new library at Centenary Square, before taking a trip to Cadbury World (an obvious choice for the mature adults that we are). Then I saw Sasha onto her six o’clock train back to Glasgow.

It was an emotional goodbye this time, quite the opposite to my stoic departure from Glasgow all those weeks before. Needless to say, there were tears on Sasha’s part, but even I found myself having to swallow a bit too hard as I waved her off.

By the time she left, Sasha was ready to face her mum. I’d made sure of that. And the best outcome of the weekend by far was that she loved Birmingham. My fingers remained firmly crossed that she’d follow through on this one and join me here soon.

‘Good morning, Alex.’ Emmanuel greets me with a broad smile as I dump my bag under my desk, pull out my chair and log on to my computer. ‘How was your weekend? I hope you had a lovely time with your friend.’

‘I did, thanks.’ I return her smile, making sure I don’t let any sign of my exhaustion leak through. ‘It was so great to see her. Thanks again for the time off at such late notice.’

‘Not at all. It’s your holiday time to use as you wish. I fully trust you to manage your own workload.’

‘Well, it was appreciated all the same.’

‘Speaking of your work… I’d like to have a catch-up with you this afternoon, if you have time?’

‘Sure.’ I quickly check my calendar. ‘I’ve nothing in my diary from three p.m. Does that suit?’

‘That’s perfect. We can go out for a coffee.’

As I add the meeting to my calendar and ping an invite across to Emmanuel, curiosity takes over. We had our fortnightly catch-up on Thursday last week. What could she want to talk to me about so soon after? My mind starts to tick over my project plan, wondering if there’s something I’ve missed. I really hope not. I’ve been meticulous in making sure that all bases are covered. Unless… My gaze moves across to Danielle’s desk, where she’s diligently poring through some data on an Excel spreadsheet. She senses my eyes on her, looks across and smiles in her false, expressionless way.

‘Everything OK, Alex?’ she asks.

Is it just me, or was there a bit of gloating mixed in with her usual sugar-coated acidity?

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