Page 17 of Ex in the City
‘I can’t believe you still do that,’ he replies with a laugh.
I raise an eyebrow at him, feigning innocence.
‘What? It’s basically an iced coffee at this stage.’
Dylan laughs, shaking his head.
‘It’s not an iced coffee, it’s a cold hot coffee,’ he corrects me.
‘Yeah, well, I’ve seen you drink “vodka surprise” from a shoe, so you can’t say anything,’ I tease.
Vodka surprise was a regular thing from back in the day. It was vodka with, well, whatever concoction the others fancied tossing into the glass – or the shoe, in the case of the infamous incident I’m referring to.
Dylan smiles.
‘I’ll take you home.’
‘Thanks,’ I reply, feeling a sudden rush of gratitude again.
As we set off, my curiosity gets the better of me.
‘You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drive a car,’ I point out. ‘In fact, weren’t you the man who refused to learn because you had to be sober to drive, and you weren’t prepared to do that?’
Dylan laughs, and I can’t get enough of hearing it.
‘Yeah, well, we all have to grow up at some point, right?’ he informs me. ‘I mean, look at you, you’ve got a bloke, a big house, kids – I’m guessing that was your Porsche on the driveway, it’s very nice.’
‘Yeah,’ I say with a heavy sigh that I can’t quite mask.
‘How old are the kids?’ he asks.
‘There’s Ned, who is five, and Archie, who you met today, is nine soon,’ I explain.
‘Nine,’ he murmurs, seemingly taken aback.
‘Before you start getting your calendar out and sweating, Archie and Ned are Rowan’s kids from a previous relationship,’ I point out through a cheeky grin. ‘I only met Rowan about three years ago.’
Dylan laughs, feigning relief.
‘That’s great, though,’ he says. ‘Family is family, right? You can see how much you care about them.’
‘Thanks again for helping me out with things today,’ I tell him sincerely. ‘I didn’t want to let Archie down.’
‘Ah, it was nothing,’ he insists as we drive back toward my house. ‘It was actually a lot of fun.’
As we near home, suddenly, the thought of saying goodbye to him terrifies me, even if it isn’t for years this time. I don’t want to let him go.
‘Come to ours for dinner tonight,’ I insist, my voice eager. ‘So we can all say thank you for saving the day.’
‘Okay, sure,’ he agrees. ‘I’d love to. Although, I’m sure I didn’t save the day.’
‘Are you kidding? You were the star of the show,’ I remind him, grateful for his presence. ‘I didn’t even end up talking about my job at all.’
‘Would you like to?’ he asks in an interesting tone.
I’m taken aback for a moment.
‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
