Page 97 of One Day Like This (Excess All Areas 1)

“Alison Porter?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Haven’t seen her in ages, but she looked amazing. She asked how you were doing and gave me her number to give you. You should give her a call.”

Matt looked down at his laptop, at the music they’d just recorded. “As I remember, she was ditzy as fuck. Great kisser but burned my ear off with her yattering about inconsequential shit. Became as clingy as a limpet on the coach home.”

Luke laughed. “I think you might need to give her the benefit of the doubt that she’s matured. Definitely no yattering and was fun to talk to.”

“I’m thinking you should give her a call then. Not me.”

“If I thought for just a second I wouldn’t be a mere substitute to you, I might. But she seemed insistent on catching up with you. She’s a fan of our music, apparently. You might not mind the limpet clinging since she clearly got a boob job.”

“Not interested, but thanks. Listen, I’m going to get going.” Mainly because Izabel was going to stop by his apartment before she headed down to Luke’s. The stolen moments, their conversations about their days, the feel of her lips on his for a few brief moments had become the highlight of his day.

And for reasons that were obvious, he didn’t want to talk women with Luke right now.

Luke stood and walked to the window. “What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you seeing that girl?”

“Which girl?” The sound of his heart beating was so loud he could have sworn Luke could hear it.

“Candle Girl. Like six or seven weeks ago. Because it’s been months since we met those twins—I remember because we were finishing that job with the godawful peacock wallpaper.”

“So?” Matt asked, even though he knew exactly what Luke was getting at.

“Just wondering what was going on. Never seen you so much as chatting with a bird recently.”

Well, I’m heart and balls deep in your sister, mate. So ...

“Do you ever get sick of it? The randomness of it?”

Luke’s brow furrowed. “You mean sex?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah. Don’t you ever think about the longer term? Finding someone you care about. Settling down, maybe. Family.”

Luke sighed and sat back down on his drum stool. “Not even the slightest. I love Iz, but I can’t wait for her to move out. This place is too small for my sex life and sister to coexist. I’m fed up with never having someone over because I know that Tesco bird leaving in the middle of the day bothered her. And I’m pretty sure she’s seeing some guy. Always on her phone, had these love bites on her neck one time, and she seems ... happy, I guess. But she never brings him over while I’m around. We need some space from each other. The last thing I need is another set of shackles. And yeah, I don’t mean it as bad as it sounds, because I love her, right? But it’s not normal for a brother and sister to live together in their late twenties. But you’re thinking about it? About settling down?”

Matt packed his laptop into his bag. Yeah. He was. Would love nothing better than to say to his friend that he needed to go because Izabel was on her way home, and he wanted to be there when she got in. “Yeah, mate. I am. But right now, my focus is on this. On the band. The music. Writing with you. Working with Simon.”

“Simon’s a fucking wizard. What he’s been able to do. It’s completely reframed how I’ve been thinking about things too. And I totally get it. It makes a difference when someone else believes your dream is possible, doesn’t it? Like outside validation.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed. He felt the same way about Iz’s confidence in them. “I know some of the things he’s securing for us go into next year, but I can see it coming together. I can’t wait to see what comes of these meetings he’s got with the A&R guys for us.”

“Fair play. Want to drive together to work tomorrow?”

Matt nodded. “Sure. Can’t wait until my painting and decorating days are over though. See you in the morning.”

He’d not been back in his apartment five minutes before there was a knock at the door, which was odd because Izabel had kept the key he’d given her and had been letting herself in.

“Did you forget your key?” he said, pulling the door open.

“You never gave me a key,” Jase said, stepping inside.

Matt glanced down at his watch. Iz would be here soon. Rain lashed down against the windowpane, and he wondered if she’d taken an umbrella.

“I figured we should talk. About the other night.” Jase shook the rain out of his hair, then hung his coat up on the hook by the door. “Seeing we’ve got gigs and shit.”

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