Page 10 of The Three of Us
‘On one condition.’
‘Which is?’
‘Well, if I’m having to pay for a round of drinks, I expect full reimbursement. And all the gory details as soon as he’s gone, of course.’
‘That’s two conditions.’
‘I suppose it is. But you need me, so you can hardly say no, can you?’
‘Okay. Thirty quid should cover it. Just don’t make out you won a fortune or someone will expect to order champagne.’
‘This all seems to rely on me having to tell a pretty big lie. It’s not as if I usually even do the lottery. I won’t be able to keep a straight face if they start quizzing me about what numbers I picked and how I’m going to spend my winnings. And, anyway, what if Jack’s out to lunch himself or otherwise unavailable when we need him here? He might decide to pop down later, after we’ve all come back.’
‘Better make it sound urgent then. Look, timing’s everything here, and I’m counting on you, okay? Either that, or you all stay here and I lead Jack off down to the pub! Hey, maybe that’s it. He comes down in the lift on his mission of mercy and I waylay him in reception and just lead him straight outside. Act now, explain later. What do you think?’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Carly. I need a wee now,’ she says, opening the nearest cubicle door and disappearing inside. ‘So just make up your mind before I’m done, okay?’
In the end, it doesn’t quite work out the way we planned. It turns out that Jack doesn’t do the repairs side of things. He’s more of a programmer or a project manager or something like that, and he immediately passes Suze’s call on to someone else. Someone called Jess who turns up within minutes, has a fiddle with the mouse and declares nothing wrong at all, giving Suze a don’t-waste-my-time look before hurrying back upstairs, luckily before Suze has had a chance to issue her lottery-winning invitation to everyone within a six-desk radius. The only good thing to come out of our failed mission is that I haven’t had to fork out for a round, but I’m no nearer to getting Jack’s undivided attention. Suze and I look at each other with a silent sigh as she shrugs her shoulders and actually gets down to doing some work, but I know I’m going to find it hard to concentrate until I’ve seen him and spoken to him. I just have to know, one way or the other, where Jack and I go from here, if anywhere at all, now that we’ve been thrown back together under the same roof.
I look at my watch. It’s a couple of minutes past twelve and I don’t usually take my lunch-break this early but I need some space, and some air, so I grab my jacket from the back of my chair and head for the door. Suze nods at me, as if she knows exactly how I’m feeling, and waves a little goodbye as I leave.
And that’s when I walk right into him. Jack Doherty, rushing out of the lift and across the reception area, a big leather briefcase swinging from his right hand.
‘Sorry,’ he says. ‘Wasn’t looking where I was going.’ And then he stops and looks up, straight into my eyes, and something registers. A sudden flash of recognition passes across his face. ‘I know you,’ he says, plonking the case down at his feet and slowly raising his hands until he’s put them gently on my shoulders, so we are standing facing each other, just an arm’s length apart. He pauses, as if to make sure he hasn’t made a mistake. ‘It is you, isn’t it? Your hair’s different but I’d know those eyes anywhere! My God, this is such a surprise. What are you doing here? Do you work here too?’
I nod.
‘I’m here on a contract. Three months.’
Ah, so it’s not forever then? I don’t know quite what to feel about that.
‘I never thought I’d see anyone I know,’ he says. ‘I had no idea you were…’ And then he stops talking and just looks at me, and finally gives me one of his drop-dead gorgeous lop-sided smiles. ‘Sorry. Ignore my rambling. What I mean is… Hello, Carly.’
‘Hello, Jack.’
‘It’s been a long time.’
‘Five years,’ we both say together, and then we both laugh as he lowers his hands and picks up his briefcase again. I can’t help noticing the wedding ring, but it comes as no surprise. Any ideas I might have had of him calling the whole thing off and still being single were a one-in-a-million chance, weren’t they?
‘I was just going out,’ he says. ‘A quick bite to eat before I have to dash back for a meeting later. I don’t suppose you…’
‘Fancy coming with you?’
He nods. ‘I was going to read a report in the park, grab a quick sarnie, feed the crumbs to the pigeons…’
‘I could do that. Well, not the report bit, but I’m happy to keep you company, if you like.’
‘I would like, yes.’ He hesitates, as if he’s about to offer me his arm or hold my hand or something, but he thinks better of it and I follow him out, in single file, through the big double doors into the street.
‘What flavour sandwich? Anything you like. Don’t say I don’t know how to treat a girl!’ He laughs as we walk into the sandwich place on the corner and I pick some kind of soft bap out of the chill cabinet without really noticing, or caring, what’s in it. I don’t argue as he orders two coffees to go, pulls out his wallet and pays.
It’s not far to the park, and within five minutes we’ve chosen a bench in the sun, down one of the smaller paths that run around the edge, and have settled ourselves side by side, looking out over the grass. A lot of people from our building come here at lunchtime, but we’re very early and, so far, it looks like we’re on our own.
‘Carly,’ he says. Nothing else, as though he’s trying out the sound of my name after not having had to say it for so long. ‘I didn’t expect to ever see you again.’
‘Me neither.’
‘How have you been? And what have you been doing? Changing jobs, obviously. But what else? Are you with anyone? Married? Kids?’