Page 66 of Pride and Privilege

Just friends. She tried to welcome the thought.

They talked about the TV show. A little bit about work. Roscoe reminded her he was away in Zurich from tomorrow. They talked about the food. He told her about the last formal dinnerhe’d been to, something at the City of London Guildhall. He started telling her a story about visiting Mabel in this flat as a boy. And then he put his finished plate on the coffee table and smothered a yawn with the back of his hand.

“I’ll get going,” said Poppy, putting her plate down and standing up.

Roscoe glanced at the time. “How did it get past midnight? I’ll walk you back to the flat.”

“Are you staying here?”

“I told Aubrey I was. He’s picking me up in the car tomorrow. We’re flying to Zurich together.”

“Then don’t worry about walking me home.”

“It’s late, Poppy.”

“It’s five minutes.”

“I’ll call you a car.”

“Really, it’s fine.”

“Or you could stay here.”

A pause.

“I just mean…” said Roscoe. “It’s late. And you’re tired. And there’s a bed right here.”

Her heart started thumping. Stupid heart. But her brain wasn’t stupid. It refused to pretend. “Is this a good idea?” she asked.

“No.” Roscoe looked at her, meeting her honesty with his own. “Probably not. But I really don’t want you to leave. And the thought of you alone in that flat makes me sad.”

It made her sad, too. Not the flat, but the being alone. The being somewhere that Roscoe was not.

Oh dear. This was not good.

“So I’ll just… I’ll just sleep here. In your spare room. Go back to the flat in the morning. And you’ll catch your flight to Zurich.”

“Exactly.” Roscoe nodded. Picked up the plates. Turned towards the kitchen. “Except there is no spare room. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

“Wait, there’s only one bedroom?”

“It’s fine,” said Roscoe. “It’s a comfy sofa. It’ll be fine.”

THIRTY

It was very definitelynot fine. What the fuck was he thinking?

Just what he’d said: He didn’t want her to leave.

He dumped the plates in the sink, turned on the hot tap with enough force that it started to leak around the base even worse than it usually did.

Scrub, scrub, scrub…

It was fine. They lived together. This was no different. Just living together here instead of there. Perfectly, completely logical and—

“I don’t have anything to wear,” said Poppy. “No pyjamas.”

“Borrow a t-shirt.”

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