Page 21 of On Circus Lane

“I’ll be fine wherever I sleep,” Jack says, sighing. “The whole apartment is lovely.”

Tom says sweetly, “If you having the en suite means I won’t bump into Steven in the other bathroom, then, yes, you should have it.”

Freddy flings himself on the sofa. “I don’t care where I sleep.”

Tom kicks his foot gently. “You’ll just pass out wherever you fall.”

“True,” Freddy says amiably. He stands up, opens one of the glass doors, and walks out onto the small balcony. He cranes his head and then calls, “Oi.”

“Who on earth is he talking to?” Steven hisses.

“Oh, some girls in the next apartment,” Tom says. “They were coming in as we brought our luggage up. They seem nice.”

Freddy is now leaning over the railing, engaged in very lively conversation.

“Just as long as he doesn’t have them in here,” Steven says with a huff. “We don’t know them.”

“Isn’t that how you make friends?” Tom enquires distractedly as he taps on his phone.

Steven ignores him and turns to me. “I know you won’t want total strangers in here with us.”

I resist the urge to back into a cupboard and close the door. “Well, at this stage, you’re all strangers to me,” I say lightly.

Tom snorts and nudges me in a companionable way. “Well said. Okay, let’s sort out the rooms and unpack. Sal says to meet in an hour, and we can explore the area.” He waves a hand towards the bedrooms. “Steven and Jack can have the room with the en suite. Let’s look at the other rooms, Bee.”

He turns and heads back into the foyer, and I follow him, leaving Steven to direct Jack on where to put the suitcases.

“I’ve got a suggestion where he can put them,” Tom says in a low voice. “But Jack wouldn’t let me.”

I snort, then nearly overbalance as Freddy comes behind us and throws his arms over our shoulders. “The three musketeers,” he announces.

“Didn’t they split up in the end?” I say.

“Not while on a pub trip in Scotland,” Freddy replies, his eyes twinkling.

Tom shakes his head. “I wouldn’t let Steven hear you call it a pub trip. Not after Dublin.”

“Pah! That could have happened to anyone.”

“Anyone who drank what looked like a barrel of Guinness and then decided what the Irish people really needed was to see you naked.”

I laugh, and Tom’s smile is wide and happy, and his eyes sparkle.

He throws open the door to one room, looks in, and then marches to the other. “This one has a better view,” he calls. “Let’s give this one to Bee.”

“Oh no,” I protest, following them into the room and then pausing. “Oh wow, itisnice.”

Tom grins. “Exactly.”

There’s a big king-size bed made up with bedlinen striped in soft blue and cream and a comfy-looking navy velvet armchair in the corner of the room, but the wall of glass draws attention with its panoramic view of Edinburgh. Trees rattle their bare branches in the cold wind, and I can see century-old buildings, some with views into lovely flats.

I turn to Tom, who’s leaning against a bedside table, and then to Freddy, who is watching us with bright eyes. “But don’t you two want this?”

Tom waves a careless hand. “Nah. I’ve been to Edinburgh many times. This is your first visit, and you should have a good view. Freddy?”

Freddy’s watching Tom closely for some reason but then blinks and smiles. “Bee, the view is wasted on me. I’ll likely only see the bed and the inside of my eyelids in this bedroom.”

Tom nods. “Or the underside of the dressing table when you pass out.”

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