Page 86 of The Suitcase Swap

‘Sounds like I might need to hear it again as well,’ Mike said.

Rahul sighed. ‘Okay, so I was cooking at this fancy event, and I nipped outside for a cigarette break—’

‘Which is bad for you, and you should never do,’ Noah told Stella.

‘Right,’ Rahul said, ‘and I heard this one guy going on and on about something. When I looked up, I saw the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my entire life. I think my heart literally stopped for a second.’

‘For the record,’ Noah said, ‘I was not the one going on and on. That was Gerald, an awful man trying to tell me that B-movie horror films were the worst thing to happen to cinema and if I liked them, I not only couldn’t call myself a film lover but had horrible taste and a brain made of cottage cheese.’

‘And Noah just looked him dead in the eye and told him that men who are snobs about art forms and make sweepingjudgements about something as subjective as taste in films have tiny dicks, and then he turned and walked away.’ Rahul was laughing now, his eyes shining.

Noah sighed. ‘He was my ride, too.’

‘That right there was when I knew,’ Rahul said. ‘There was no way I was going to let him walk away, so I ran after him, introduced myself and asked him out.’

Amaya sighed wistfully. ‘And he said yes, and you fell in love?’

‘No,’ Rahul said, pausing to cover Stella’s ears with his hands. ‘He told me to eat shit. My timing wasn’t great, admittedly.’

‘Your timing was atrocious,’ Noah said. ‘I was fuming.’

‘Right,’ Amaya said. ‘Forgot that bit.’

Stella pushed away Rahul’s hand from her head and he smiled at her. ‘I told him if he ever changed his mind, he should call me, even if it was just for a drink or whatever and gave him my number.’

Noah reached over and picked up Stella’s cup before she knocked it off the table. ‘I found the piece of paper he gave me a few days later when I was checking my pockets before I put my clothes in the wash. I was in a better mood then and I liked that he hadn’t pushed when I said no. So I texted him.’

‘He took some convincing,’ Rahul admitted. ‘We hung out as friends for the first month or so.’ His mouth curved into a small smile. ‘Then I played my ace.’

Stella looked up at Noah. ‘Then what did he do?’

‘He sweet-talked his friend who manages a small indie cinema into giving him the keys. We had the cinema entirely to ourselves and when I walked in, he’d set up a small table for dinner for two. We’re talking cloth napkins and candlelight. He’d cooked for me. We had dinner and watched the originalCreature from the Black LagoonandAnaconda.’

‘Basically,’ Rahul said, ‘I killed it.’ He turned to his dad, his face suddenly serious. ‘You did not.’

‘I know,’ Mike said, swallowing hard. ‘I should have said something. Told her . . . I don’t know.’

‘Dad,’ Rahul said, sounding exasperated. ‘You should havestayed. You should have stayed and given it a shot. Told her how you felt. If it was important to both of you, you’d have worked it out.’

Mike felt sotiredall of a sudden. ‘We’d made a plan. Once she was back in London, we’d talk. Decide what we wanted to do. It was what she wanted.’ His voice, when he spoke again, sounded small and miserable. ‘What if she’s not interested in working it out?’

Rahul leaned back in his chair, making an exasperated noise. ‘Well, you’re never going to fucking know if you don’t try, are you?’

‘Loophole, Daddy?’ Stella asked as she lined up her strawberries before popping them into her mouth one by one.

‘Yes,’ Rahul said without missing a beat. ‘Loophole.’ He sent Noah an apologetic look.

‘We are going to get so many notes home from school,’ Noah said with a sigh. Rahul just winked at him.

‘Oh, god,’ Mike moaned. ‘What am I going to do? She probably hates me.’

‘She’s probably angry,’ Amaya said. ‘Or hurt. But that’s fixable, Dad. I’m just surprised at you. Running away isn’t your usual way of doing things. You don’t buckle when things get hard.’

‘I got scared and I panicked,’ Mike said. ‘I’m just not sure what to do next.’

‘That’s easy,’ Amaya said. ‘You’re going to eat the nice breakfast your son has made or he’s going to think he’s a shit cook and complain about it for weeks.’

‘Hey now,’ Rahul said.

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