Page 6 of Take a Chance on Greece

I told myself the tattoo meant I had no right to feel the disappointment I did. But I couldn’t help feeling hurt that he’d not bothered. A key was such a small object, but it meant everything. I tried to keep my voice level.

‘That’s a shame. Perhaps you could ask Dan, doesn’t he have a spare key?’

It had always felt rather unfair that Jim’s best mate had been given a privilege which had so far been withheld from me, but then again, they had been friends as long as Kat and I had.

‘But what if we get locked out? We’d be in trouble then,’ said Jim, as if it was the most sensible, logical thing in the world.

‘But we wouldn’t be locked out, because I’d have a key.’

‘Maybe,’ he replied distractedly, glancing down at his phone. I got out of the car before I said something I regretted. As I heaved my suitcase out of the boot and struggled indoors with it and the shopping, I decided not to pursue the issue. It was probably better not to get wound up about silly things for the moment.

We were both studiously polite to each other as we prepared the meal. It wasn’t like it was the first time we’d cooked together, but somehow knowing that us being in the same house together didn’t have an expiry time on it anymore made us act a bit differently. Or maybe I was imagining it because the tattoo spectre was clouding my judgement. I really wanted to enjoy every moment of this new stage, savouring our living-together firsts, establishing the patterns which would become our routines. But instead, I found myself overthinking my every move and worrying that Jim was about to find out my secret. At one point, I couldn’t stop myself wincing when he accidentally brushed my back as he was reaching past me to get a drink out of the fridge, but I managed to turn it into a sneeze.

‘I hope you’ve not picked up something from the flight,’ said Jim. ‘I’ve always thought airplane cabins were full of nasties circulating around everybody on board.’

‘It’s nothing, maybe it was some dust.’ I said the first thing that came to mind.

‘I’ll have to show you where the vacuum cleaner is then,’ he retorted, and I knew I’d offended him by my inadvertent suggestion that the house wasn’t clean. Why was I making things worse?

Thankfully we both started to relax as we ate the pizzas, and Jim more than filled the conversational gaps that I left, telling me about a new project he needed me to start at work, and speculating how quickly the council tax would go up now he no longer qualified for the single resident discount.

‘You’ll have to show me your holiday snaps when I get back from Dan’s,’ said Jim, casually. ‘Kat’s Instagram only gives part of the story, I’m sure.’

I nearly choked on my mouthful of salad.

‘Kat’s Instagram?’ It came out as more of a squeak. She hadn’t put up the awful photo of me on the bus, had she? And what if the snap of the tattoo had somehow wound its way onto her feed? Was this his way of trying to get a confession out of me? Was it a test?

I watched Jim’s features carefully, but his expression was as open as always.

‘Yes, it was nice to see you girls having fun.’

The tension in my shoulders eased slightly, but I felt like the skin on my back was starting to throb in a psychosomatic reaction to my nerves.

‘Maybe we should take a trip away somewhere,’ he suggested.

‘I’d love to go back to Greece, it was gorgeous,’ I said, rapidly considering how I could get away with wearing a wetsuit to conceal the tattoo. ‘You’ve not taken any holiday for ages, and I know I’ve still got some leave left.’

‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘but I was thinking closer to home so we could still keep an eye on things in the office. We’ll have to look into it one day.’ He checked his watch. ‘Goodness, is that the time? Better go, don’t want to miss kick off.’

I flinched as he gave me a squeeze goodbye, but thankfully he didn’t notice.

I FaceTimed Kat almost as soon as I heard Jim’s car reverse off the drive and go around the corner. She picked up on the first ring.

‘Is everything OK? What did he say? Hold right where you are, I’m coming over,’ she said breathlessly, not even letting me say hello.

‘It’s fine, Kat, I’ve managed to keep it from him, and he’s gone out to watch the footy.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘On your first night together as loved-up cohabiters? The man’s mad. You should be christening each room of the house and annoying the neighbours with your sexual antics. Tell me you at least flashed your sexy new knickers at him.’

I turned my phone around and gestured at my still unpacked luggage.

‘I’m saving them for a special occasion.’ My stomach flipped over. This was ludicrous. It wasn’t a matter of if he noticed the tattoo, it was when. ‘Oh Kat, I feel so terrible about this whole situation. Who am I kidding that I’ll be able to keep this from him? Maybe I am better off telling him after all.’

Kat settled back on her sofa.

‘Have you worked out who Awesome Andreas was yet?’ she asked. Her face slipped out of view for a second. ‘Sorry, just trying to prop this thing up on the cushions. My arm is going to start aching if I hold it at this angle for much longer.’

‘Well, no, of course I haven’t.’

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