Page 21 of Our Stop

‘Great. Thank you,’ said Gaby, adding, ‘and Michael was right: you put the right perspective on this. I don’t know what I was thinking with the ticket price. I suppose I just wanted my first shot on the team to make a mark, is all.’

‘No worries,’ said Daniel. ‘I just, you know, I like a bargain, is all.’

Gaby smiled. ‘Sure thing.’

‘How do you know Michael, anyway?’ Daniel couldn’t help but ask her, mostly because the twitch in her eyebrow earlier told him they must have dated. With allThe Lust Villahe’d been watching he fancied himself as an amateur romance psychologist.

‘We’re very different people,’ said Gaby, not quite answering the question. Daniel didn’t say anything. He’d learned, again fromThe Lust Villa,that if you wanted somebody to tell you their secrets the trick was to stay silent so that they’d go on to fill that silence. It worked. Gaby added, ‘By which I mean, we’re exactly the same. Both pig-headed and stubborn and always right, so, together it was always asking for trouble.’ Gaby shrugged. ‘We went out for a bit, and then we stopped going out.’

Daniel laughed.

‘But he’s a clever bastard, I’ll give him that. I really do think what he’s set up here could be beneficial to a lot of people. And at the very least, a bit of fun four times a year.’

‘Yes, absolutely. Nice excuse for a piss-up,’ Daniel replied, kindly. And then, ‘And I understand that. About you and Michael. My ex and I were too similar too. Both indecisive. Couldn’t even go to the cinema without a four-hour discussion beforehand. Makes sense to date an opposite, in a way.’

Gaby smiled. ‘I’ve never had that problem. Every woman I know has cultivated decisiveness as part of her personal brand.’

Daniel laughed again – he enjoyed this woman with the ballsy attitude and straight-talking. ‘God bless the fourth wave.’

‘Ahhh,’ said Gaby, standing to end the meeting and usher him out of the door. ‘A man who knows his feminism!’ They walked back the way they’d come, towards the lift.

‘Well, I don’t know about that. When I was growing up my dad told us it was just called respect.’

‘Music to my ears. Not a strong mother raising a strong boy, but a strong father setting the example.’

‘Yeah, my dad was a hell of a guy.’

‘Was?’

Daniel nodded. ‘A few months ago. Brain aneurysm.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry. He sounds like he was a wonderful, feminist man.’

They reached the twenty-first floor reception area, slowing to an eventual stand.

‘Thank you. He was. I mean, I’m not sure he’d self-identify as feminist, but he was definitely the guy you’d want in your corner.’

Gaby narrowed her eyes. She liked this man in front of her, doing his friend a favour and being so open and considerate about the ticket prices and Nadiahadsaid she thought he was cute earlier – or, well, she’d said it bit ruder than that but the sentiment was the vaguely same.

‘This is a weird question,’ she said. ‘And I am totally not hitting on you – I’m seeing somebody, actually – but … areyouseeing anyone right now?’

Daniel crinkled his brow in response, half embarrassed and half intrigued. He sort of fancied Gaby herself, in a way – it was a slight ego dent that she was complimenting him whilst also saying she had a boyfriend.

‘I mean, no,’ he said, wondering why on earth she’d ask. ‘But …’ How could he explain he’d seen a woman on a train he was hoping to get to know? He couldn’t.

‘There’s a staff party – for clients too – at the Sky Garden, this week. I don’t feel unprofessional asking you because you seem cool, and it could be good for you to meet some of the guys here, if you want, but – there’s somebody I’d love for you to meet. A woman. Do you think you’d like to come?’

‘There’s a woman you want me to meet?’

Gaby laughed. ‘I knowwejust met, but – my friend, she works a few floors up and saw you when she walked me off the elevator earlier. She said you were cute. And I can vouch for you being clever, and you seem like not a dick?’ Gaby closed her eyes and shook her head a little. ‘I sound unhinged, don’t I? I’m just trying to do her a favour, is all. You guys would get on. I can intro you to the wider team too – engineers have to network, right?’

Daniel shrugged.

‘It’s an open bar,’ Gaby added, playfully.

‘Right,’ he said. He felt backed into a corner, somehow. That he couldn’t say no. Did he want to? He couldn’t say he wasn’t intrigued. It didn’t feel right, but also, he could hardly pledge emotional allegiance to Nadia. They hadn’t even spoken! And still, saying yes felt disloyal. He didn’t knowwhatto say.

‘Okay. Sure,’ he settled on. ‘Do you want to text me the details?’ He reached into his top inside pocket for a business card. If she texted, he could always text back backing out, once he’d figured out an excuse. ‘I don’t know if I can quite say I trust you, but …’

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