Page 47 of Our Stop

Nadia thought of her second favourite part of that movie, after the pencil line, when Meg Ryan is asked by the man who just broke up with her if she has anyone else. They’d both known the relationship was over, and he has already moved on.

‘No, no …’ Meg Ryan tells him, dreamily ‘… but there’s the dream of someone else.’

Nadia hadn’t thought about Train Guy all day, really – aside from being furious at him, and cursing him with a lifetime of singledom for having dared to stand her up. But standing on her doorstep with a gesture of kindness from one man, it was the other one who flooded her mind.

‘Absolutely not,’ said Emma down the phone five minutes later. ‘No way. Train Guy bolted! He’s done! He’s finished. He blew it!’

Nadia was lying on her bed, on her stomach, the right side of her face pressed against the bedsheets. She’d found an old pack of Milk Tray in the drawer of her desk she kept emergency cards and stuff for re-gifting in: Sanctuary Spa body lotions and candles not made of soy wax. She’d been thrilled to find a selection box in there that was only a month out of date. She hadn’t even ordered her Mac ’n’ Cheese yet. The Milk Tray was her starter.

‘Listen to me very carefully, friend,’ Emma pressed on. ‘The one good thing to come out of him not showing up is that it put you in the path of the man you actually needed to meet. He’s ginger and proud! He made you come! He gave a romantic gesture which I don’t totally understand but proves he’d paid attention to you! If you don’t let yourself be open to this man, you’re stupid.’

‘I’m hungover,’ complained Nadia. ‘Be nice to me.’ She slid in a Salted Caramel Charm, chewing noisily.

‘Oh, this is me being nice to you. Trust me.’

‘How much weight can we give to the fact that, now I think about it, the barman said it was his mother who called?’ Nadia eyed up a Hazelnut Whirl. ‘And that’s why he left so suddenly?’

‘Zero. Less than zero,’ Emma said.

‘Less than zero?’

‘Less than zero! It could have been the Queen of Sheba on the line, and he still could have waited for you to walk through that door so he could explain why he was leaving face to face.’

Nadia pouted down the phone.

‘Don’t pout at me.’

‘How did you know I was pouting!’

‘I can read you like a book, even when I can’t see you,’ Emma said. ‘And stop bloody chewing so loudly. It’s like being on the phone to a washing machine.’

Nadia laughed.

‘There could have been a family emergency …’ Nadia said. ‘A terrible accident that meant he couldn’t wait.’

‘Doubtful,’ said Emma. ‘Question though – and bear in mind the answer to this doesn’t get him out of thisat all– but just to sate my own curiosity: were you on time?’

‘I am proud to say that I was literally a minute past the hour. That’s as on time as it gets for me.’

‘It is. I’m impressed.’

‘I was really excited! If I hadn’t stopped to talk to Gaby in the lobby I’d have been a minute early!’

‘Well. He might still have already gone by then. We’ll never know, will we?’

‘I could write to him in the paper and ask him …’ Nadia said. She was down to the Strawberry Temptations in her chocolate selection. She decided no hangover was worth that, and pushed the box away from her, causing a lone crumb of Perfect Praline to smear across her bedsheets, leaving a brown mark.I should change these anyway, she thought.I’ll bet they’re covered in—

‘Guess what I’m going to say to that?’ Emma replied.

‘Absolutely no way?’

‘Absolutely no way! Correct!’

‘Stop. Shouting.’

Emma took a breath. ‘Listen. Train Guy is over. Ov-er. But Eddie is not! See him again, just once. In daylight. Over coffee, so your judgement isn’t impaired. Give him a chance to win you over. You deserve that.’

Nadia couldn’t articulate why she didn’t feel able to do that, so settled on: ‘Fine. I hereby suspend judgement. I’m going to have a bath and watchSleepless in Seattlenow. You’re too bossy for my headache.’

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