Page 34 of Crazy in Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop
‘Krav Maga! It’s a self-defence system developed for the Israeli Defence Forces and includes everything from judo to kickboxing. It was the big thing when I lived in San Francisco,’ Noah explained.
‘Show me some moves then,’ she demanded as they reached the corner of Charing Cross Road. ‘Do a kicky thing.’
Noah laughed and shook his head. ‘I have to have been on at least three dates before I pull out the kicky thing. Talking of which …’
‘My bus!’ Nina had never been so pleased to see a 38 bus, even though, if she let it go, another one would appear in less than five minutes. ‘I’ve got to go. Thanks for dinner.’
She ran towards the stop but Noah easily matched her pace. ‘It was my pleasure. So, shall we do this again?’
‘I’ll text you,’ Nina panted because she wasn’t used to this kind of exertion and then she was at the stop just as the bus pulled in.
‘I don’t think we’ve swapped numbers,’ Noah said as the small crowd of people already waiting got on board. ‘Shall I call you at the shop?’
‘Look, I really have to go,’ Nina said. Normally she absolutely smashed it when it came to end-of-date proceedings. But this was a non-date and she didn’t know whether to kiss Noah on the cheek or hug him; either one seemed appropriate.
In the end, as Noah leaned towards her, she settled for a mash-up of both, patting him on the cheek, then jumped on board the bus.
‘I had fun,’ Noah said, standing there with his hands in the pockets of his navy peacoat, his hair a riotous colour in the glow of the streetlights, a smile on his face like he really had had the best of times. ‘See you soon.’
Nina was saved from having to reply by the bus driver shutting the door, so all she could do was wave then give Noah a thumbs up, like she was a contestant on a cheesy quiz show.
For a girl with all the moves, Nina couldn’t remember a single one of them.
‘Nonsense, do you imagine he has thought as much of you as you have of him?’
Despite the five whisky cocktails of the night before, Nina emerged from her bedroom the next morning relatively unscathed. But then she’d been home at a decent hour: no late-night carousing around the fleshpots of Soho because Noah wasn’t the carousing type and Nina knew that the heart which matched her own would beat to a drum which didn’t stop until dawn.
‘What is this madness? Usually you put your alarm on snooze at least three times,’ Verity wanted to know when Nina walked into the kitchen. ‘And I heard you come in last night.’
‘Oh, sorry, I thought I was being quiet,’ Nina said as she debated whether to make toast or to wait and see what Mattie had in the way of breakfast pastries.
‘You were, for you. I was just surprised you were home so early. Bad date, was it?’ Verity asked sympathetically.
‘Very, stop being so chatty first thing,’ Nina admonished. ‘It’s completely out of character and you’re freaking me out.’
As distractions went, this one proved a winner. Immediately, Verity forgot about Nina’s date because she had to insist in the strongest possible terms that she wasn’t chatty first thing in the morning. ‘I was only enquiring after your emotional well-being. That’s what good friends and flatmates do,’ she said then expanded on that theme for the next half hour.
Verity might be an extrovert who relished her own company and forbade Nina from even speaking for half an hour after work because she needed time to decompress but my God, she could ramble on. Not that Nina minded the rambling. All three of them – Nina, Posy and Verity – loved a good ramble and this morning, Verity was still pleading her non-chatty case as they went down the stairs to start the working day.
‘Nina’s accused me of being too talkative!’ she informed Posy and Tom as they arrived together. ‘Me! “You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged.”’
‘It’s not even ten and you’re already quotingPride and Prejudice,’ Posy protested.
‘I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t start quoting Austen until after lunch; this is far too early,’ Nina said, then she narrowed her eyes at Tom. ‘Far too early for you too, Tom. Did you not stop to get your breakfast panini this morning?’
‘I didn’t,’ Tom said and his voice cracked on the last syllable as if he were under undue amounts of stress. ‘In fact, I’m only here this early to tell you that I have to start work late today.’
Posy had been taking off her coat but she paused. ‘I think this is what Sebastian means when he says that you all take advantage of my good nature,’ she said. She assumed a stern expression. ‘No, Tom. You’re not starting late. I absolutely forbid it.’
Nina, Verity and Tom, who all served at Posy’s pleasure, looked at her for one shocked moment then looked at each other and burst out laughing. Nina suspected that she might still be a little bit drunk because she laughed so hard that breathing became a bit of an issue. ‘Say that again, Pose,’ she wheezed. ‘And don’t forget to do the face.’
‘You have no respect for my authority,’ Posy grumbled. She folded her arms and settled for a baleful look this time. ‘OK, I’ll bite. Tom, why are you going to be late when you’re already here?’
Tom held up the carrier bag he had with him. ‘Because I have to go to a place in Russell Square to get two copies of my thesis bound, at great personal expense, so I can hand it in.’
‘That sounds fair enough,’ Verity decided and Posy and Nina nodded.
Nina looked at the carrier bag again. ‘Hang on a sec. You’ve finished your thesis?’ she asked. ‘You’ve checked all your references and sources? Even your bibliography?’
