Page 78 of Never Too Late
Ooh! Again, no request of ‘can you give me a minute?’ Just telling him. What was happening?
‘Can I help at all?’
‘No.’ I turned, laughing as I did so. ‘You might have broken my heart all those years ago but even I’m not cruel enough to subject you to this disaster zone.’
I carried on my way, not missing the shadow that flicked across his eyes as I joked. Dumping her stuff on the – unmade – bed, I blinkered my eyes to the rest of the mess and closed the door behind me.
‘So, to what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘I wanted to see you.’ He handed me the flowers.
‘These are stunning, Tomas. Peonies are my favourite.’ I held them up, inhaling their heady scent.
‘I know. You always said you liked “proper flowers”, not… what was the phrase? “Namby-pamby” ones.’
Laughter bubbled up. ‘That’s true. I don’t remember saying it but it sounds like me.’
‘I remember.’
And he had. He’d remembered important things like my favourite flower as well as silly, throwaway comments that had long slipped my mind.
‘I’d better get these in some water,’ I said, a convenient excuse to pull myself away from Tomas before I did something I might not regret. Like grab a handful of that expensive shirt fabric and yank him towards me. ‘How was Berlin? Did the exhibition go well?’
‘Yes, thanks. But I missed home.’
I looked up from where I was filling the vase.
‘I missed you.’ His voice was soft.
I’d missed him too. Far more than I’d expected. Far more than I’d wanted to. But the truth was I’d waited for and enjoyed his calls, just as I’d done all those years ago. We always had something to talk about. Big things and small. But in the back of my mind, I always felt the need to remind myself that I wasn’t that girl any more and I couldn’t get sucked into the vortex of Tomas’s love – if that’s what it was – again. I’d been there before and I never wanted to experience heartache like that again.
‘Lots of sales then?’ I held up my crossed fingers and tapped my head. ‘Touch wood.’
A smile I remembered from a long ago, a different life, shone on Tomas’s face.
‘I wondered if you still did that. I’m glad to see not everything has changed.’
I gave a shrug. Very Gallic! ‘Some things are ingrained a little deeper, I suppose.’
He nodded but remained silent. I waited another moment then picked my cloth back up, squirted the cleaning solution on the island and began polishing.
‘You are busy.’
‘Yes, but I can talk at the same time.’
He nodded again and I wondered where the once confident man I had dated had gone. Perhaps he had been swallowed up entirely by his parents’ expectations and only the shell was left.
‘Are you free for lunch?’
‘Today?’ I asked as I rubbed at a coffee stain.
‘Oui. I mean, yes.’
‘My French is a little rusty but I still remember the basics.’
‘I know. You had such fluency. I am sure it will return quickly the longer you are here.’
‘I hope so.’
