think I had anything to add. I just stopped myself saying, ‘Tastes fruity’ and took another sip. I was starting to feel a little nervous. It was all very well bumping into Toby outside court: normally I was high from an appearance, buzzing from the adrenalin of it, dressed in my professional best, on familiar turf. It suddenly seemed more intimate, to be here by design and not luck. He had removed his sunglasses and his eyes crinkled as he lifted his own glass to his lips.
I found myself stuttering over simple sentences, wrong-footed and red-faced. Was it getting hotter?
‘London is warm for this time of year.’ I cringed inside. I was choosing to discuss weather. And not even in an interesting or unique way. I was like a two-year-old who had just learnt some words. London warm. Woman silly. Man bored.
‘Global warming, I suppose,’ I rattled on. ‘Probably bad for hermit crabs.’
Fortunately Toby rescued me from my own terrible chat. ‘Did you hear about Clive Henbridge?’
I sat forward in my chair. Clive was a notoriously excellent barrister in a rival chambers, brutal but sharp-witted and charming. He had always been friendly, but I had been glad not to come up against him. The last time I had seen him he was leaving court after reducing his opposition to actual tears after he had used an obscure law from 1854 to prove precedent and got his client off all charges. Clive was known to be an absolutely ruthless opponent. If I ever made silk I would have to go up against the likes of him and I felt wobbly just thinking about the prospect. ‘What about him?’
‘Apparently he broke down in court the other day. Lost his cool with Judge Reynolds.’
‘Really?’ It didn’t sound like the Clive I recognised. I felt a small moment of interest and then a larger sense that it was information I perhaps shouldn’t know. I wondered who else was discussing it.
‘Rumour is his wife found out he’s been out for one too many dinners with one of the clerks from his chambers and she left him.’
‘Well, I suppose we can’t know all the facts,’ I said, trying to be tactful, and then attempting to change the subject: ‘Are you off on holiday anywhere soon?’
Toby wasn’t to be deterred so easily, however. ‘Someone said he was crying in the robing room. Can you imagine their surprise? He is always such a cool customer.’
‘No, ha.’ I sipped my wine and tried to look neutral. It felt wrong to be gossiping like this.
Toby read my silence. ‘Ever the barrister, waiting for the evidence.’ When he smiled I could see sharp incisors, like a sexy vampire.
He had kept my glass topped up and I had drunk to fill silences, or when listening to him, barely noticing him reaching across with the bottle. We were on safer ground when we discussed work but I realised that beyond that we were struggling. Although I hadn’t yet needed to mention more sea life, I was worried that I would need something else in my arsenal. My head was swimming a little, woolly with drink, as I thought about making my excuses and leaving.
‘Well, thank you for this, I think I better get back, a lot to read through for tomorrow,’ I lied.
Toby stared at me over his glass, then, as if deciding something, signalled to a nearby waiter that he wanted to pay the bill by making a wiggly hand gesture in the air.
I leant to take out my purse from my bag and he stilled me with a hand on my arm. ‘I’ll get this.’
I swallowed, squeaking a thank you and clutching my handbag to me as I sat in my chair.
We walked together towards an alley that led back to the high street. Toby paused as we moved into the shadow of it, stilled my arm once again.
‘Well, thank you,’ I gibbered, my eyes flashing across and past him, fixing somewhere to his right. I thought I recognised a face in the square, a glimpse of Luke’s best friend Adam, and found myself shrinking back against the wall. Had he seen me?
Toby took a step forward, joining me in the shade. I blinked at the closeness, feeling a rush of panic as I wondered if he was going to try to kiss me. He bent down, a hand on my shoulder as he went to say goodbye, kissing me on the cheek. I turned my face so that our cheeks