tell me who you’ve been with?’ As she spoke, Roo picked up a whisk and began vigorously stirring the gravy.
Ellie thought for a moment. Todd had always been mad about gravy; he and Jamie had once knocked a pint of it back in one go for a bet. She said, ‘I was with Todd,’ and saw a little spray of gravy hit the splashback.
‘Oh right. Don’t tell me, let me guess.’ Roo’s voice was brittle. ‘He’s still going on about how he wants me to stop being stubborn so we can get together.’
The great thing about alcohol was, it had a talent for rearranging your mental processes and making you think about things in a way you might not have thought about them before.
‘He didn’t say that. Actually, he didn’t mention you once.’ Ellie reached past and stole a single crunchy roast potato from the blue dish. ‘Between you and me, I’m pretty sure you can relax now. He’s over it.’
Splitt went the gravy. Just a tiny bit. Not turning her head, Roo said casually, ‘Oh?’
‘Mm. Mmmmm.’ Ellie flapped her hand to signal that she couldn’t speak with her mouth full. Roo’s cooking skills might be hit and miss but she’d got roast potatoes down to a T. She chewed and swallowed and saw that Roo was still waiting for her to carry on.
‘He’s met someone else,’ said Ellie. This was great; like a magician pulling ribbons from his mouth, little white lies were tumbling out. ‘That’s what we were talking about. He couldn’t stop. Her name’s Lisa. You know what? He’s completely smitten!’
‘Oh. Well, good for him. That’s… great.’ Roo flashed a bright, couldn’t-be-happier smile.
‘And he says she’s really pretty!’
‘Can you pass me the gravy jug? It’s in the cupboard behind you.’
‘She’s a math teacher. Isn’t that amazing? Did you ever have pretty math teachers when you were at school? Because we definitely didn’t.’
‘OK, nearly ready now.’ Bustling around the kitchen like a hyperactive rabbit, Roo said, ‘Why don’t you go and wait in the living room? I’ll bring everything through in a minute.’
‘Wait until you hear how they met,’ said Ellie. ‘Guess how it happened!’
‘I don’t know. Here, take my glass of water.’
‘Her car broke down in Fulham. She was waiting at the traffic lights and they went green and her car just died on her. Everyone was tooting their horns and getting really annoyed. And it was raining too. Anyway, nobody was helping her. But Todd had just come out of the Tesco Metro and he saw what was going on. He put down his carrier bags and pushed the car round the corner out of the way—’
‘Right, is that enough roast beef? Do you want mustard with it?’
‘So then he went back to pick up his shopping and guess what? Someone had come along and run off with it! Can you imagine? But the funny thing is, it’s like they ended up doing him the most massive favor, because when he told Lisa, it really broke the ice. He waited with her until the breakdown people arrived, they were chatting away in the rain, and then Lisa said seeing as it was her fault someone had run off with all his food, the least she could do was buy him dinner. So that’s what happened, and it’s all gone on from there! Isn’t that just incredibly romantic?’
‘Yes, it is. Now can we change the subject?’ Roo practically shooed her out of the kitchen. ‘I’m really not interested.’
It was a wonder her nose hadn’t telescoped itself forward and crashed against the opposite wall. Satisfied, Ellie carried the glasses of water through to the other room. Leave it now, don’t say another word. Job done.
Chapter 48
Ellie was on the Internet putting together a complicated travel schedule for Zack’s upcoming trips to Copenhagen and South Africa. So far, the chief problem seemed to be that there were two meetings already arranged, leaving him with roughly twenty minutes to fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
Basically, it wasn’t a plane he’d be needing, more like a Tardis.
Zack came downstairs and into the office. ‘Have you seen the email from Bob Nix?’
‘No, but we need to do something about this. Come and have a look.’ She tapped the list of times and dates on the writing pad next to the PC. ‘You organized this meeting and they organized that one. Shall I see if I can shift Cape Town back?’
‘Ah, I see what you mean.’ One hand resting on the desk, Zack