The Piano Man Project Page 0,45
just not my type at all, my love. I prefer my dates to be over six foot with an Adam’s apple, but if it’s any consolation you do cook a striking bolognese.’
Honey stared at him, round eyed. ‘Well … in the interests of complete honesty, you’re not my type either, Robin. I prefer my evil twisted neighbour who habitually ignores me and then occasionally flirts with me to keep me dangling on a string.’
Robin’s bushy eyebrows moved up into his equally bushy hair.
‘Tell me everything, darling, he sounds divine!’
And so she did, and Robin topped up her glass every time she reached the bottom of it and then offered to nip across the hall and punch Hal on the nose. ‘If I can reach it,’ he added, making Honey laugh for the hundredth time that evening.
‘Now. Enough maudlin, Jolene. Shall we line dance?’
He jumped up out of his chair and dragged the coffee table to the side of the room.
‘I don’t think I have the right music,’ Honey giggled, three sheets to the wind from the way he’d constantly refilled her glass.
‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll sing,’ Robin said, gesturing impatiently for her to stand alongside him on the rug. ‘You here.’
And so they line danced, and they laughed until Honey collapsed on the sofa with mildly hysterical tears rolling down her cheeks.
‘I give up. I’ll never be Dolly Parton,’ she said, her arm flung dramatically across her brow.
‘Probably for the best. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone worse at it, and I teach a class of ex-offenders at the community centre on a Thursday night.’
Honey laid a hand over her heart. ‘Leave. You’ve wounded me.’
Robin checked his watch and then leaned down and kissed her hand with a flourish.
‘Actually, I should bid you goodnight. It’s almost midnight; I might turn into a pumpkin if I stay beyond the witching hour. Or my mother might put the deadbolt on. One of those things will definitely happen.’
‘I like pumpkins,’ Honey said, as Robin pulled her to her feet by both hands.
‘Fabulous in a pie,’ he nodded, shrugging into his jacket as they made their unsteady way along the hallway.
‘Or soup on bonfire night,’ she muttered, leaning on the wall for support as he opened the door and blew her a theatrical volley of kisses.
‘I won’t kiss you on the mouth, darling. It would ruin you for other men.’
Honey nodded and blew him kisses with both hands in return.
Robin glanced cheekily at Hal’s door. ‘Shall I knock and offer to teach him to line dance?’
Honey shook her head. ‘I don’t think he’s a dancing kind of guy. At least not these days.’
‘There isn’t a person in this world who doesn’t like to shake their tush to a bit of Dolly, given the right circumstances,’ Robin insisted. ‘Get him dancing, Honeysuckle, and you’ll find your way behind that wall of his. I guarantee it.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘Trust your uncle Robin.’
‘That’s just creepy,’ she laughed, then clapped softly as he pirouetted across the hall tiles and let himself out of the front door.
She looked at Hal’s door for a long minute after Robin had left. There was no way she’d ever get him dancing, but maybe Robin had been onto something anyway. There was very little in the way of lightheartedness or laughter in Hal’s life, and he had the most beautiful smile on the rare occasions he let her see it. Maybe that was a way in with him. Something to think about, anyway.
Tomorrow morning she’d call Nell up and thank her. She might not have found Honey her perfect man, but she’d certainly given her a night to remember.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
If Honey had hoped that Hal would emerge from his lair to find out about her date the next morning, she was disappointed. She’d texted both Nell and Tash and arranged to meet them for brunch, but his door had remained firmly closed when she’d left the house. It wasn’t as if she’d been quiet about it either; she’d slammed her own door once, and then again a minute or two later in case he hadn’t heard it the first time. Then she’d loitered for a thoroughly unnecessary amount of time in the hallway, and she may have dropped her keys on the floor loudly a couple of times too. In the end she’d grown furious with herself and him and slammed out of the house, only to nip back in again after going a few steps