The Piano Man Project Page 0,50

of course I’m sorry that you feel so … so shit, and that something awful happened to make you lose your sight, but don’t for one minute think that I knock on your door and bring you things because I feel sorry for you.’

‘Then why, Honeysuckle? Why don’t you just leave me the hell alone?’

‘Because for some unfathomable reason even I can’t identify, I happen to bloody like you! You make me laugh when you’re not being downright rude to me, you’re randomly sweet when I don’t expect it, and your smile does weird stuff to my brain, probably because it’s like one of those endangered animals that you have to wait forever to see at the zoo and then you stare really hard at because you know you might not see it again for a really long time. Or ever. Okay? I just like being with you.’

Okay, maybe that wine had loosened her tongue a little too much. She felt as winded as he looked.

‘Don’t treat me like your pet fucking project, Honeysuckle. I’m not some endangered goddamn panda that you get to come over and visit with bamboo sticks to tempt me out of my hut.’

She glanced down at the razor in her hands. Not bamboo sticks, but was he right? Was she here with an offering to tempt him out? And if she was, what was so sodding wrong about that anyway? She didn’t see anyone else queuing up here for no other reason than to brighten his day.

‘You know what, Hal? You’re absolutely right. About everything. All of it. I don’t know what I was thinking bothering to come over here and bring you a gift you so blatantly don’t bloody want!’ She thrust the razor into his hands hard enough to catch him in the guts with the corners of the box.

‘Here. Stick your bamboo where the sun doesn’t shine.’

She turned on her heel before he had a chance to respond, stomping across the hallway and slamming her door.

‘Honey? Open the door.’

She was still standing with her back against her front door when Hal’s voice vibrated through it a couple of minutes later.

‘Thank you for the bamboo.’

His gentle tone caught her off guard, too close to her ear. She swallowed hard.

‘It’s a razor,’ she mumbled, opening the door.

‘So I gathered,’ he said, turning the opened box over in his hands. ‘You better come over and help me work out how to use it then.’

He said it oh-so-softly, then he held his hand out. Honey stared at his hand for a second, her breath lodged almost painfully in her throat. It was such a simple, powerful gesture, impossible to ignore or resist. She knew that she would get herself into all kinds of trouble really fast if she went into his flat, yet she placed her hand in his anyway and let him lead her across the hallway.

She’d never been inside the flat before, but it was a mirror image of her own place across the hall, or as hers had been when she’d moved in. Pale walls, simple, uncluttered spaces designed for the rental market. Over time she’d made her place her own; bright, primary-coloured coat hooks, a pretty blind that had come into the shop, a string of fairy lights woven into her bedstead. Small touches that made a big difference. Hal’s place lacked any of those things, but then he hadn’t been here long and it was pretty obvious that soft furnishings were meaningless in his life right now. His earlier speech had told her many new things about him that she needed to mull over, but not right now. Right now he was giving her that ten per cent of fabulous, and she didn’t want to waste a second of it.

‘In the lounge?’ she said.

‘It’s more conventional to do it in the bathroom,’ he said. ‘Assuming we’re still talking about shaving?’

Honey appreciated his attempt to make light of this unexpected turn of events and followed him along the hallway to the bathroom. He pulled the cord and illuminated the room with a wash of bright light, and then lowered the lid on the loo and sat on the closed seat.

‘So have you ever shaved anyone before?’ he asked.

‘You want me to do it?’ she said, surprised. She’d sort of figured on unpacking the razor and passing it to him to do it himself.

‘I’d think twice if it were a cut-throat, but I’m assuming it’s an electric safety razor. I’m fairly certain you