the bar and went and sat at a table in the window where he spent the next quarter of an hour people watching. He then went and got another pint of shandy and decided to do some work. He pulled out some notes from his bag, and he set about trying to keep himself busy.
At a little before five, Matt left the pub and went to wait outside Charlie’s offices. He was feeling nervous, and he could feel that his hands were clammy and his stomach was doing back flips. It also wasn’t helping that as he stood waiting, watching the streets getting busier with the earliest part of the rush hour beginning, he kept getting bumped into and he thought that there was a good chance that he might miss Charlie. Yet as he thought this, she stepped out of the doors to her offices.
She was wearing a tight fitting grey pinstripe dress. It had a round neck, and the hem was just above her knee. Her hair had grown since the wedding but it still looked well styled, and he thought that she looked stunning as she swept her fringe out of her eyes as she looked around for Claire.
Matt smiled as he noticed the trainers that Charlie was wearing. She’d never have sported trainers with her work clothes in Birmingham, but she’d obviously adapted to the London commuting shoe attire. He walked over to her, and watched her reaction as she saw him.
“Hi,” she said obviously surprised at seeing him.
“Hello,” he said smiling.
“What are you doing here? I mean it’s just a bit weird to see you here,” she said.
He knew that he’d completely thrown her. He could also see that she was unsure of what to say, and she kept anxiously looking around for Claire. He guessed that she was hoping that Claire’s appearance, would give her the well needed excuse that he felt sure that she was looking for to be on her way.
“Claire’s not coming,” he said making her look at him with even more surprise than before.
“How do you know I’m meeting Claire?” She asked at the same time as being jostled by a harassed looking business man.
“Do you want to move somewhere quieter?” Matt asked; “and then maybe I can explain.”
“Okay,” Charlie said. Yet no sooner had she spoken than she was jostled again. This time though by a couple of tourists wearing I love the London Dungeons T-shirts. Matt laughed and Charlie rolled her eyes and said; “tourists!” She then smiled and asked; “pub or coffee shop?”
“I’ve been sat in a pub around the corner most of the afternoon. Want to head there?” He asked.
“Okay,” she said again.
Matt led the way, but as they walked there wasn’t any conversation between them and he couldn’t help thinking that their encounter was already off to a bad start.
“Drink,” he said once they were inside the pub and they were stood at the bar.
She nodded and said; “I’ll have a white wine spritzer. Soda…”
“Water not lemonade,” Matt finished for her smiling. He knew what she drank.
“Back again?” The barman asked him, and Matt nodded and smiled and said to Charlie; “want to grab a seat and I’ll bring them over.”
She nodded again, and then walked over to the table that he’d just indicated to with a tilt of his head. He followed her with his eyes until she sat down, and then he turned his attention back to the barman and ordered the drinks.
He sat down in front of her and put the drinks down. Charlie sipped hers, but looked at him cautiously as she did.
“So, which question do you want me to answer first?” He asked trying to give her the cheekiest smile that he could muster, which he knew had worked because she smiled straight back at him.
“Where’s Claire?” She asked still smiling.
“Okay,” he said; “well that I actually don’t know, but I do know that she asked you to leave work at five. I spoke to her yesterday and saw her earlier, but it was always the plan that I’d be meeting you from work.”
“Since when did you and Claire plan anything, or even chat for that matter?” She asked him quizzically.
“Yeah, we haven’t exactly been the best of friends over the years have we?” He asked.
“You think?” Charlie asked sarcastically.
“No, but then neither do you apparently?” He asked deliberately trying to sound mystified by this.
He saw Charlie start to panic and he knew that he’d caught her off guard, but