habit of sneaking down here without inviting us along?’ he laughed.
Standing up, Jasper shook his hand with enthusiasm. ‘No, of course not. Just tonight, Fliss booked it at the last minute.’
‘Well it's not too late, come over. Freddie and Mags are here as well. In fact, Freddie said he wanted to speak to you about something.’ Ross winked at Jasper. ‘And seeing as he's heading up the new ‘Audience with the Press’ programme, I imagine it might be something you want to hear!’
Fliss saw the intense flash of desire on Jasper's face. She recognised it well because he used to look at her with the same expression. He sent a quick look in her direction but she gave him nothing in return, keeping her face bland as she twirled her wine glass between her fingers. The circle of diamonds knocked against it, giving off a radiant hue in the candlelight of the table.
‘Really? What a shame I can’t,’ said Jasper, giving her a moment to contradict him before turning back to Ross. ‘Special occasion you see, just the two of us tonight.’
‘Ah! Date night eh? They can be important, got to keep the fires burning,’ he chuckled sending a smile in Fliss’ direction. ‘Well, I’ll leave you two love birds to it and you know where we are if you change your mind.’
Sitting back down, Jasper straightened his tie and fiddled with his napkin. Fliss could see the longing on his face.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured.
He looked up and she could tell his thoughts had been on an entirely different table.
‘Thank you?’
‘For not asking to join them.’
‘Of course I wouldn't. You said you wanted tonight for us and here I am.’
Fliss reached out her hand but Jasper was looking over his shoulder towards the centre of the room and didn’t notice.
‘Actually, the something I wanted to talk to you about was us spending more time together.’
He brought his eyes back to hers. ‘Sorry?’
‘The amount of time we spend together, or rather, don't,’ Fliss repeated a little louder.
‘I'm not with you.’
‘I know you’re busy Jasper, very busy and probably going to get even busier.’ As a well-regarded columnist, he had started to receive invites onto various chat shows and political debates on the television. Much as he grumbled about the time it took out of his already busy week, Fliss could tell that he loved it. ‘I would never complain about the time you spend at work,’ she clarified, ‘but it does seem as though lately other things, well just about everything, seems to take priority over us.’
A light flashed on Jasper’s phone and Fliss saw his hand twitch as he ignored it and picked up his glass instead. His eyes were pinned on the screen as though trying to divine the contents.
‘I feel as though we’re beginning to drift apart,’ Fliss continued, trying not to look at the phone herself.
‘You do?’ For a moment she had his attention. ‘But you know that I love you.’
‘Of course. Well at least I think I do,' she said lightly. ‘It's just that we don’t seem to have the feeling of closeness we once had.’
‘I'm busy at work darling, everything is going so well at the moment.’
‘It's not that. You’ve always been busy, we've always been busy. This is different. I’m starting to feel as though there isn’t room for our marriage in the midst of everything else and I think that it’s important we make time for each other, more nights like this perhaps?’
His phone flashed again. ‘Mm, good idea,’ he murmured, his eyes flickering to the centre of the table where it sat.
Fliss put her glass down on the table with a small bang, jerking Jasper’s attention back to her. ‘Time when we can talk to each other and forget about everything else.’
Nodding, Jasper tried to hold her gaze as his phone flashed yet again. ‘Absolutely darling. I’m sorry you feel like this. I hadn’t realised, I’m as happy as ever,’ he reassured her absently, his eyes back on his phone.
‘Oh have a look,’ snapped Fliss irritably. ‘Maybe then you'll be able to concentrate on what I'm saying.’
She thought Jasper might decline but his hand was on the phone before she’d finished speaking, his thumb scrolling through his messages.
‘It's from Freddie,’ he laughed. ‘Just making a joke about our date night.’
‘I'm glad he finds it funny!’
‘Not like that, he says he wishes he was on a date with you.’
‘Really. Maybe I should accept, perhaps he would listen to me!’