I saw, a bright, bold rainbow that started somewhere near Big Ben and stretched all the way over to Whitechapel, I suddenly realized.
The way he felt about me was just how I felt about him.
‘John?’
He turned back to face me.
‘Ros?’
‘I’ve had a chance to think about it.’
‘Oh good,’ he said gravely. ‘You gave it a whole minute, thank you.’
‘I think I am not ready to be in something new. But …’ I rested my hands on his chest as his eyes widened with surprise and a slow smile spread across his face. ‘But I also would really like to kiss you right now if that’s OK.’
‘You’ve got good instincts,’ he whispered, stroking my damp hair out of my eyes. ‘You just need to trust yourself more. I say, go for it.’
I reached up to wrap my hands around his face and pulled it down to meet mine, pressing my lips to his and holding him as close as I possibly could. The sodden fabric of my dress soaked through his shirt and I could feel the warmth of his skin against mine. It was wonderful. As my mouth opened to his, he curled his arms around my shoulders, sliding his hands down my back and circling my waist before lifting me up off the floor.
And just for a moment, I felt like I was floating.
TWO MONTHS LATER …
I chose the desk closest to the window.
Veronica couldn’t argue, she was having her own four walls built into the back of the office, complete with a state-of-the-art air-filtration system so she could smoke away to her heart’s content. I did remind her it wasn’t technically legal to smoke in a workplace but she simply reminded me there wasn’t technically a workplace at all without her investment and so we came to a silent agreement.
The glazier was finishing up on our glass door, polishing up the sign as I popped my last pencil in its pencil pot.
‘What is it you do here, anyhow?’ he asked, giving the BroadCast logo a last rub with the sleeve of his boiler suit.
‘We’re a podcast network,’ I said proudly. ‘We make podcasts.’
‘Any of them about serial killers?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Not yet,’ I said, shaking my head apologetically. ‘But give it time.’
‘Hasn’t been a good serial killer in ages,’ the man lamented. ‘You should do one about Shipman. I’d have known right away if he’d been my GP. Shifty fucker, that one, you could see it in his eyes.’
‘Are you all done with the door?’ I asked, very keen to be talking about literally anything else.
‘Yeah, I’ll wash my hands and be out your way,’ he nodded, taking his mucky boiler suit and filthy mitts into the bathroom I had just stocked with brand-new white hand towels.
Looking around the office, I felt a surge of pride. Once Veronica and I were in agreement, things had moved quickly. Luckily, she knew a teenager who knew a man who got all the online end of things organized – our website, our domain names, our social media handles – and I got in touch with a few friends who I thought might be interested in working with us. It turned out, I was right. They all jumped at the chance to have their voices heard and now, just a few weeks later, we were a real company, moving into real offices with desks and chairs, white walls, lots of windows and a positively gorgeous all-glass recording studio. We already had show sponsors, I’d hired someone to sell advertising, we had a marketing person starting on Monday. I couldn’t quite believe it.
‘Where do you want this?’
A giant succulent pushed through the door with a six-foot-four man attached.
‘Just down by the wall?’ I said, grinning as John lowered my plant carefully to the ground. ‘Thank you.’
‘It’s looking good!’
John had been our unofficial moving co-ordinator, fixer and all-round hype man from day one. He brought us food when we worked late, he drove me home when I missed my last train and, as Veronica said to his face the first time they met, he had ‘shagged a smile’ onto me that I simply could not wipe off. I’d always assumed sex with Patrick was the best sex could ever possibly be but, apparently, that was only because I didn’t know better. Sex with someone you fancied like mad was great but sex between two people who fancy each other like mad and really cared about one another? Another stratosphere.
John crossed the office floor in