Our Stop - Laura Jane Williams Page 0,80

the bar of the Dean Street Townhouse, nursing an oatmilk latte. The weather had turned colder that late September week, forcing the population of London to switch from light jackets to lined macs, and open-toed sandals to ankle boots with socks. As Nadia had walked across Blackfriars Bridge and up past Somerset House and through Covent Garden, she’d gradually caught a chill on her bare legs that meant by the time she’d got to Soho she needed warming right through. As she’d supped at her coffee she already had a sneaking suspicion that it was too late, that she’d wake up sick tomorrow morning. She really hoped not. She was the grumpiest sick person in the world.

‘Gah!’ she said, flicking the newspaper closed guiltily.

Eddie slid into the spot next to her. ‘I’ve never seen somebody so embarrassed to be caught reading the paper,’ he said, good-naturedly. ‘Were you reading the Missed Connections section again? You’re obsessed!’

Nadia grimaced, trying to look playful. It was true, she did still check the Missed Connections, just in case. (In case of what? she thought. In case some random guy wants to stand me up again?)

‘I just think it’s romantic,’ she said to him, sliding the paper away from her.

‘I think having the courage to chat up a beautiful woman sat alone at a bar is romantic,’ said Eddie, opening the drinks menu. He looked across to her and winked. He liked sitting side by side with her at a bar – it felt like ‘their’ thing, since that’s how they’d met.

Eddie closed the drinks menu again, without ordering, and said, ‘I want to say something. And I don’t think you’re going to like it.’ He looked as though he was in pain – his face was screwed up funny. Nadia had never seen him like this before.

‘Oh yeah?’ replied Nadia.

‘Yeah,’ said Eddie.

She looked at him expectantly.

‘I like you, Nadia. You know that, right? I liked you right from the moment you gave me a hard time when I sat down beside you that night.’

‘I like you too,’ Nadia said.

‘Well. You see, that’s the thing.’

Nadia creased her eyebrows together, struggling to follow.

‘I’m not sure that you do,’ Eddie said.

Nadia didn’t understand. Of course she liked him! They’d spent most of their spare time together for almost two months now. They laughed and cooked and did all the things that couples do. She thought he was fun! A fun, nice guy!

‘Why on earth would you think I don’t like you?’ Nadia said, bewildered.

Eddie stumbled over his words. ‘Maybe I didn’t say that properly. I mean, of course you like me. But I mean – sometimes it feels like you’re … distant.’

‘Distant?’

‘Distant. Like you’re with me, but your mind is somewhere else. I feel like we get on, and have a nice time, but I always thought … I supposed I always thought being with somebody would feel different, you know? Deeper, somehow. I feel like what we have here, it’s fun, and it works, but it’s not …’

‘Deep?’

‘… Yeah.’

Nadia didn’t miss a beat. She knew what this meant. She knew by the way he hadn’t actually taken off his coat, now she thought about it, that he was breaking up with her.

‘So this is it?’ she said.

Eddie shrugged. ‘I didn’t mean for it to be. But I’ve been thinking about it – I can’t lie. I feel like I’ve kind of put it all out there, Nadia – given you all of me, and I don’t get all of you back. It’s a bit embarrassing.’

Nadia reached out to touch his arm. ‘But babe,’ she said. ‘I told you. My ex, he was … I’m trying, okay? I’m really happy with you.’

Eddie narrowed his eyes at her, as if trying to read the spaces between her words. ‘But could you be happier? With somebody else? Because …’

He wasn’t finishing any of his sentences properly. ‘Because you think that you could be?’ Nadia supplied, and Eddie nodded.

Nadia didn’t know what to think. There wasn’t a huge bodily reaction to what Eddie was saying – she didn’t want to throw up, or cry. But her ego was bruised by it. Because what he was saying was that she wasn’t enough. And all her old doubts and insecurities flooded back to her, about how she was never enough, about how no man ever truly wanted her, how she wasn’t as easy to love as other women.

‘I don’t know what to say.’

Eddie half smiled. ‘I guess what I wanted to know