Our Stop - Laura Jane Williams Page 0,93

and that, examining herself, and then lifted an arm. She looked like Julia Roberts at the Notting Hill premiere: she’d forgotten to shave there, too. She wondered if she could pass it off as a political statement, not that anyone saw her armpits.

‘Well, you can’t message him,’ Naomi shrieked. ‘What would you say, “Hey! I eavesdropped on your private conversation and thought you were super emotionally mature and that’s my love language, and then you picked up my phone after knocking it out of my hand and it turns out you’re fit too. I tracked you down like Glenn Close to say: drink?”?’

Nadia shrugged. ‘I mean … yes?’

‘Okay, no. No way. You are way above this. There must be another way! He was cute, darling, but not so cute that you have to act weird about it. What would you do if he messaged you on Instagram?’

‘I know,’ said Nadia. ‘I wondered the same thing. But also, hey! I literally cannot believe you are judging me right now. You don’t know what it’s like to be out there, single and looking! You’ve been with Callum for years. Don’t forget how rare it is to feel … the thing.’ Nadia lay back down on the bed. ‘I felt like I knew him! When he looked at me, it was like you or Emma or Gaby looking back. Dead familiar. Nice.’

‘Jesus. Calm down.’

‘Come on. I need your support here.’

‘Okay. So. You’re going to bump into him, this week. Just like that! As if by magic.’

‘No. Not by magic,’ Nadia admonished. ‘By the law of attraction!’

‘Great plan,’ said Naomi.

Nadia replied, ‘Oh ye of little faith.’

She was still dissatisfied with Naomi’s reaction after they’d said their goodbyes. Emma would have been much better at making her feel less crazy. She missed her. She played with her phone in her hands, turning it over and considering texting her. But to say what? Just hey?

Hey friend – how you doing? she settled on, hitting ‘send’. She stared at the message, waiting to see if it was received, and then read. It wasn’t. Nothing appeared at the top of the screen to indicate that Emma was online and getting the texts. Nadia put her phone in a drawer and pulled on her pyjamas.

‘I’m going to see Waistcoat Guy again,’ she said aloud. ‘I just know it.’

44

Daniel

Daniel was in a great mood – not only had he taken matters into his own hands with Nadia (again), but right before he’d left work, he’d had an email to say that by this time next week, he’d officially be a home owner.

‘I did it,’ he told Romeo in the lobby on the way out. ‘The flat – it’s mine! We’re a go!’

Romeo leapt up from where he sat behind the welcome desk.

‘That’s great, man – really, really well done!’

‘Thanks, dude.’

Romeo looked wistful. ‘I hope me and Erika get to buy a place someday,’ he said. ‘That would be pretty sweet.’

Daniel raised his eyebrows in shock. ‘Moving in together? I didn’t know it had got that serious!’

Since the summer Romeo had been seeing Erika, a woman he’d met at a sourdough-bread-making class, and Daniel knew Romeo had fallen hard, but he didn’t know he was already planning a future with her.

‘I think it’s the real deal,’ said Romeo. ‘I could definitely put a ring on it. Not like, tomorrow, but for sure she’s a lifer.’

‘Well, damn, that’s great,’ Daniel said. ‘I tell you what – bring her to the house-warming party. You’ll love all my uni mates, and I can’t wait to meet her.’

Romeo held out a fist.

‘Done and done,’ he said. ‘You’ve got yourself a date.’ He lowered his voice a little, for comedic effect. ‘Speaking of which – any word on when your note might run?’

‘No,’ Daniel said, slipping on his gloves as he felt a freezing November wind gust through the open door. ‘I’ve never known, though. They just sort of run it when they run it. It’s out of my hands now,’ he added, holding up his gloved hands in surrender.

‘Well,’ said Romeo. ‘The flat, the girl, it’s all coming up, Weissman.’

‘It’s all coming up Romeo and Weissman,’ Daniel corrected him.

‘That sounds like a pretty sweet double act,’ Romeo said.

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ Daniel replied.

Daniel headed across the road to the tube, so he could bounce across the city to get to one of the City Professionals networking events. He’d been fifty-fifty on whether he should go, but since his great day he decided he should. If