amazingly, they seemed to, even though my dress was from eBay and my hair had frizzed.
But now it was all over, and I had two blissful days off in which I could do anything I wanted, or nothing at all if I wanted that.
I snuggled closer to Adam in bed, and felt the comforting warmth of his body and the weight of Frazzle’s. It was strange, I reflected, how the flat, which had always felt too small when Jude was there, seemed to have expanded, Tardis-like, to accommodate Adam. He spent most nights there, and I teased him that it was because when he went back to his place, he missed Frazzle too much.
‘Of course I do,’ he’d said. ‘But he’s not the only one I miss.’
‘So what do you want to do with your Christmas morning?’ he asked now.
In answer, I ran my hand up the hard length of his thigh, and Frazzle grumpily got up and moved to the end of the bed, where he spent the next half an hour looking pointedly away from us while we celebrated Christmas in the best way ever.
‘You know,’ I said afterwards, ‘I never thought this would happen. I thought I’d completely blown my chances with you. I was sure you weren’t interested, and if you were, I’d managed to put you off.’
‘Ha! I was interested from the moment I first saw you, when you came over to ask me about D&D.’
‘But you didn’t even want to do it! I practically had to beg.’
‘That was just because I was too worried about showing myself up in front of you and the entire pub, and blowing my chances. And then whatsisname came on the scene…’
‘Jude. You know a weird thing? I saw him a couple of weeks back, when I went into town for a drink with Dani. He was with a girl. His friend, Indigo. But they didn’t look like they were just friends.’
‘You didn’t mind, did you?’
‘Mind? God no. Why would I? She’s welcome to him. I’ve got you, now.’
Adam pulled me closer. ‘You do. For as long as this lasts.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It’s just… I can only truly thrive when I find someone who shares my world view and my long-term vision of the future.’
‘I…’ I began, and then I stopped. I wasn’t sure what to say and, more importantly, I wasn’t sure what Adam was saying. Was he telling me he wasn’t as confident in our relationship as I was and trying to put that on me? Was he going to dump me on Christmas morning, right after we’d had sex?
If he was, it would surely be a new low in my dating life – possibly in everyone’s dating life, ever. I’d be the world’s most disastrous dater, officially. In years to come, there’d be a blue plaque outside the Ginger Cat, saying that Zoë Meredith, the unluckiest woman in love, had lived there.
I swallowed and waited for him to carry on, still in the warm embrace of his arm. If this was the end, I was going to enjoy every second of happiness with him while I could.
‘I find it hard to conform to society’s norms and expectations,’ Adam went on. ‘Many people who think they know me, don’t really. And of course, because I’ve been single for so long, I’m often thought of as the eternal bachelor. My friends all say I’ll never settle down until I find a woman who’s one hundred per cent perfect for me.’
‘But…’ Then I stopped again. I might as well hear him out.
‘My attitude to sexuality can appear somewhat transactional,’ he said. ‘Casual friends-with-benefits arrangements appeal to me while I flit through life, relishing my independence, wary of putting down emotional or practical roots. And because I have the image of the perfect woman in my head, it’s often hard for a real-life relationship to live up to that.’
I turned my head against his shoulder and looked up at him. His eyes were solemn, but there was the beginnings of a smile turning up the corners of the lips I loved to kiss so much.
Suddenly, I realised what he was up to.
‘Adam! You’ve been reading stuff about Aquarius men, haven’t you?’
He burst out laughing. ‘I wondered how long it would take you to realise.’
‘If your work ever sack you, you could get a job working for Fabian Flatley. And I’ll have you know that Aquarian women can be prone to bouts of fierce temper, so you’d better watch out.’