down, sipped my wine and watched as he opened a can of sweetcorn, tore open a pack of tofu with his teeth, splashed soy sauce over the noodles, then poured boiling water over it all.
‘I’m no chef,’ he said apologetically. ‘But I just wanted to… you know… treat you. Just a bit.’
‘I don’t care whether you’re a chef or not,’ I said. ‘You’re a bloody sweetheart to have done all this.’
He joined me on the carpet, our backs against the sofa, and we slurped noodles out of the bowls, washing them down with gulps of the slightly musty-tasting red wine. I didn’t want any of it, really, but I wanted to not disappoint Jude more. I managed to suppress a huge yawn and tried not to think about needing to be up at six the next morning.
After we’d finished our noodles, Jude took our plates and left them on the table – again, I had to suppress the urge to jump to my feet and wash them up – and produced a pack of Oreo cookies.
‘Vegan-friendly dessert,’ he said proudly.
I laughed. ‘How did you know I love Oreos?’
Jude took my hand. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Is it?’
‘Of course. Because I love them, too.’
I took two and ate them the proper way, levering off one half of the biscuit, eating that, then scraping off the white frosting with my teeth before crunching the other half. Kind of gross, I know, but I didn't have to worry because Jude was eating his in exactly the same way. When we noticed, our eyes met and we both laughed.
The wine and the sugar had given me a much-needed surge of energy, and I dragged myself to my feet and sorted out Frazzle’s litter tray and water for the night. Then I went to the bathroom to clean my teeth. I caught sight of my face in the mirror, pale and hollow-eyed – but then I laughed. With a soapy finger, Jude had written on the glass: ‘World’s Sexiest Woman’.
‘Now,’ he said, when I returned. ‘Get your kit off.’
‘What?’
‘You heard. You’ve had a hard day and I’m going to give you a massage.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Seriously. I’m good at it – I have healing hands. You’ll like it.’
I didn’t need telling again. After a day hunched over the chopping board and a brutal overhead press session in the gym that afternoon, my back and shoulders felt creaky with tension. I peeled off my jeans, T-shirt and bra and sat on the bed.
‘Lie down on your front,’ Jude instructed, and I obeyed. I heard the snap of a bottle top opening and smelled patchouli oil, before Jude’s warm, slippery hands began to glide over my back, gently at first, then more firmly, his thumbs easing out the tight knots in my shoulders.
‘Oh God, that feels good,’ I said, my words muffled by the pillow.
‘Hard enough?’
‘Just right.’
He carried on, his hands working their way down my back, knowing exactly where to press, for how long and how firmly. I felt a warm wave of relaxation and tiredness wash over me, and barely felt him ease down my pants to massage my buttocks. By the time his fingers slid between my legs to caress me there, it was too late – I was fast asleep.
But Jude didn’t fall asleep straight away, I realised the next morning. Because when I went to the bathroom, up before him as usual, the note on the mirror had been cleaned off and replaced with a new one: ‘Good morning, beautiful’.
And my reflection, smiling back at me, surrounded by my tangled hair, did look beautiful.
‘So he’s basically moved in with you?’ Dani asked, her eyebrows disappearing behind the smooth curtain of her fringe.
‘Well, kind of. But not really. I mean, it would be far too soon for that, right?’
‘I’ll say.’ Dani sipped her cappuccino.
It was one of those summer days that manage to be both overcast and stiflingly hot, and we were in a new coffee shop that had opened on the high street where the greasy spoon used to be. Alice had mourned its passing, saying it was yet another piece of the fabric of the area that was being stripped away by gentrification, and I knew Jude would have taken the same view. But this was still a local business that deserved support, and besides, there were red velvet cupcakes that had tiny doughnuts perched on top of the swirls of dairy-free frosting.
‘It’s just that he’s working here for the time being, and he’s got nowhere