for morning-after post-mortems and she was expert in managing Lee out of the door. ‘Yep. I told him I was taking a duvet day, like you said.’
Mila grinned, as though the words sounded especially amusing coming from Lee’s lips. ‘And what did he say to that?’
‘Well, once he’d picked himself up off the floor, he sounded relieved. I wasn’t the only one caning it last night.’ She looked at her friend with a feeble side-eye. ‘Talking of which, did you have a good time?’ As far as she remembered, Mila had left with a blonde chap who kept saying he was ‘big in stationery’. Lee had no idea how he had come by an invitation.
‘Yeah, it was all going really well,’ Mila smiled brightly. ‘Till his wife rang.’
‘Another one?’ Lee rubbed her face in her hands again, as though trying to slough off the exhaustion.
‘I know. Tell me about it.’
‘Why are all men such arses?’
‘Not all. Just the ones I meet.’ Mila sighed, her fingers fiddling with the ginger cake. ‘I must have “Mistress” tattooed on my forehead in an invisible ink that only married men can see.’
Lee rested her head against her friend’s arm, partly to show support and partly to grab support. ‘You’re worth so much more than that, Mils,’ she mumbled, wishing she could go back to bed.
‘I know. But last night . . . No. It was the last straw.’ Mila said with a determined voice. ‘I’ve had enough of being Miss Second Best, always the runner-up, the fallback option. I’m not doing it any more.’
‘Good for you,’ Lee murmured, her eyes closed.
‘Which is why I’ve decided to officially take a sabbatical from relationships. Starting from today I’m going to do a Man Detox and not date for six months.’
‘Six months?’ Lee’s eyes flew open as she saw her own social life contract in sympathy. Mila was her best friend, her partner in crime; when they went bar-hopping, they went together. She couldn’t go out with the guys – Liam would abandon her within moments of arriving anywhere and no one would approach her if she was with Noah; he was far too big to risk messing with. ‘Now hang on, don’t you think that’s a bit—?’
‘Rational? Yes, I do. I’ve already deleted all the dating apps from my phone, there will be no more blind dates or speed dates, and if you see me looking like I’m giving my details to a guy at a party, you are to stage an intervention. Promise?’
Lee looked back at her friend, aghast. But Mila seemed calm, logical and absolutely determined, and with the hangover Lee was facing right now, she was in no fit state to fight her on it. ‘. . . Okay.’
They sank into an easy silence, both watching as a photogenic young family walked past, the husband carrying their baby in a hammock, his wife’s hand clasped in his own. They could have been models in a winter catalogue for J. Crew. Life looked easy for them, effortless.
Both Lee and Mila looked away, staring down into their coffee cups instead.
‘So are you tempted to see him again?’ Mila asked her.
‘Who? . . . Oh, you mean Matt?’ Lee tutted, already bored of talking about him, and shook her head. ‘Don’t be daft.’
‘You know they’re saying he could be the next Bond?’
‘Mils, I swear to God I’ve heard it somewhere that my postie could be the next Bond.’
‘But he’s so sexy, and he seemed really into you.’
‘Yeah, because he knows I’m not that into him. His ego can’t believe it. Trust me, he thinks it’s a challenge to “break” me now.’
‘I wouldn’t mind being broken by him,’ Mila murmured wistfully.
‘Uh, sabbatical?’
Mila’s eyes widened in surprise, then she pointed at her. ‘Exactly. Thank you. That was a test. You passed.’
Lee’s own eyes narrowed, not believing a word of it. ‘You’ve got to stop attaching narrative to everything, Mils. This is not a romantic situation. He doesn’t want me to fall in love with him any more than I do – no matter what his ego’s telling him. Last night didn’t mean anything. It was just sex, for both of us.’
‘But I don’t understand how you can . . . hold back, emotionally I mean, like that. If I like a guy enough to bring him home, then I like him enough to see him again. I just don’t get your “love ’em and leave ’em” approach.’
‘It’s not for everyone,’ she conceded. ‘I just know the right balance