He’s checking his email on his phone and not really paying attention, so he doesn’t notice. I’m trying to size him up and decide if he’s that sort of person, or if he’s just going along with it and half-hoping Emma might want to make something more permanent out of their arrangement. I can’t tell.
I think I’m doing quite a good job of dealing with the fact that I can’t actually get away from the one that got away (as I think of him, quietly, when nobody’s looking) because he lives in the bedroom next to mine, and we’ve got a twelve-month bloody lease. Not that I’d want to move out, even if I could afford it. I love living there, and I like him, and Becky, and – weird as this might sound, given their nocturnal habits – I like Emma, too. And Rob, even though I don’t see him very often. We’re a weird mix, but we work really well as housemates. I take a deep breath. I’ll just have to focus all my romantic thoughts in the direction of Sophie and Rich’s future wedding.
‘Do you want to see something really interesting?’ Alex says, out of the blue, as two small children zoom past on scooters, their mothers following close behind with tiny babies in prams. We’ve been walking along in a peaceable sort of silence for a while now.
‘Really interesting?’ I look at him sideways. ‘You’re not overselling this are you?’
He shakes his head and laughs. ‘Yeah, all right. It’s a bit interesting.’
‘Oh go on then.’
‘It’s down here. Bit of a walk.’
‘I’m not in any rush.’
‘So this is what I was going to show you.’ Alex steps aside and points between a gap in the railings.
‘Oh my God, it’s a miniature graveyard. You are seriously weird.’ I lean in closer, peering at the little stone graves.
‘It’s a pet cemetery.’
‘Yikes. Like the film?’
‘I hope not.’ He laughs. ‘It’s been closed to the public for years now – but there are about three hundred pets from the turn of the last century buried there.’
‘That’s creepy. Imagine if they all come to life and London’s taken over by spooky little pet zombies.’
He shakes his head with a rueful smile. ‘You are seriously weird, Jess.’
Before long, we’re meandering down the paths along the Serpentine. After a while we find a bench and sit down for a rest.
‘It’s funny,’ I say, looking at the jumble of people I can see. ‘In between the tourists, there are people just living their lives here. This is their park.’
He nods, thoughtfully. ‘And of course—’ he gets up, holding out a hand to help me up ‘—down that end, you can hang out and spot Kate Middleton and her kids – or the Duchess of Cambridge, I should say – sometimes.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yeah. I guess she has to try and live a normal life some of the time.’
We start walking up towards home – my sense of direction is improving a bit now we’re walking everywhere. It’s funny, because when you don’t live in London and you go everywhere by tube, the city feels completely different. It’s actually not that big, when you start walking around.
‘There,’ Alex says, pointing to the huge, ornate building that is Kensington Palace. ‘That’s their house. Well, not all of it. There’s loads of other random royals in there too. But they’ve got a little flat with about fifteen bedrooms down the side. I’ve seen her once, pushing a pushchair and walking a dog.’
‘No way.’ I realise I sound like an overawed tourist, but the idea of bumping into the royal family when I’m out for a stroll just seems completely bonkers.
‘I don’t think it happens that often, if you were planning on hanging out all day on the off chance.’
I give a little snort. ‘As if,’ I say. And then we keep walking, but my head swivels left and I have a little daydream about what I’d do if I bumped into the Duchess of Cambridge one sunny afternoon.
The trouble with me is I’ve always been a daydreamer. Always been a sucker for a romantic film, always loved a book with a good old-fashioned happy ever after ending. And now I’m working for a publisher that specialises in that sort of story and I’m as happy as a pig in – well, rose petals might be a nicer way of putting it. I had no idea that working for a publishing company meant I’d be given as many free books as I