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Her voice said ‘Yeah,’ but her dipped head and avoidance of eye contact said something else.
Alex hesitated. This was his moment. She was vulnerable. He’d seen that before but now she’d come to him. All he had to do was make his move, and he was pretty certain she’d go for it. Emily and Dominic would split up. Helen would have her clear run and Alex would have made it all happen. That was the only reason he was thinking about it. He’d be a hero. A shagging super hero. He hesitated. ‘Is everything okay with you two?’
‘Of course.’
‘You can tell me. I thought we were being friends.’
She laughed uncertainly. ‘I don’t know. Things were fine, and then his dad died, and everything went a bit off the boil.’
‘Well he was probably upset.’ Alex listened to himself. He was sticking up for her boyfriend. That was not a textbook pulling tactic.
She sniffed. ‘I know. And things seemed to be going better. We made this whole sort of plan for the future. How many kids we might have. What sort of house we’d live in. All that stuff. But now I think he’s avoiding me.’
Well that would be enough to scare anyone off, thought Alex.
Emily filled the silence. ‘Like tonight, he wouldn’t even tell me what he was doing. He got all weird when I asked him.’ She shook her head. ‘Dad’s getting married. Dom’s avoiding me. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to end up alone.’
Alex groaned.
‘What?’
‘Well listen to yourself. You’re twenty-five. Why are you thinking about “ending up” anything? You should be having fun. Sowing wild oats. Drinking worryingly coloured shots. And so what if you end up alone? Being alive isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. It’s about what you do on the way.’
‘And who you do it with?’
‘Exactly.’
She smiled slightly. ‘So live in the moment?’
Alex grinned. ‘The moment’s all you’ve got.’
And this time he didn’t hesitate. He leaned in, and paused for a second. She lifted her face towards him.