‘Nothing! Nothing’s wrong. You just look…wow…really nice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your hair down before.’
‘No, it’s not really practical for work but I can’t bear to cut it.’
‘You definitely shouldn’t.’
I smiled. ‘Thanks.’ I slipped my arms into my coat as Michael held it out for me. ‘Calum thinks it’d be less hassle if I cut it,’ I said, lifting my hair from the collar so that it wasn’t tucked in. ‘But I refused.’ I looked up through my lashes at Michael. ‘So you see, I don’t always just jump when he says so.’
‘Like I said before, he’s an idiot.’ He handed me the wrap I’d been using as a scarf. ‘Admittedly he’s a lucky idiot but an idiot all the same.’
‘Oh shush you,’ I said, not wanting to argue again tonight and accepting that, mixed in there among the boyfriend insults, was a compliment. ‘I have to go.’
‘We’re walking you to the station.’
‘No, it’s freezing out there. Stay here in the warm.’
‘Yes, because I can see that you’re dressed for arctic conditions in that dress.’
‘I have a coat on!’
‘You should have three more layers at least and a bobble hat,’ Michael replied, pulling on his boots.
‘Hat hair wasn’t exactly the look I was going for.’
‘It’s a much underrated look, I’ve always thought. And you’ve no choice on the company. Come Pilot.’ Michael clipped the lead on the dog, shrugged into his own coat and opened the door for me.
As we walked along to the station, I secretly began to think that Michael might have been right about the extra layers. A harsh north wind had been building all day and the clear sky had turned into a clear night, which probably meant that somewhere through all the light pollution, millions of stars were glinting, hung in an inky sky. It also meant that I was freezing my butt off.
‘Wishing you had those extra layers now, aren’t you?’ Michael read my thoughts.
‘What makes you think that?’
‘I can hear your teeth chattering.’
I bit down and locked my jaws together.
Michael put an arm out and squished me against him, protecting me from the wind and immediately making me feel more cosy.
‘Better?’
‘Yes. Thank you.’
‘No problem.’
We arrived at the entrance where a small group of carol singers had braved the weather and were cheerily belting out a chorus. Michael let his arm drop away and I immediately missed the warmth he’d provided. My teeth began chattering again almost instantly.
‘Go on. Get down into the Tube and warm up. And try not to freeze the other end. Get a taxi if you need to.’
‘And you say I fuss,’ I teased.
He tilted his head, the fleecy beany he wore pulled down to his eyebrows.
‘Can you begin to imagine the grief I would get from Janey if you turned up somewhere tomorrow morning frozen solid like an ice pop.’
I gave an eyebrow rise of acceptance.
‘Bye Pilot. See you in a couple of days.’
‘Last big push, eh?’ Michael said, his face showing a hint of concern.
‘One of them. Not long to go now but I’m confident we’ll get there in time for everything to be just perfect for you all.’ I gave his forearm a gentle shake. ‘Really, it’s going to be finished in time. Stop worrying. Now, thanks for the company but you need to get that dog back into the warm.’
‘All you care about is the dog. You’re a hard woman Katie Stone.’
I shrugged, half smiling.
He glanced at the entrance then back at me. ‘I suppose it’s pointless me asking you to stand him up.’
I shook my head a little sadly. ‘Please let’s not do this again tonight? We’ve managed to move past yesterday’s…moment and had a really good day. I don’t want to argue with you any more Michael. Please?’
He nodded, his eyes still fixed on a point behind me. I waited for a moment and the intense green gaze moved and found my face.
‘I’d better go.’
He nodded, then leaning forward, he kissed me on the cheek.
‘You look really beautiful Katie.’
A smile flickered on my lips as I tilted my face up and met his eyes. He held the look a moment then stepped back, calling the dog and set off at a jog back towards the house. I watched their retreating figures, the touch of Michael’s lips on my cheek still clear in my memory and warm on my face. Giving myself a mental shake, I turned and began walking through the concourse, heading for the escalator down to the trains. Clearly I’d missed Calum’s touch more than I thought if a simple, innocent kiss on the cheek from Michael O’Farrell could have me feeling like my insides were made of melting chocolate.
***
‘So how was the trip? Did you get to see much outside the office?’ I asked, as I finished the last mouthful of delicious cheesecake and laid the dessert spoon to the side of my dish.
Calum had been talking about work for most of the dinner and I was happy to listen. Although it might have been nice if he’d asked how things had been going for me too once or twice.
‘Oh. Yeah. Well, no, not much.’
‘That’s a shame. It looks like you got a bit of tan though, so you must have done a bit of bunking off,’ I teased.
He chuckled. ‘So long as you don’t tell the boss. There was a pool at the hotel so I grabbed a couple of swims when I could.’
‘Why not?’
‘Exactly. That’s what I thought.’ His eyes drifted over my face and his hand, under the table, drifted over my thigh. ‘God I missed you.’
I dropped my gaze and smiled. It didn’t matter what Janey or Michael or Bernice thought: He did care.
‘I missed you too.’ Which was true. In the times that I hadn’t had back-to-back appointments or been up to my elbows in kennel detritus. ‘In fact, I was thinking that maybe I could take a few extra days off at Christmas and we could go – ’
‘I can’t Kate. I’m sorry.’
I sat back, confused. ‘You don’t even know what I was going to say.’
He let out a sigh. ‘You were going to ask to spend some more time together over Christmas.’
‘It’d be nice if you didn’t make that sound quite so distasteful to you! And frankly, I shouldn’t have to be “asking”! Most normal couples would automatically assign some time together over Christmas, because they actually want to be together.’
‘Kate, don’t do this. Not tonight.’
My anger began to bubble. ‘Frankly I’d have liked to have said something before now but I’ve hardly bloody seen you and you’re not exactly what anyone would call chatty on the phone.’
‘I’m busy!’
‘Everyone’s busy!’ I said, my teeth gritted in an attempt to keep my voice low. ‘All I want is some time with my boyfriend! Is that really too much to ask?’ Much to my disgust, my voice broke on the last words and Calum’s face immediately softened. He reached for my hand.
‘Kate, please