Max’s grin was back. “Sure, Captain Clipboard. Whatever you say.” He paused. “And now I have to go.” He rose, grabbed his jacket, then squeezed my shoulder. “You’re allowed to be excited, you know.”
“About logistical chaos?”
“About your life changing,” Max said simply. “Sometimes that’s bad.” Then he smiled. “And sometimes it’s what you’ve been holding your breath for.”
I stared up at him. “I’m not holding my breath.”
Max smiled in his infuriating way that meant he wasn’t going to argue because he didn’t need to. “See you tomorrow. Unless you need me before then.” He pushed the door open and stepped outside, letting the rain in for a second before it shut again. I sat there with two cups—one empty, one cooling—and the ghost of sunlight on my skin from an afternoon four years ago, accompanied by the first sharp sting of wanting something I couldn’t have.
And now that something—thatsomeone—was moving in.
Chapter Five
Theo
I gotup to buy myself another cup of coffee, but the way my guts were squeezing, I didn’t think that was such a good idea and opted for a smoothie instead. As soon as I’d retaken my seat by the window, the onslaught began.
Call Gary back. Tell him you’ve changed your mind.
The more that thought persisted, the calmer I became.
This was a mistake, one I don’t intend using as some kind of life lesson. I’m going to nip it in the bud right now. Tell him there’s no room at the inn.
Despite my clenched stomach, my lips twitched.Okay, that was kinda biblical. Where did that come from?
My phone vibrated, and I glanced at it. My stomach plummeted.
Gary Walters: Gave Cam your number. You’re a lifesaver. Owe you big time.
I groaned inwardly.Aw fuck.
A second text, another text arrived, this one from an unknown number.
Hey. It’s Cameron. Gary told me. Thank you. I can come by any time that works. I promise I won’t be in your way.
I was suddenly aware of my own breathing. A fragment of memory rippled up to the surface.
‘You’d look good out of order.’
My heartbeat quickened.
Too late to pull out now.
I typed:Come by at six. I’ll make space. Somehow.I stared at the sentence, then added:Bring only what you need for the night. We’ll figure the rest.
Three dots appeared, vanished, reappeared. I envisaged Cameron worrying at his lip, or maybe that was my own projection.
Cameron: Six is perfect. Thanks again, Theo. Really.A heartbeat later…Hey Theo? This might seem like a dumb question but where do you live?
I told myself it had been an accidental omission, nothing more.
My thumbs slid over the screen.Take the Tube to Hammersmith. Right out of the station. At the lights, left onto Glenthorne Road. Turn right after the Stonemason’s Arms. Cambridge Grove, first house on the left, facing the church. Flat 2.
I put the phone face down because I couldn’t look at it without feeling like a traitor to my own boundaries. Through the window, a woman in a yellow coat laughed under an umbrella, and for a second the colour of the world shifted, growing brighter.
I picked up the plastic cup containing my smoothie and headed out into the drizzle. By the time I exited the Tube, that drizzle had softened to a mist. Hammersmith wasn’t what I’d call a picturesque neighbourhood, but the flat was a five-minute walk to the station, and from there I could get anywhere. Ikept a city pace out of habit, but it felt as if the pavement had been tilted a fraction, as though gravity had decided to pull in a different direction.
I unlocked the front door and climbed the narrow stairs. Once inside the flat, I stood in the doorway before switching the light on, and listened to the silence for the last time as it was: mine alone. I might not have lived there all that long, but I could identify my own space by sound. There was the fridge’s hum, and the freezer’s periodic exhale that sounded exactly like a cow mooing. Every time my downstairs neighbour took a shower, the pipes started singing. And in the background was the constant hum from the street, filtered through glass.