Page 9 of In the Same Boat

That gets a laugh. A real one, not just a polite one.

‘First time here?’ the brunette asks.

I nod.

‘Your last?’ the redhead jokes.

‘We’ll have to see,’ I reply. ‘What about you? Regulars?’

‘Hell no,’ she says quickly. ‘A friend dragged us here.’

I smile. Hank is going to be fuming. He thought I was going to be some pumped-up chunk of eye candy – his words, not mine – a ‘bit of beef’ to attract the women in his direction. It goes to show, talking to the right people, in the right way – things just click.

‘Same,’ I say, with a small nod back towards Hank, who is hovering far enough away to pretend he’s not waiting for an opening.

Hank takes this as his cue to wander over.

‘Evening, ladies,’ Hank says.

I don’t know why, but his use of ‘ladies’ makes me cringe for them. I don’t know why, they are ladies, it’s more the way he said it.

‘Hi,’ the brunette says again, polite but now slightly more guarded.

‘This one boring your ears off?’ Hanks checks.

‘Not at all,’ the redhead replies.

‘What do you ladies do?’ he asks, then, before they have a chance to answer, ‘I’ve got my own construction company. He sells video games.’

I sigh. I big him up, he plays me down.

‘Erm, I’m a gymnastics teacher,’ the redhead tells us.

‘I’m an A & E nurse,’ the other adds.

‘Wow, do you have a referral scheme?’ I joke.

They laugh.

‘She was on shift once, when I sprained my ankle,’ the redhead says. ‘Couldn’t have been in safer hands.’

‘I’d love to find out,’ Hank says.

I turn to look at him, unable to stop my eyebrows from shooting up, because what does he mean? Look at his face, I don’t even think he knows what he meant, I think he just thought that it sounded good.

‘You want to end up in A & E?’ the brunette checks in disbelief.

‘He’s going the right way about it, isn’t he?’ I joke.

They laugh, but I can tell that we’re losing them.

‘How do you two know each other?’ the redhead asks, glancing between us.

‘We live together,’ Hank tells her.

It’s funny, I’ve spent most of the evening wishing he would say less, now I want him to say more.

‘Oh – not like that,’ he quickly adds. ‘It’s been years since we slept in the same bed – decades even.’