Page 108 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Right,’ I agree. I’m not exactly prepared to have that conversation either. Still, I definitely should tell Jack. About the marriage, anyway. The sleeping with his sister part is something that probably needs a bit more build up.

I position myself so that the camera won’t show Lee when I pick up the call. The screen blinks, and then, there he is, my best friend of almost thirty years.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’ he greets me.

‘Hey, watch your mouth,’ I manage to smile. ‘There are children present.’

Phoebe slips in beside me, beaming innocently up at the camera, and I throw my arm around her. ‘Hi, Uncle Jack!’

I glance across at Lee who is standing frozen in place, and something in her expression makes my chest hurt.

‘Sorry, Pheebs,’ Jack says, contrite.

‘Don’t worry, Dad can put a dollar into the ice cream fund for you,’ my daughter sings.

‘Nice,’ Jack chuckles. ‘I’ll make sure to drop a few more swear words before we hang up, okay? So don’t settle for less than ten bucks.’

‘You’ve got it,’ Phoebe agrees. ‘Hey, I’m reading that book Aunt Cyn gave me.’

Lee shifts on her feet and makes a sign that she’s going to head back to her room. I give an infinitesimal nod, and she disappears, closing the door behind her.

When I tune back in to Jack and Phoebe’s conversation, I watch my friend, his dark hair shorter than the last time I saw him, laughing with my daughter, and it’s easy to see how happy he is. Ever since he and Cynthie managed to get their shit together he’s been like a new person.

I’m happy for him, of course I am, but for the first time I feel a real pang of envy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought what they had looked pretty great, and since meeting Phoebe it’s definitely occurred to me that having a partner – a real, all-in partner – would make life easier, but I’d pretty much resigned myself to single life. The idea of dating someone wasn’t even on my radar, but here I am… about to take a beautiful, brilliant woman out to dinner. And she’s Jack’s sister.

‘I’m gonna go and read in my room,’ Phoebe says after a couple of minutes and I nod.

‘Why don’t you get in your PJs, little Bee? Your grandmother will be here soon.’

‘I don’t know how you managed to make such a cool kid,’ Jack says once Phoebe’s gone. ‘I miss you guys. We need to get something in the diary.’

‘Definitely,’ I agree. ‘Are you in New York any time soon?’

‘You know, you could actually invite us to this town we’ve heard so much about,’ Jack laughs. ‘And what was that about Magda coming over tonight?’

‘It’s not Magda, it’s my mum, she’s here for an unexpected visit and she offered to babysit,’ I say with a wince.

‘Hang on,’ Jack perks up. ‘Don’t tell me you’re actually going out, you hermit?’

‘Yeah,’ I rub the back of my neck, ‘it’s a dinner thing.’

‘Fuck me!’ Jack exclaims with delight. ‘You’ve gone all shifty! You’ve got a date, haven’t you? Cyn!’ he shouts over his shoulder. ‘Cynthie! It’s finally happening, Nico has a date!’

There’s a muffled response from another room that has Jack chuckling. ‘She wants details,’ he explains.

‘There are no details,’ I say firmly. ‘It’s not a date… it’s just a…’

‘A what?’

I shrug helplessly. ‘A… casual evening.’

Jack’s famously blue eyes narrow. ‘Wait, I know this look. This is the panicked look. You like this woman.’

‘I—’ The words are stuck in my throat. This is my nightmare. ‘She’s…’ I trail off.

‘Woah.’ Jack leans back. ‘No words. This is big. I honestly don’t remember the last time this happened. We were probably about fifteen. So, tell me all about her. Cynthie will murder me if I don’t get all the gossip.’

His eyes flicker to the top of the screen and he laughs again. ‘She just texted me a message with those exact words. She’s trapped in a chair while Patty does her hair right now or she’d be in here interrogating you herself and you’d stand no chance.’