Page 74 of Break the Ice

‘Except for that time I licked⁠—’

I do not open the door. ‘Phoebe,’ I say firmly, putting a finger in the air and blushing hard, while she giggles to herself. ‘No.’

She makes a Girl Scout salute. ‘I’ll be on my best behaviour. But you know, we’ve known each other for five days. How do you really know that I’m not on the run or an international jewel thief?’

Because you’d be a terrible thief. ‘Are you?’

She laughs as I open the front door to the house. She then peers inside. ‘Fuck. Me. Joshua.’

I will assume she doesn’t mean literally. She swings her head up to take in the high ceilings, the coving and the immaculate ways my mom likes to decorate a house at Christmas. It’s garland- and bow-heavy, that’s for sure. She peeks into the living room, where a fire has been lit in the hearth, and looks at the paintings and décor. The one thing about my folks for sure is that they have impeccable taste.

‘Joshua? Is that you?’ a voice sounds from the kitchen. ‘We thought we’d get Chinese for dinner!’

‘Yeah, Mom, sounds good. Umm, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet!’

There’s the sound of footsteps padding through from the kitchen. ‘Who is it? You want egg rolls?’

As she reaches the hallway, she catches sight of Phoebe and takes off her glasses and puts her phone to one side. ‘Hey, wait…’

‘Mom, this is Phoebe,’ I say, introducing her with my hands.

I see her realising who this may be. ‘THE BRITISH GIRL!’ I’m not sure why she says that so loudly. She runs over and gives Phoebe a massive hug.

Phoebe doesn’t seem to mind and embraces her in return. ‘That’s me. Hi, Mrs Abelman.’

‘Joy. Please. Why are you here?’ my mother says a little too breathlessly. Meatball comes trotting in from the kitchen and looks up at our guest.

‘And this is Meatball,’ I say, lifting him up to meet her. Meatball sniffs her and starts to lick her hands, nuzzling into her palm. My mom watches it all curiously before starting to scream again.

‘MADDIE! COME DOWN HERE. SOMEONE’S HERE.’

This is all the sign I needed that I maybe should have mentioned something beforehand. Maddie appears at the top of the stairs, her mouth wide open. ‘No way! The girl from the car,’ she says, skipping down the stairs to say hello. ‘You’re here?’

‘I am. Hi, Maddie,’ Phoebe says, laughing. I like that this amuses rather than overwhelms. ‘After we spent Christmas together, Joshua very kindly extended the invitation to come and visit New York and I accepted.’

‘Well, of course,’ my mom says, still in shock. ‘You are so welcome! Joshy, how could you not tell us she was coming?’ She hits me with the takeout menu.

In truth? Given how randomly this plan was formed, I was slightly worried she wouldn’t come and I’d look stupid. ‘She had trouble getting flights and time off work.’

My mom nods along, taking it all in. ‘And what do you do for work, Phoebe?’

Phoebe looks at me. Now is the time for the backstory to evolve. God, help me.

‘I’m in astrophysics. I work for the Greenwich Observatory,’ she replies.

You do?

‘Wow, that’s so awesome,’ Maddie says, giving her the once over. ‘Did you guys meet through the university?’

Phoebe smiles. Lies come to her more naturally than they would to me, that’s for sure. ‘We met at an academics mixer actually, we bonded over our love of spectral theories of hypersonic missiles.’

I laugh, mainly because she got that wrong, but it shows that she was half listening. I’m not sure why she’s lying though. ‘Since then we’ve been thick as thieves, haven’t we, Rogan Josh?’

I don’t know why she’s given me a curry-based nickname but I smile, playing along with this charade. ‘Just not international jewel thieves,’ I say, and watch her grin back at me. My mom and sister turn to look at each other.

‘Then we need to replan the next few days. Show you the sights – you’re staying, right? You must,’ my mom says excitedly, putting a hand on her arm.

‘If I’m not in the way,’ Phoebe says politely. ‘Josh said it would be OK.’