If You Kiss Me Like That

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Lewis could not look less like a hedge fund manager. He wore a suit all right, but it wasn’t the kind any other banker wore. It wasn’t the obligatory navy or black suit that made you fit in. Her boss wore what Ash called ‘chat show host suits’, with loud flowery patterns and made out of shiny, gaudy fabrics.

“You always look so fresh-faced when you’ve spent a weekend in the country, darling,” Lewis said, after he had air-kissed Ash.

“Murraywood is hardly the country. It’s half an hour on the train.”

“Imagine what actually going into the countryside would do to your complexion.” Lewis pushed the button of the automatic coffee machine. Just like her, Lewis didn’t believe in lunch. Not eating throughout the day kept him sharp. In fact, Ash had picked up the habit from him. “Here you go, darling.” He handed Ash the tiny espresso cup.

Ash knocked back the coffee. It was her third of the day. Some days, she could take four, but most days, three of these tiny but awfully strong beverages was her limit. “You keep promising to get yourself a country pad. How about putting your money where that big mouth is?” Lewis wasn’t just Ash’s boss. He had also become her best friend.

“I’ll have to get my trophy husband on to that.” Jonathan was anything but a trophy husband. He ran a company that imported Japanese sake and whiskies into the UK and was more often than not on a business trip to Asia. If Lewis and Jonathan actually had a house in the countryside, neither one of them would use it. Ash would use it, though. Although, if she needed a hit of country-ish air, she could just go home to her parents.

Ash’s phone buzzed in her back pocket. She fished it out and read the message.

Still waiting for those London tips.

A smile spread across her face. Gloria hadn’t been at the forefront of her mind since the party. On Saturday, Ash, like the rest of her family, had battled a nasty hangover. She’d hung out at home, watching the Chelsea game with her dad, and eating her mother’s chicken pie—an excellent cure for hangovers and post-divorce-blues alike. On Sunday, when she’d felt fresh as a daisy again, she’d spent the day with her nephews.

“What’s that smile about? Did Charlotte flee the British Isles?” Lewis asked.

Ash shot him a look, then asked, “What smile?”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, darling,” Lewis said, “but you’ve hardly been a barrel of laughs since the whole divorce debacle. I’ll make do with the tiniest hint of a smile on your gorgeous face.”

“Oh, please.” She wanted to give Lewis a good comeback, but her brain was too occupied forming a reply to Gloria’s text. “I’m well and truly over the divorce,” she lied. Ash had stayed with Lewis and Jonathan, in their lavish town house in Kensington, after she and Charlotte had first split up.

As she looked up, she just caught Lewis’s exaggerated eye roll. “Is there someone new on the scene?” he asked. “You know you can’t keep vital information like that from me.” Since Ash had found a new flat and had moved out of Lewis’s house, he’d tried to set her up with no less than three women he vaguely knew, one of which he had only suspected of being interested in women. For some reason, maybe because he’d been with Jonathan for decades, Lewis was very interested in Ash’s love life. He hadn’t had much to sink his teeth into. Ash simply wasn’t interested. Why would she even try? To end up divorced again?

“You’ll be the first to know if ever there is something to know again.”

“You’re not going to tell me who just texted you then?” Lewis insisted.

“It’s just a friend of my mum’s, looking for some tips on what to do when she comes to London next. It’s nothing. Sorry to disappoint you so immensely on a Monday.”

Lewis briefly pulled a face. “Just remember. It’s all well and good to not want a relationship. I totally get that, but you don’t want to get any cobwebs down there. You have to keep the juices flowing, if you catch my drift.”

“It’s utterly impossible not to catch it, darling.” Ash shook her head. “And we’ve had this conversation a dozen times before. A prolonged period of abstinence will hardly kill me, as hard as that is to believe for you.” She tapped her fingers against her phone screen. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I have to get back to work so I can make you some more money.”

“You are the perfect employee, Ash,” Lewis shouted after her, his voice dripping with honey.

It was an in-joke that had started after Ash told him she knew so much about Lewis’s private life, he could never fire her.

Back at her desk, Ash replied:

It’s only Monday. Give a girl a break.

On the train back to London, her mind had drifted back to the dance she’d had with Gloria. She’d watched her dance with Uncle Jim afterwards and Ash could have sworn Gloria hadn’t had the same sparkle about her as when she’d danced with Ash. Of course, Ash had been quite plastered and her memories of the night were subsequently hazy. Gloria’s reply came quickly.

Sorry. I have Wednesday off and I was thinking of taking the train up. Didn’t mean to rush you. xo

Why had Gloria included ‘xo’ in her message? Maybe that was just her usual sign-off. But, hadn’t she just said she’d be in town the day after tomorrow? Ash checked her schedule. There was no way she could take a day off, but she could surely blow off the monthly Women in Finance networking drinks she’d planned to attend after work and, perhaps, take Gloria out for dinner instead. Even though that was not what Gloria was asking for. She was just asking for tips on what to do in London. Nevertheless, the sudden prospect of having dinner with Gloria sparked something in Ash.

I promise to send you some suggestions tonight. One of them will be to have dinner with me in the evening.

Gloria didn’t reply so quickly now. Had Ash put her off? It was just dinner. It didn’t mean anything. She liked Gloria because she was so easy to talk to and so much fun to be around. Ash craved people like that around her right now. Besides, her mind wouldn’t even dare to venture anywhere else. Gloria was a friend of her parents. Maybe she could be her friend as well.

Ok. Look forward to it. xo

Look forward to what? Ash thought. Getting the message or having dinner with me? And was that a yes? She took it as a provisional yes. Her stomach growled. Ash drank a glass of water. Then she put the message out of her mind for the rest of the afternoon—she ignored it, just like the pangs of hunger that sneaked up on her—and focused on her work. It was how she had got through the divorce. Ironically, she’d started working even more, as if trying to disprove Charlotte’s allegation that her working too much was the cause of their divorce.