Page 116 of All Right No

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“Was that Ash?” Dani asked.

Ginny sucked the dollop of ice-cream off her spoon, trying to figure out what had given the game away. Possibly her expression. She’d done her best to school it into neutrality, but after not hearing a thing from Ash for weeks, it’d been hard not to make at least a small squeal of surprise.

“DM ringtone,” Dani said, exactly as if she’d been asked to explain her deduction. She waggled her own ice-cream spoon in Ginny’s direction. “What did he say?”

“That he wants to talk.”

“Yay, progress. You do need to talk.”

They did, but her limbs were already trembling over the prospect. Likely her fear of the confrontation would be worse than the reality, as it had when she’d finally faced up to Miles, but that didn’t prevent her stomach from churning.

“So, when have you arranged to speak?”

“He’s calling sometime tomorrow.”

Dani sighed and popped her loaded spoon into her mouth, then swallowed before saying, “You didn’t think to tell him that you weren’t that far away and that meeting in person was an option?”

“He’s in Minsk, we’re in Hamburg. We’re pretty far away from each other, Dani. In any case, don’t you think that would have come across as a bit weird?”

“No weirder than the reason we’re here in the first place. I mean who the hell buys a car that they can’t drive?”

Ginny refused to be cowed. “It’s not for me, and you know it.”

“Oh, I know it. I’ve seen it. It’s a whopping big unmissable yellow apology that only screams a little of desperation.”

“It’s something I know he’ll appreciate. Flowers and chocolates or whatever it is you’re supposed to give a bloke weren’t going to cut it.”

“Blowjobs?” Dani suggested, a smile streaking across her face. “And for the record, even with the pressie, I recommend falling on your knees.”

“I don’t want him to think I’m trying to get into his pants,” Ginny said. “I’m trying to find a meaningful way of saying I’m a fucking colossal idiot, okay? This seemed like an in-road.”

“Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a shiny new toy.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Dani did as requested, and went back to spooning ice-cream from her enormous chocolate sundae into her mouth. It was only when she reached the bottom of the dessert that she made a second attempt at influencing Ginny’s decision. “If you have this conversation over the phone, the problem is one or the other of you is going to end up butt hurt, and then you’ll hang up.”

“I’m not going to hang up, and if Ash does, then I’m just going to have to suck it up. I can’t just spring up in front of him like a jack-in-the-box, Dani. If we talk on the phone, maybe it’ll lead to better things, but I can’t just assume that.” Her appetite destroyed, she pushed her sundae away.

Dani drew her discarded dessert across the table and tucked in. Apparently, having two boyfriends had given her friend an insatiable appetite. “Ash put his heart on the line in front of a stadium full of mad rockers. It’ll work out eventually.”

Yeah, he had, and she would never forget that moment, even without the numerous social media postings of him down on bended knee. She just wished she shared Dani’s confidence that Ash still cared enough to fix this. His texts hadn’t given her a huge amount to go on, only enough hope to bless her with a bad case of the maybes. That wasn’t enough for her to hit the tarmac of theAutobahnquite yet.

***

Ash called mid-afternoon right while Ginny was in the middle of peeing. He hung up before she’d had a chance to dry her hands and answer. She hit call back, before her brain engaged and convinced her to hesitate. Ash answered on the second ring.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to get the phone wet,” she blurted, and followed it up with a nauseating giggle.

Oh. Dear. God. They’d not spoken in six weeks after she’d dropped a whacking great bombshell, and the first thing out of her mouth was a bunch of crap. If she kept this up, then there’d be zero chance of them ever seeing eye to eye again.

Okay, lady. Pull it together.

Ginny cleared her throat, and began again. “What I mean is that I’m glad you called. I appreciate you giving me this chance. I know what I did and I’m deeply sorry for it. You have to believe me, Ash. It wasn’t my intention to deceive you.” It hadn’t been. Leastways, not a conscious one. “I just got scared, and I mucked up. And I understand why…” She trailed off, as a resounding silence echoed in her ear.

“Ash? Ash, are you there?”