Page 15 of The Best of Times

“Listen, you can’t have those twitchy eyebrows in front of Granny,” Aron said. “You’ll give the game away and I really don’t need that.”

Alexander stopped. “Me? You were the one bouncing around the sofa like bloody Tigger.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Aron said. “Do you think he noticed?”

Alexander stopped. “What do you want from this? Surely you’re not going to take up with him again?”

Aron sighed.

What did he want from this?

“To show him what a stupid mistake he made.”

There. He’d said it.

Alexander appraised him. “I believe you. Thousands wouldn’t.”

CHAPTER FOUR

The gym was deserted. Aron ran on one treadmill while Mercury walked very fast on another. Repetitive dance music boomed out of huge speakers. It was like being at a rave after the fire alarm had gone off.

“When I offered you to come with me to the gym, I didn’t mean eight o’clock on a Saturday morning. Nick thinks I’ve lost my mind,” Mercury said breathlessly.

“Thank you, I appreciate it. I’m doing wedding jobs with Paul all day and wanted to fit a workout in.”

Mercury grinned. “Making sure you’re as buff as can be. I like your style.”

“Here we go. I had Alexander interrogating me last night. Honestly, it’s ancient history. A pandemic affair. If you like.”

“Sure.”

“Doesn’t hurt to let him have a few regrets though.”

They burst out laughing.

“Talk to me about anything else,” Aron said, wiping his forehead with a towel.

“I suppose you should be grateful to him. Now you’ve got a dream life in New York. The joke is firmly on him, my friend.”

A dream life in New York? He supposed it did look like that to an outsider.

Appearances can be deceptive.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Want to try that again?”

Aron hit the Walk button to match Mercury’s pace. Nagging doubts that he’d been trying to ignore were now fighting to become words.

“I do love it there,” he began. “Don’t get me wrong.”

“No one keeping you warm at night, then?”

Aron shook his head. “Not for a while. I get offers though.”

Mercury frowned. “Are you sure you’re over Paul? The way he fucked off like that was pretty brutal.”

It had hurt like hell at the time.