Page 17 of The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club Mysteries #5)

Joanna is halfway up a climbing wall, and not happy about it. Paul bounds up just above her, grabbing the Day-Glo hand-holds with graceful ease. Like a gazelle that all the lady gazelles fancy.

Joanna, however, is stuck.

It’s her own fault. On their first date Paul had said he loved climbing, and Joanna had wanted to sleep with him so badly that she told him that she did too.

It just came out. She also said, ‘No way? Mumford & Sons are my favourite band too!’ It was that sort of evening. With apologies to Mumford & Sons.

White lies on one-night stands can be quickly forgotten, of course, but the next afternoon Paul had texted asking her for a second date. She had waited the requisite forty-eight hours and replied saying that would be very nice, and he’d suggested an ‘urban climbing’ wall underneath the Westway.

In retrospect this would have been the time to come clean. But she still wasn’t in a place where her head was doing the thinking and she said, yes, I’d love that, I might be a bit rusty but count me in.

Ordinarily a second date might be at a slightly nicer restaurant than the first date, but, in Joanna’s view, each new relationship was a doorway to a new version of oneself. And perhaps new Joanna was a climber?

How hard could climbing a wall be? Also, maybe they’d have to shower off together afterwards?

‘You all right down there?’ shouts Paul over his shoulder. He’s about two holds from the top.

‘You worry about yourself,’ says Joanna. ‘I’m trying something new.’

Paul bounds up the final two holds and sits on the top of the wall.

The day before the date Joanna had booked an indoor climbing lesson and discovered exactly how hard climbing was, and had given up almost instantly.

So what to do? She had nipped into Boots on her way back to the office, bought a bandage, strapped up her wrist, sent Paul a photo in which she was pointing to the wrist and grimacing, and offered to book a nice restaurant instead.

It worked a treat. There was absolutely no climbing, but they did still shower off together afterwards.

Job done.

Since then Joanna has managed to avoid the subject altogether, until Paul discovered with glee that their hotel was a five-minute drive from the National Indoor Climbing Centre.

She couldn’t pull the wrist stunt again, and so here she was, every muscle in her body aching and still only eight feet off the ground.

Joanna’s climbing and Joyce’s glaucoma. The things we do for love.

Paul will have his secrets too, Joanna is sure of that.

Little white lies that will come out over the years.

They’re not even lies, are they? Little reinventions.

Course corrections. One day she will tell Paul that she doesn’t like Mumford & Sons, and one day Paul will tell her that he doesn’t actually enjoy her reading Financial Times articles to him in bed.

Joanna sees that Paul is heading back down towards her. She lets go of her hand-holds and dangles in mid-air, waiting for him, the climbing cat very much out of the bag now. It’s a relief, to be honest. No more lies.

She sees Paul’s huge grin as he reaches her. ‘So you love climbing?’

‘Love it,’ says Joanna. ‘Never done it but love it.’

‘Climb on my back,’ says Paul. ‘I’ll take you down.’

‘I’m too heavy,’ says Joanna.

‘Climb on,’ says Paul again, and so she does, and he takes her down the eight feet to the floor.

‘I knew you didn’t climb,’ says Paul. ‘It’s the nails.’

Of course he knew. He knew, she knew. The little lies are all part of the fun. The big lies are what you have to be careful of, and Joanna hasn’t told Paul any big lies about herself. He knows who she is, what she believes in, what’s important to her. That was the thing, wasn’t it?

Has Paul told Joanna any big lies about himself?

You never know, do you? Paul seems so simple, and passionate and kind, but who knew, really?

She’s as sure as she can be, and that’s all you can do.

She knew Ibrahim was right: that Paul was the man for her.

Completed her in a way that she finally made sense to herself.

‘Champagne in a hot tub?’ says Paul, unstrapping his harness.

‘Yes, please,’ says Joanna.

‘You’re sure?’ says Paul. ‘Perhaps you don’t really like Champagne?’

‘I wanted to sleep with you,’ says Joanna. ‘You should be flattered.’

‘I was flattered,’ says Paul. ‘You really should learn how to bandage a wrist properly too. It was all over the place.’

Joanna takes her phone from a locker.

A message from her mum. She takes a look.

‘Mum wants Holly’s number.’

‘Holly?’ says Paul.

‘They want to invite her for dinner,’ says Joanna. ‘Poor Holly.’

Paul gives a non-committal grunt. Very unlike him. But he’s just been climbing a wall, and he’s probably knackered.

‘Will you send it to her for me?’ Joanna asks.

‘Huh?’ says Paul.

‘Holly’s number,’ says Joanna. ‘Will you send it to my mum?’

‘Course,’ says Paul, but without enthusiasm.

Something is not quite right here.

If Joanna has found one of Paul’s lies, she hopes it’s a small one and not a big one.