Page 29 of When We Were Young

He kicked his bedroom door shut and answered before the third ring. ‘Emily?’

‘Yes. Hi.’

‘Happy new year,’ he said.

‘Same to you.’

Had she thought about what he’d said at the pub? Did she believe him, or had Aidan won her over?

‘How did you celebrate in the end?’ she asked. They were supposed to see the new year in together with Izzy and Aidan. They’d planned it months ago, but that went out the window after the scandal of Christmas.

‘Reu and I drove down to Brighton in the van. We did an impromptu gig at a little bar in the Lanes playing cover songs for free beer.’

‘Sounds fun.’

‘The fireworks on the beach were pretty cool.’ He swapped the phone to the other hand and wiped his palm on his jeans. ‘How about you?’

‘I worked at the pub in the end.’

She hadn’t said much so far but he was getting a sense she was preoccupied, building up to something maybe?

‘Not during the biggest celebration of the year?’ he joked.

‘Afraid so. It wasn’t so bad; I got triple time and loads of tips. Listen,’ she said, suddenly business-like. ‘We should meet. To talk.’

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. ‘Okay. When?’

She suggested they meet on Thursday at a bar in central London. ‘See you then,’ she said, wrapping up the call before he’d finished scribbling down the address.

‘It’s good to hear your voice…’ he ventured, not wanting her to go.

‘See you Thursday,’ she said and hung up.

He knew then, she only wanted to meet because she was too nice to break bad news over the phone.