by Matt Dunn
He knew these watches needed servicing, but in all the years he'd had it, it hadn't stopped the once. He hadn't even ever needed to wind it, seeing as it was one of those automatic models: When Ellie had presented it to him, she'd told him it wound itself up every time he moved his wrist, and he'd observed that she better never leave him, otherwise he might over-wind it, and they'd both laughed until it hurt. Then she'd left him a few months later, and he hadn't found the joke the slightest bit funny.
The watch had been expensive, too. He'd admired it in the window of a shop on the Strand when he'd met her for dinner one evening, never expecting her to surprise him with it a couple of days later. Now he could see that perhaps she'd bought it out of guilt, but at the time, he just felt it showed how much she'd loved him. He'd been too wrapped up in their future to see it as just a present. And today, perhaps appropriately, it had stopped.
Still, at least he was making good time - for some reason the rush hour didn't seem to have started yet - so he accelerated round the roundabout at an unusually traffic-free Marble Arch (muttering 'yes' to himself as he managed to cut up two taxis in the process) and headed towards Lancaster Gate. He checked his mirror in case the taxis were chasing him, hell-bent on revenge, but they were heading down Park Lane, so he slowed down a little – the last thing he wanted was to be stopped by the police.
He rode on for a couple of minutes, then turned right up Queensway and made his way towards the Whiteleys shopping centre, relieved when he found a parking bay just outside the main doors. Pulling the Vespa onto its stand, he padlocked his helmet to the handlebars, made sure the bike's top-box was locked, then checked his watch (then remembered it was an hour slow). With a shake of his head, he headed straight down to the basement and rushed breathlessly into the bowling alley.
'Hi,' said the girl behind reception. 'Can I help you?'
'I've got a booking.'
'For?'
'Field.'
'It's called a lane.'
'Pardon?'
'You bowl in a lane. Not a field.'
'No, my name is Field.' He nodded towards the computer. 'And I'm in a bit of a hurry.'
'Suit yourself.' The girl consulted her screen. 'At five-thirty, right? You can go on early if you like. No extra charge.'
Nathan nodded, deciding not to thank the girl sarcastically for the offer of the free ten minutes. 'Any of the others here yet?'
The girl peered exaggeratedly around the cavernous interior of the building. Apart from a Japanese family chattering excitedly by one of the lanes at the far end, the place was deserted. 'Unless that's them, then it doesn't look like it.'
'Right.' He fished in his pocket and handed her a piece of paper. 'They might be in a bit of a rush when they get here, so these are their shoe sizes, if you wouldn't mind...'
The girl made a face to suggest it might be the highlight of her evening. 'No problem.'
'Thanks,' said Nathan. 'Oh, is anyone booked after us? Just in case my lot are late, and we don't get started on time.'
The girl pursed her lips and looked at him. 'It's Valentine's Day,' she said. 'We're a bowling alley. I'm surprised we're even open.'
He slipped his shoes off and gave them to the girl, who took them at arms length, then handed him a pair of red-and-white bowling shoes in return. Nathan did his best not to inhale as he put them on, then he made his way over to the bar, 'bought' himself his free drink, and took it to the lane to wait.
Chapter 8
Sophie waited until she was sure Nathan had left the building, then she ran back up to her office and collected the Selfridges bag from where she'd hidden it in her filing cabinet.
'Everything going to plan?' said Julie, looking up from her laptop. Her suit was speckled with rain from where she'd been waiting outside during the fire drill, and Sophie felt a little guilty.
'So far.'
'And are you ready?'
Sophie held the bag up and gave it a little shake. 'Almost.'
'Well, good luck.'
'Thanks,' said Sophie, making for the door. 'And don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I don't see you later.'
'Oh, don't worry. I've decided I'm not going anyway.'
'No?' Sophie paused in the doorway. 'Why ever not?'
Julie turned her attention back to her computer screen. 'I've got some work to finish. Besides, you're not going to be there, and the last thing I want is a drunken evening with that lot,' she said, flicking her eyes at the door.
Sophie made a face. 'I wish I had your confidence Nathan and I won't be there. After all, I've got a window of less than an hour.'
'Well, don't waste it talking to me, then.'
Sophie hovered in the doorway. 'You're sure you don't want to go?'
Julie shook her head. 'Like I said - work to do.'
'But Mark will be there.'
Julie looked up sharply. 'Pardon?'
'Mark Webster. He's going.'
'And what would that have to do with me?'
Sophie reddened. 'It's just...' Sophie pushed the door to. 'At the Christmas party. I mean, after the Christmas party...'
Julie tried to focus on her laptop. 'What about it?'
'I saw... Well, I thought I saw... I mean, it's none of my business, but you and Mark...'
'There is no 'me and Mark', Sophie.'
'No, I'm not trying to imply anything. But...'
'But what?'
'Don't you think there could be?'
Julie swivelled round on her chair and folded her arms. 'No, Sophie, I don't. Especially since...' She caught herself, deciding now wasn't the time to come clean about her home situation, particularly given Sophie's time constraints. 'Well, especially since he didn't even send me a Valentine's card.'
'Ah,' said Sophie. 'Okay. Sorry.'
Julie forced a smile. 'Not to worry,' she said, as cheerfully as she could muster, then she tapped the face of her watch. 'Now go!'
'Yes boss.'
'And Sophie?'
'Yes?'
'I hope you get what you want.'
'Thanks. You too.'
As Julie bit off a hollow laugh, Sophie made her way to the toilet and locked herself inside the furthest cubicle. Mindful not to drop the bustier on the floor, she removed it from the bag, trying to avoid looking at the price tag as she tugged it off from the label. Still, she told herself, it was an investment, just like the lottery ticket she bought herself every Saturday. Though if it was a choice between the roll-over jackpot, or a roll over with Nathan, she knew which she'd prefer.
She carefully hung the bustier on the hook on the back of the door, stripped down to her underwear, then took that off and dropped it into the Selfridges bag, feeling suddenly nervous at the prospect of being naked in front of another human being. She hadn't felt like this for a long time - her and Darren had been together for so long he'd even taken to using the toilet in front of her (not one of Sophie's favourite Kodak moments from their relationship) and when you got to that stage of familiarity, simply being naked in front of your partner kind of lost any embarrassment. But the fact that in just a few hours, she might be standing in front of someone new, undressed - and him like that in front of her...
Sophie's heart started to beat faster at the thought, and she supposed she should be grateful for the dress (or rather, undress) rehearsal she'd had in Selfridges earlier, and she was pretty sure that, at least, had gone well. She shivered in anticipation, then found herself shivering from the cold, so she pulled the bustier on quickly, making sure she knew where all the hooks were so she could get it off without ripping it if she needed to undress in a hurry later. And while the thought was rather appealing, Sophie doubted she'd really sleep with Nathan tonight. She'd never been that kind of girl - apart from the odd drunken snog, she'd never had anything approaching a one-night stand.
Though maybe she was changing - after all, here she was, preparing to parade in front of Nathan dressed like this, with the sole purpose of trying to get him into bed. But
this was what London girls did, Sophie reminded herself. They were modern. Liberated. Independent. Made their own rules. Could even behave like men, if that was what they felt like. And if that included going to bed with Nathan on their first 'date', well, that was just what she'd do.
Sophie almost smiled, wondering whether she could remember what to do. Two years was a long time, after all. Then again, she'd waited this long, so what were a few more days? Maybe she'd just use her new look to entice Nathan. Drive him into a state of high excitement, and then she'd have him just where she wanted him... She shivered for a different reason this time, and smoothed the bustier down with her hands, loving the way the lace felt. There was no doubt about it, this new underwear she'd bought was empowering. That kind of behaviour was never something she'd have thought about dressed in her granny knickers, but what was the phrase - if you feel good on the inside, then you'll look good on the outside? Surely the same applied to looking good on the inside too?
She checked her watch, then quickly pulled the rest of her clothes back on and exited the cubicle. Making sure the bathroom was empty, she adopted a 'bowling' stance in front of the mirror, unbuttoning her blouse so it gaped just enough to give a flash of the bustier when she bent over. Pleased with the result, Sophie strode out of the toilets, her head held high, nodding confidently at the girls in the admin team, and as she walked along the corridor, she stuffed the bag containing her old bra and pants into the nearest bin. No longer was she an M&S underwear kind of girl. Never again would she wear control pants, or big knickers, or anything that wasn't at least made out of lace. Maybe she wouldn't have to. Especially if, from tonight onwards, all her underwear would be a present from Nathan.
She strutted out of the office and along Bateman Street, and pushed her way through the smokers standing outside the pub on the corner, mindful of the heads that turned as she did so. Forget smiling when you were on the phone - this was the way to feel confident, and - dare she say - sexy. Throwing caution to the wind, and ignoring the lack of money in her bank account, Sophie withdrew her last twenty pounds from the cash-point on the corner, then impetuously flagged down a passing taxi.
'Where to, my love?' asked the driver, and Sophie smiled.
'Yes,' she said, nonchalantly. 'That's exactly where I'm going.'
Nathan was sitting in SuperBowl, frowning at his phone. That was the problem with these basement venues - no reception, especially, it seemed, where an iPhone was concerned - and for some reason, he couldn't even work out how to unlock the screen. Whether that was down to the lack of network, or some new feature on the latest model that he'd accidentally activated he wasn't sure, but the last thing he wanted to do was try and reset it when he was nowhere near his backup. Still, that was Apple for you, he thought. Style over substance. He knew a few people like that too. Perhaps he'd almost married one of them.
The other thing Nathan couldn't understand was where everybody was, seeing as no-one from the office had turned up yet. According to the clock on his phone (the one feature that seemed to be working), they should have been here changing their shoes and making the usual jokes about their balls ten minutes ago, but as yet, there was no sign of anyone. What was worse was he had no way of getting in touch with any of them - he didn't have time to go back to the office to call from there, and even heading upstairs to ring wasn't an option given his phone's mysteriously locked status – and the fact that he'd have to change his shoes. No, he'd just have to stick it out, and hope they turned up soon.
Nathan supposed he should be pleased for them. Chances were their non-attendance meant they'd managed to get a date after all (though he was surprised they all had), but on the other hand, it made him look like a particularly sad Billy-no-mates, and that wasn't what he wanted from this evening at all. Plus, he enjoyed bowling - even though Ellie had hated it. She'd hated karaoke too, and ice-skating, and amusement parks, and in fact now he thought about it, most things that people had fun at, Ellie had seemed to dislike. All in all, Nathan wondered just what it was they used to do together - apart from visit IKEA, that was. Maybe he'd just imagined they'd had stuff in common. Maybe, just maybe, he was better off without her. Though not, he was sure, without anyone.
He wished he hadn't rushed over here. Now he was stuck with his Vespa, and he didn't want to leave it outside the shopping centre overnight in case it got vandalised, which meant he couldn't drink too much... All in all, not the best start to the evening. He picked up his beer, and wondered whether he should just finish it and go. He could still ride home after just the one, and it was probably better to go now than risk having to fight his way through all the romancing couples on the streets. But just as he was about to do exactly that, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
'Soph!' Nathan put his glass down and stood up. 'I could kiss you!'
Sophie blushed. 'Feel free' had been her first response, though she hadn't dared voice it. 'Where is everyone?' she asked, as genuinely as she could.
Nathan shrugged. 'Beats me.'
Sophie made a play of looking at her watch. In truth, she'd been hiding behind the Coke machine in the corner for the last ten minutes, waiting for an appropriate time to come over, and while she'd almost lost her nerve, it was only when she'd suspected Nathan was about to leave that she'd plucked up the courage to make the ten-yard walk.
'Should we wait, do you think?'
Nathan shook his head. 'I'm not sure there's much point. You sure you still want to bother?'
Sophie gazed at her feet. 'After I've gone and changed into these fetching shoes? You bet!'
Nathan beamed at her, and her heart almost skipped a beat. 'Well, looks like it's just you and me, then.'
'Great. That is, if you don't mind...'
'Don't mind what?'
Sophie grinned at him, then walked over and picked up the nearest bowling ball. 'Losing.'
Julie finished the report she'd been working on for the past hour, then she removed her spare running gear from her bottom drawer, locked her office door from the inside, and began to get changed. She hadn't been planning to run again this evening, but today just felt like a two-session day, and she always kept some spare running gear at the office, though partly because she never knew when the tube drivers might go on strike, and if that happened, running was as good a way of getting home as any.
She was still a little annoyed about missing this evening's bowling - and boy did she need a drink after such an up-and-down day. She'd been so flattered when she'd thought she'd been the target of Mark's romantic campaign, especially when she'd seen how much thought had gone into it (she couldn't remember when she'd been so clever, so targeted on a marketing campaign, for example) and then, when the card and the balloons and the chocolates had turned out to have come from Nathan... Well, she supposed she was still flattered, but that had been somewhat outweighed by her disappointment both that they hadn't come from Mark, and by her annoyance that he must have been bragging about what had happened the night of the Christmas party. How else would Nathan have known what to send her? She'd even eaten all the chocolate "kisses" - another reason she was going for a second run - though she'd been amused by Sophie's reluctance to share them as she'd 'not wanted to look fat' in her lingerie this evening. Julie smiled as she remembered their conversation - Sophie had a great figure, and even if she hadn't, underwear like that was probably worth at least a couple of dress sizes.
She finished lacing up her Nikes, then pulled her fleece running gloves on and began her stretching routine. She still found it strange Nathan could have been sweet on her and yet she'd had no idea about it, but then again, she'd had no idea about Philip having an affair and she'd thought Mark had fancied her, so maybe she was just rubbish at this whole 'men' thing. And to have married someone like Philip in the first place - well, maybe that just proved it.
Then again, people changed, didn't they? He certainly wasn't the man she married, and Julie had to face the fact she probably wasn't the same person either. Who'd have thou
ght she'd have kissed one of her colleagues, then have had to let another one down gently, all in the space of a couple of months? More importantly, she never imagined she'd be training for the marathon, and here she was, off out running when she should have been out enjoying herself.
She lifted one foot up onto her desk and pulled herself into a painful hamstring stretch, wondering what the future held for her. Should she try and patch things up with Philip, and pretend the whole affair never happened? More importantly, did she want to? Certainly, he'd begged her to forgive him, though she was finding that hard. She'd never been very good at forgiving and forgetting, and what he'd done would take a lot of that. Plus she still didn't know why Philip had done it. He'd blamed her, but had it really been her fault? Julie had to concede that maybe she'd been too focused on her career. But so had he, and now he was focused on a different one, though despite his best efforts, his writing was hardly a 'career'.
And while Philip had managed to shrug off the countless rejections he'd had from the literary world, Julie was the one who felt rejected, as if she hadn't been enough for him. It was partly the reason she'd started running - to get into shape, perhaps make herself fanciable again. And maybe it was working - after all, Mark had fancied her enough to kiss her (or rather, kiss her back), and Nathan had fancied her enough to send her a Valentine's card. And while neither of those two things had come to anything, Julie told herself she should at least take heart from them both. And maybe she just had to treat her situation with Philip like the marathon training she was doing - at times, it was painful, but she was doing it so she could survive in the long run.
With a sigh, she made her way out of the building, pulled her bobble hat down over her ears, clicked 'play' on her iPod, and set off at a fast jog down towards the river.