‘Is that an insult or a compliment?’ he asked, looking up at her.
‘Oh, it’s a compliment.’
He hesitated. ‘I’m glad you rang. Just being here with you makes me think that Julian is going to come walking through that door any minute.’
‘It’s a good feeling, isn’t it, for the few seconds before you realise he’s not.’
He slapped his palms against his thighs and stood up.
‘Apparently it’s my mission to cheer you up, so why don’t we do something about it? Maybe we should go clubbing.’ He said it as if the idea had just presented itself.
Diana laughed. ‘I haven’t been clubbing since the nineties.’
‘So what? Do you want to?’
‘My therapist said I should do fun stuff, but I’m not sure that clubbing is entirely appropriate. Or what the doctor ordered.?
?
‘Did she have any suggestions, because I’m all out of ideas about how to feel better.’
‘She said we should go fly a kite.’
‘That might cause terrible problems on the Cromwell Road,’ he laughed.
She watched him glance at his watch.
‘Do you have to be somewhere? It’s the fourth time you’ve looked at your watch in the last ten minutes. Hot date?’
‘No.’
‘Adam.’
‘There’s nothing.’
‘Tell me.’
He looked at her with the realisation that he’d been caught out.
‘All right, there’s a meeting at the Mandarin Oriental . . .’
She looked at her own watch. They hadn’t even been here an hour.
‘Then what are you doing here still? Go,’ she said, waving her hand frantically.
‘My assistant can handle it.’
‘What’s the meeting?’ she pressed.
‘Qatari investors. I might be buying some hotels off them.’
‘You can’t blow them off.’
‘I can,’ he replied unconvincingly.
‘I should be going home anyway.’
‘You sure you don’t want to go clubbing?’ His face was as soft and apologetic as a naughty puppy’s.