‘Oh, I had a date,’ I said, pretending fierce interest in my computer. ‘Online. Online dating. You know.’
‘A date?’ exclaimed Tilda. ‘Why wouldn’t you have mentioned that?’ Her eyes narrowed. She was putting two and two together. Shit.
‘I don’t know. It’s private. A bit embarrassing.’
‘There’s nothing embarrassing about online dating,’ said Jess reassuringly. ‘Everybody does it. Including Mehra’s fiancé, apparently.’
‘What?’
‘Didn’t you hear? They broke up. She went snooping on his phone and found the Plenty of Fish app.’
‘Oh, God, how shit,’ I said, feeling guilty that her misfortune gave me a much-needed change of subject. ‘Poor Mehra. Is she OK?’
‘You’d know how she was if you’d been at home last night, instead of gallivanting with strange men,’ said Jess. ‘No, I’m joking. You’re entitled to go out with whoever you want, whenever you want.’
Tilda coughed, clearly disagreeing with the ‘whoever you want’ clause.
‘But was he seeing other women, do you think?’
Jess shrugged. ‘Dunno. Anyway, I’ve had more than enough of Mehra’s woes. I was up half the night being the shoulder to cry on. I only went to bed half an hour before you crept in. Ten to five!’
She gave Tilda a significant look.
‘Ten to five?’ said Tilda. ‘So you shagged him on the first date? Who was he?’
‘Just some guy,’ I said uncomfortably. ‘Older than me.’
‘Married,’ said Tilda triumphantly.
‘No, not married,’ I said. ‘Just older. Pretty well-off, too.’
‘Sugar daddy,’ teased Jess. ‘You lucky bitch. Is he going to take you shopping?’
‘I doubt it. I probably won’t see him again.’
‘Was he that bad?’ They both cackled over their coffees.
‘No, I just don’t expect he’ll call again. It was a bit of fun, that’s all. I’m not really looking for a relationship.’
Miles sighed audibly and started typing like fury, then Jess was called back by her manager and it was time to get to work.
After twenty minutes of silent grammar-correcting, Tilda leaned over to me and spoke in an undertone.
‘I went round to Tom’s on Saturday,’ she said.
My fingers slipped on the keys and a semicolon went where a comma should.
‘Did you? Why?’
‘To say goodbye. If he’s really leaving.’
‘Did you see him? Is he OK?’ The sentence I was working on blurred before my eyes.
‘Yeah. He was packing some stuff. We had a cup of tea together. It was really nice. Like old times. And before you ask, no, “cup of tea” isn’t a euphemism.’ She drew a long, gusty breath.
‘He’s definitely leaving then?’
‘Yeah.’ She paused. ‘He mentioned you.’