Eyeing him warily for a second and deciding that she had probably imagined the glimpse of the old him, Suzie said, ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
‘I’d rather have beer, if you’ve got any?’ Rob said, following her into the kitchen and looking around when she went over to the fridge. ‘It’s funny how much you can miss a place when you haven’t been there for a while, isn’t it?’ he said, running his hand over the back of a chair. ‘I used to love eating in here with you.’
Giving him a look as if to say, You’re the one who got yourself thrown out, Suzie passed a can of lager to him – quickly snatching her hand back when his fingertips brushed her flesh and her stomach tingled.
‘So what was that about just now?’ Rob asked, peeling the tab off the can. ‘Who’s Holly?’
‘The girl you nearly went for when you got back from the police station the other week,’ Suzie said, flapping her hand at him to move so she could take a clean glass out of the cupboard.
‘The one from the flats?’ Rob took a seat at the table and eyed her over the rim of the can as he sucked the froth off the beer. ‘Why’s he asking you about her?’
‘Her mum got attacked in the alley and rushed to hospital,’ Suzie explained, pouring a glass of wine for herself. ‘She was in a state, so I offered to stay with her. I would have brought her here, but the police wouldn’t let me,’ she added, frowning when she remembered that he was the reason for that.
‘You don’t even know her, so why would you put yourself out like that?’ Rob asked.
‘Actually, I’ve spent a lot of time with her since you left,’ Suzie informed him. ‘She’s nice, and I was glad of the company,’ she added, deciding not to mention what she and Holly had been doing. He’d belittled her when she had told him her plans to start the agency a few months back, asking why any girl with half an ounce of what it took to be a model would want her for an agent when she’d never even managed to land a major campaign for herself. Anyway, if she told him about the photo sessions, he’d ask to see the pictures, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to see the ones Holly had taken of her in her lingerie. It might be ridiculous, since he had already seen every inch of her body in intimate detail. But that was when they’d been a couple. And now they weren’t, it didn’t feel right.
‘Hey, it’s your business who you hang out with,’ Rob said, smiling slyly as he added: ‘As long as it’s a girl and not some hunky dude.’
Aware that he was talking about Gee, Suzie gave him a stern look. ‘He was asking about Holly, not me. They’re neighbours and he was concerned about her.’
‘Sorry,’ Rob apologized. ‘It was meant to be a joke. Like I said, none of my business.’
Unused to him apologizing before a fight, because he usually reserved that for after, Suzie said, ‘It’s freezing in here. Why don’t you go and turn the fire on while I get the spare quilt? And, here, take this.’ She handed her wine glass to him.
Standing up when she headed upstairs, Rob went to the living room and turned on the lamp and the fire. Then, kicking off his trainers, he sprawled on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table.
‘Make yourself comfortable, why don’t you?’ Suzie muttered when she came in, flashing a look at his feet as she placed the bedding she’d brought down for him onto the armchair.
‘Sorry.’ He quickly sat up and dropped his feet to the floor. ‘Keep forgetting I don’t live here any more.’
‘No, I’m sorry,’ Suzie sighed, flopping down at the other end of the sofa and reaching for her wine. ‘It’s been a long day; didn’t mean to be narky.’
‘You look wiped,’ Rob said, lighting two cigarettes and passing one to her.
Thanking him, Suzie took a drag and then a swig of wine before resting her head back against the cushion. ‘I haven’t been sleeping very well,’ she admitted. ‘That’s why I answered the door so fast when you rang.’
‘Haven’t you got any of those tablets the doctor gave you last time?’
‘No, I ran out. But it’s OK. It usually only lasts a few nights.’
‘You work too hard.’ Rob placed an ashtray on the cushion between them. ‘How many bookings have you had this week?’
‘A couple,’ Suzie lied, embarrassed to admit that she hadn’t had a single one since he’d left – and her agent hadn’t replied to any of her calls, so she doubted she’d be getting any in the foreseeable future. She had to face facts: she’d hit the top of the mythical hill and was well and truly on the slide down the other side. That was why she desperately needed to get her agency up and running: before her savings ran out and she ended up homeless as well as jobless.
Rob settled back in his seat and looked around as the heat from the fire lifted the chill off the room.
‘It’s so peaceful in here,’ he sighed, resting the beer can on his stomach. ‘I’m grateful my mum let me stay at hers, but she’s so stuck in the past it was like being trapped in a coffin at times.’
‘Don’t talk about her like that,’ Suzie chided. ‘She’s nice.’
‘She says the same about you,’ Rob said – lying through his teeth, because his mum had done nothing but slag Suzie off since finding out she’d had him arrested.
‘Really?’ Suzie was surprised. ‘I always got the impression she didn’t like me.’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Rob laughed. ‘If she had her way, we’d be married with a house full of kids by now. But you’d have to be the barefoot-and-chained-to-the-cooker type wife, or she’d be round
