We have rushed, drunken and sleazy sex on the table, my skirt rucked up round my waist, Mason’s still wearing his socks. When we’ve finished, we lie on our backs and we both start to laugh.
‘I’m glad you’re my boss,’ I say to Mason, giggling guiltily, ‘because I would so sack my arse if I found one of my staff doing that.’
‘You’re such a tart, Brown,’ he teases, fingers still trailing over my body. ‘That was fun though. I must ply you with cocktails more often if this is the effect it has on you.’
‘I think cranberry juice must be an aphrodisiac.’ Though it may be the half a dozen or more shots of alcohol that we quickly downed. My head is certainly spinning.
Then there’s a hammering at the front door of the pub, loud in the still of the night. My heart leaps to my mouth and I’m suddenly very sober.
‘Shit,’ Mason mutters. ‘Who the hell can that be?’
I don’t know, but whoever it is, I don’t want them finding us here without most of our clothing. ‘It can’t be Jay, he’d have his key.’
He jumps down from the table and finds his jeans which were kicked off in the scrabble. ‘Where are my fucking shoes?’
The knocking comes again. More insistent this time.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ he grumbles as he pulls his jeans on. I see his pants on the floor, but he’s not bothered with those. There’s no sign of his shoes or mine. ‘Keep your hair on!’
‘Suppose it’s burglars?’ I suggest, heart pounding.
‘Do burglars normally knock?’ he asks as he hastily buttons his shirt.
‘I don’t know, but it’s late.’ I don’t know what time it is as I’ve no idea where my phone went during our frenzy. ‘Why else would someone come here at this time of night?’ I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.
‘Shitshitshit.’ Mason looks round and grabs a knife from chef’s knife block.
‘No, no! Not a knife,’ I say. ‘You might get hurt.’
‘I’m planning on hurting them,’ Mason points out.
‘Take the rolling pin instead.’
‘They might think I want to bake them a pie.’ Nevertheless, he puts the knife back and grabs hold of the rolling pin in a menacing way. All the time the knocking is continuing. ‘Stay here,’ Mason instructs. ‘If it sounds like it’s going horribly wrong, phone the police.’
That will mean finding my phone. So I slide to the edge of the table and jump down as Mason heads for the door.
‘Be careful,’ I offer.
He rolls his eyes at me and mutters another curse under his breath.
Oh, God. Why did we ever think this was a good idea? I shimmy my bra back to where it should be, button up my shirt. My pants are entangled with Mason’s so I leave them where they are. I’ve got hold-up stockings on which, currently, aren’t holding up at all and are round my ankles. I yank them back into place, then pull my skirt down and smooth it. You’d never know what we’d been up to now.
I hear Mason unbolting the front door and think that I should be right behind him in case the burglars rush him. Plus I think my phone might still be on the table in the bar.
So, tentatively, I follow him and am glad to see that he’s got the rolling pin poised for action. As he’s opening the door I hear him say with surprise, ‘Oh. It’s you.’
Chapter Eighty-Nine
Joe is standing at the door, looking bleak. Mason stands aside so that Joe and I are facing each other.
He looks at me, then at Mason, then at me again. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you,’ he says and he sounds upset, cross and sad all at once.
When I find my voice, I ask, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I wanted to see you.’ He runs a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry, Ruby, this was a really bad idea. I can see that you’re … busy.’
My eyes follow his and I can see that he hasn’t failed to notice that in my haste to dress, my blouse is buttoned up all wrong. One side is longer than the other, the lace of my bra very much on show. The fact that both Mason and I are both barefoot and looking dishevelled only adds to my air of being caught in the act. To help matters further, one of my hold-ups slowly slithers its way down my leg to my ankle. Both Mason and Joe follow its progress while I try to pretend it’s not happening.
‘I should go,’ Joe says. ‘It wasn’t important.’
But I think that it must be if he’s turned up here after closing time looking fraught.
‘I’ll make myself scarce,’ Mason says, evenly. ‘It seems as if you two have things to talk about and I have a pie to bake.’ He holds up the rolling pin and then, with a glance at me, heads back to the kitchen.
‘I’m sorry,’ Joe says. ‘Really sorry. I didn’t mean to make things awkward for you.’
‘It’s fine,’ I tell him when, quite obviously, all is far from fine. ‘Shall we go and sit in your car?’
‘We can do.’
So I follow him out into the night in my bare feet, trailing a stocking. I’d like to stop and take them off, but I think it would only attract attention to the fact that my stockings are not where they should be.
We get in Joe’s car and sit side-by-side under the security light, both uncomfortable now. The fact that my blouse is misbuttoned is like an elephant in the room.
‘I should have phoned,’ Joe says again. ‘Coming here like this was ridiculous.’ He stares out of the window, not looking at me.
I touch his arm gently, but he moves it away from me. ‘You still haven’t said why you did.’
He rubs his face as if his eyes are tired. After what he’s just seen, I should imagine that he’d want to bleach them.
‘Gina’s left. Again,’ Joe says, eventually. ‘We tried. For a few weeks I even thought we might make it.’ His hands grip the steering wheel. ‘Then I found that she was still texting her boyfriend behind my back. She hadn’t given him up at all. Never intended to.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ And I genuinely am. Joe’s a decent man and deserves more than that.
‘The thing is,’ he says, ‘I felt relieved when she went. I was putting my life, my feelings on hold for her and she threw it in my face.’
‘Oh, Joe. Are the kids OK?’
‘They’re not great, but they’re putting a brave face on it. I think they realise that we were trying to play Happy Families for their sake. They’re upset that it didn’t work out. That’s the hard bit. They shouldn’t have had to see her walk out a second time.’
He sucks in a breath and turns back towards me. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Ruby.’
I try a smile. ‘I’m pleased to hear that.’
‘Are you?’ He gives me a hard stare. ‘The kids were away tonight. Gina promised them that she’d see them more and believes strongly that a well-aimed pizza will fix anything. I was roaming round the house, not really knowing what to do with myself and I thought I’d come to tell you. I went to your apartment and, when it was clear you weren’t there, I guessed that you might still be at work.’
‘You were right about that.’
‘I thought it would be a surprise.’
‘You were right about that too.’
‘I guess so.’ He laughs without humour. ‘I didn’t mean to make things difficult for you. I never thought that you’d be seeing someone else.’