It’s something I worried about when Andrew deserted her four years ago, which is why I kept such a close eye on her at the time. In retrospect, I think the demands of caring for a newborn had the counter-intuitive effect of protecting her by keeping her too busy to think about anything else; too busy to think at all. But now the past is catching up with her, and I’m more alarmed than I care to admit.
I check the time on my phone, wishing the waiter hadn’t seated me in the centre of the restaurant; irrational, I know, but I hate people walking behind me. He’s late. I’m already regretting this, but my concern, as I tried to explain to Celia, is for Lou. Nothing else would induce me to sup with the devil, no matter how long the spoon.
Louise can rationalise her actions however she wants, and no doubt that woman of Andrew’s provoked her. But speaking as her friend, now, not a doctor, I have to say that moving into her ex-husband’s house isn’t normal, no matter what the excuse. Taking a job where his new wife works is not normal.
There’s a muted stir behind me, and I look round to see Andrew hastily making his way to my table, ignoring the whiplash glances of recognition from other diners. ‘So sorry I’m late,’ he apologises. ‘Bloody Circle Line.’ He puts a hand on his chair, but doesn’t sit down. ‘You hate sitting in the middle of a restaurant, don’t you? Let me see if I can get another table.’
‘Oh, there’s no—’
‘Excuse me,’ Andrew says, politely accosting a waiter, ‘but would you mind terribly if we sat in one of the booths over there, out of the way?’
‘Please go ahead, sir.’
‘You didn’t have to do that,’ I mutter, as we’re swiftly ushered to a private corner of the restaurant.
‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get.’ Andrew smiles.
He is extremely handsome. He looks good enough on television, but in real life, he has a presence, a charisma, that’s beguiling. It’s something in the way he looks at you, as if he sees only you, all of you. Even now, I have to remind myself of who he really is.
‘So, what are you doing in London?’ Andrew says, not taking his eyes off me as the waiter unfolds his napkin for him and drapes it across his lap. ‘Something to do with work, or are you taking a day for yourself?’
He makes the latter sound faintly risqué. With an effort, I break his gaze, and take a large swallow of water. ‘This isn’t a social lunch,’ I say sharply. ‘I know what happened the other night with Lou. I’m here to tell you that you need to stay away from her, Andrew. I’m not kidding. You’re both playing with fire, and I’m not going to let her get burned again.’
To my surprise, he leans back and laughs. ‘That’s what I love about you, Min. As direct and frank as always.’
‘You think this is funny?’
‘Of course not,’ Andrew says, his expression suddenly serious. ‘It was just a kiss, Min. It wasn’t planned, and it certainly didn’t mean anything.’
‘Does Lou think it doesn’t mean anything?’
The waiter returns to our table and hands each of us a menu. Andrew doesn’t even glance at his before placing it on the thick white linen tablecloth. ‘I didn’t put that well. Of course it meant something. But I’m not going to drag Louise back into my mess. I put her through enough before. It shouldn’t have happened, and I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry doesn’t cut it. I want your promise that it’s not going to happen again.’
‘It’s not just up to me, Min,’ Andrew says. ‘Takes two, you know.’
We both jump as there’s a sudden crash of plates on the other side of the restaurant. The entire room abruptly falls silent as everyone turns to stare at the young waitress standing in the midst of a sea of spilt food and broken crockery, looking like she’s about to burst into tears. Before anyone else has a chance to react, Andrew leaps out from our booth and goes over to help her. ‘God, don’t you hate it when this happens?’ he asks, grabbing a napkin from the nearest table and putting the largest shards of crockery into it. ‘At least you didn’t do it live on air. You’re probably too young to remember me knocking an entire row of priceless crystal off the sideboard at Highgrove …’
He keeps up the cheerful one-sided conversation as a phalanx of restaurant staff recover their wits and rush over to reassure the diners whose lunch is now scattered across the tiles. Within minutes, order is restored, the mess is cleaned up, and Andrew returns to our table.
‘That was kind of you,’ I say awkwardly. ‘I think you just saved that poor girl’s job.’
‘It requires depth of character to be truly wicked,’ Andrew says dryly. ‘As Celia will no doubt agree, I have only hidden shallows.’
I sigh. ‘I don’t think you’re wicked. Just bloody selfish.’
‘Progress.’ He raises a hand to attract a waiter. ‘Are we allowed a glass of champagne, Doctor Pollock?’
‘I don’t usually drink at lunchtime—’
‘Oh, Min. Live a little,’ Andrew teases. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
I hesitate. ‘All right, then.’
I’m unnerved by how much I want to like him again. This is the man who betrayed your best friend, I tell myself forcefully. The man who also made a pass at you when he was already in the midst of an affair with another woman.
I’ve never told anyone about that night, when Andrew drove me home from their house because I’d had too much to drink on a girls’ night out with Louise. When the two of us sat parked outside my house for just long enough for him to try to kiss me, and when I let him for just too long for either of us to pretend that I hadn’t wanted him to.
He leans across the table. ‘Min, I meant what I said. I don’t want to hurt Lou any more than I have already. I honestly didn’t intend that kiss to happen.’
‘The road to hell is paved with—’
‘I miss her,’ he says simply.
It’s the combination of lethal sex appeal and vulnerable little boy that makes him so irresistible. He has the charm and ego of a child. I’m torn between wanting to give him a consoling hug, and a desire to punch him on the nose. ‘You left her,’ I remind him curtly. ‘You gave up the right to miss her when you walked out.’
The waiter returns with our champagne and a bowl of salted edamame beans, which he places on the table between us. We both order a Cobb salad, and wait until the man has gone before resuming our conversation. Andrew picks up one of the beans, and then puts it down again. ‘I’d forgotten what it could be like when Lou and I were a team,’ he says. ‘That night, fixing the roof together, it reminded me. It’s not that easy to turn your back on fifteen-odd years of history together. Me and Caz, we don’t have any of that.’
I give him a hard look. ‘Andrew, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying, stop right there. You had an affair and broke up your family for that woman. You’re married to her now, for better or worse. You have Kit. You made your bed.’
‘What if it’s not the one I want to lie in?’
‘These are people’s lives you’re playing with,’ I say. ‘Louise has only just got her life back on track after you blew it all apart. Don’t reel her back in, Andrew, just because you can. Stay away from her. It’s not fair on anyone.’