‘Okay. I’ll remember that.’
The waitress appeared with Ros’s drink and Gazza’s sausage, which the dog inhaled before the bowl was even on the floor. Cameron gave his order and they settled down to talk. Thankfully Gazza was happy to sit between Cameron’s feet in the hope of him dropping some pastry crumbs from the pain au chocolat he’d ordered.
‘There’s something you need to know,’ said Ros.
Cameron looked concerned. ‘Okay, what’s that?’
‘I sort of panicked and now Dad is expecting you for lunch tomorrow.’
‘That’s cool,’ said Cameron. ‘Who doesn’t like a free meal? And I love a roast dinner.’ Ros instantly relaxed a fraction.
‘Right. Shall we pick up where we left off?’ said Ros, pulling her notebook from her bag.
‘Okay,’ he said, wiping the last crumbs from his lips and surreptitiously letting Gazza lick his fingers. Ros took her hand sanitiser out of her bag and pushed it across the table to him. ‘Cheers.’
Ros consulted her notes. ‘Where did we meet?’
‘At the cocktail bar.’
‘Yes, I know that, but for the backstory when Dad asks.’
‘But that works as good as anything we could make up. I work in the bar and you came in with Darla to pick up her paycheque and we got talking.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Ros, making a note in her book.
‘Why not?’ Cameron sipped his drink but she knew he was still fussing the dog under the table. ‘I think it’s a very plausible story. What have you got that’s better?’
Ros wasn’t exactly blessed in the imagination depart-ment. Logic and facts were far more her cup of tea. She had a quick think and nothing of any use came to mind. ‘Fine, we’ll stick with the cocktail bar.’ He probably did have a point.
‘What happened?’ asked Cameron.
‘When?’ Ros was lost.
Cameron smiled at her. He did that a lot. Why did people smile all the time? What did they have to be so cheerful about? ‘When we met, what happened?’ he asked. ‘We need a better story than you came in and I asked you out.’
Ros straightened her spine. Her feminist spider sense had been triggered. ‘I could have asked you out.’
‘You could. I like that. Let’s go with that. So why did you ask me out? What was it about me?’ For once he looked serious as he turned his face first one way and then the other, lifting his chin and then doing a thoughtful look out of the window.
‘I wouldn’t have asked you out,’ said Ros and then instantly regretted it. Sometimes her brain didn’t have a softening feature.
Thankfully Cameron laughed. ‘I don’t think you would either. I’m guessing that’s not your style. How about you ordered a . . .’
Belatedly Ros realised that was her cue to fill in. ‘Oh . . . uh . . . Pinot Grigio. Properly chilled.’
‘Okay, and I explained that we had a new-to-us wine in that I thought you might like. I gave you a taster. We got talking and we found that we had something in common, which was . . .’
Ros was too busy scribbling notes so she missed her cue again. ‘Sorry. Um.’ She shrugged.
Gazza made a whimper from under the table. ‘I’m not sure this is working,’ said Cameron.
Ros was disappointed because she was quite pleased with how far they had got. ‘Perhaps we should keep to the list.’ She tapped her notebook.
‘It’s not that I don’t like your detailed flip chart questionnaire – very thorough. But I think what we really need to know, the sort of thing that could catch us out, are the little details that connect people. You know like when you have an all-nighter because one thing leads to something else and before you know it hours have gone by. Gina and I used to do that all the time.’
Ros had no idea what he was talking about. ‘All-nighter? Like clubbing?’
Cameron frowned as if he wasn’t sure if she was teasing him or not. ‘I mean those nights when you first get together with someone and you stay up all night just talking and getting to know each other.’ He beamed her a smile – or was he smiling at a memory? She couldn’t be sure.
He made it sound like a common thing. Could she reveal that she’d never had this experience? ‘How would that go exactly?’ she asked.
Cameron pouted his full lips. ‘We’d be lying down for a start.’
‘Not really practical.’ Ros indicated the coffee shop.
‘I’ve an idea,’ said Cameron, leaping to his feet, making Gazza jump up and bounce around. ‘Come on,’ he added, reaching for her hand.
Ros hastily paid the bill and they exited the coffee shop quickly with Gazza leading the way, even though he obviously was clueless as to where they were going. Cameron guided them down London Road to East Park. It was a place Ros hadn’t been for many years. Scenes of picnics with her mother and father swam into her mind and then later ones where there was just her and her dad. Unhelpfully she now had an image of her picnicking alone – was that a glimpse at her future?
‘This way,’ said Cameron and a tug from Gazza’s lead pulled Ros back to the present. They walked under the wisteria-clad walkway. The sweet scent of the pretty purple flowers was delightful. They left the path that Gazza seemed particularly excited about and followed Cameron until he plonked himself down on the grass in the sunshine. ‘Here’ll do,’ he said, lying down.
Gazza saw this as an open invitation to jump on Cameron and try to lick his face. ‘I’m so sorry,’ said Ros, trying to restrain the overexcited hound.
‘He’s fine,’ said Cameron, lifting up the wriggling creature and setting him down on the grass where he sniffed about wildly.
‘What now?’ asked Ros.
Cameron smiled at her. ‘You need to lie down.’
