short story
saying, she’ll have flown the nest before long and I’ll be sitting at home on my own if I’m not very careful. I’ve still got so much… living to do, you know?” “I’ve got a pug dog,” Rose blurted before she could
stop herself. “So I don’t feel lonely. The things he gets up to, he’s like a little… person.” She faltered to a stop, remembering Angie advice too late. Kevin smiled into his pint. “I’ve got an old
Lab. He’s getting on now, but when his dander’s up he can still pull some stunts, let me tell you.” “Really?” Rose smiled,
relaxing for the first time since they met, letting herself look into Kevin’s eyes for one, two, three seconds before seeking refuge in her wine glass again. It didn’t escape her notice he continued to look at her after she broke eye contact. “I don’t normally do this sort of
think she was at best a fool – and at worst some sort of loose woman on the lookout for single men. “Seeing as I’m late, I’ll get in the first round,” Kevin
said. “Small wine for the lady?” Pushing her chair back, Rose got up too quickly,
edge of the table making her feel positively nauseous
thing,” Rose told the tabletop. “Me neither,” Kevin said. Rose looked up at him.
Angie had implied that he had a reputation for dating anything that moved, but she didn’t get that about him at all. Instead of the small town lothario she’ had been expecting, Kevin seemed just as uncertain and nervous as she. “But I would like to –” “Rose?” Rose turned to look up at the person who’d called her name. “Rose! Hello, sorry I’m late – I got stuck on the loo, you know how it is, one curry too many!” “Sorry?” Rose stared at the sweaty, greasy looking
man holding out a fat-fingered hand. And then it sunk in – he was wearing a blue checked shirt too. “I’m Kevin – your date for tonight, you lucky girl!”
he wheezed. “You’re…” Rose looked at the man she’d been
talking to. “Then who are you?” “I’m Ben,” he said, his smile quiet and gentle. “I’m
very pleased to meet you.” “Oh my god.” Rose felt the horror rise in her chest,
the sight of the real Kevin’s sizeable belly hanging over the edge of the table making her feel positively nauseous. What an idiot, what a fool she had been! She had never asked Ben his name and now he must
rise in her chest, the real Kevin’s sizeable belly hanging over the
felt the horror Rose
stumbling on her heels, bumping into Kevin. “I’m so sorry,” she told Ben, her cheeks blazing. “What must you think of me?” Pushing past Kevin’s bulk, she fled for the door. “Oi! Where are you going? I’ve booked at Curry City, it’s all you can eat!” Alone in the dark, Rose
paused to take a breath. What a fool she was, letting Angie build her up like that, letting her believe she’d ever be good enough to meet
someone as nice as Ben. All she wanted to do was go home and fall asleep on the sofa with Brutus. So what if she’d spend the rest of her life
alone? All Rose knew was that she never wanted to feel that humiliated ever again. “Rose?” Rose twirled round to find Ben with a concerned
look on his face. “You didn’t finish your drink.” “But I… don’t you see?” Rose said. “It was all a
mistake. It wasn’t you I was meant to be meeting!” “That’s one way of looking at it,” Ben said holding
out his hand. “Or you could say that maybe it was exactly me that you were meant to meet. And maybe I was meant to meet you. What I do know is that I’d like to find out, over the rest of that drink?” “Really?” “You’re the first woman I’ve been able to talk to in
years,” Ben said. “Elsa would kill me if I just let you go over some silly misunderstanding.” Rose hesitated for a moment, sensing something
shifting beneath her, as if she could feel the possibility of a future beneath her silly shoes. “OK then,” she said, impulsively
reaching up to take his hand. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it was meant to be.”
latest book Lessons In Laughing Out Loud (Arrow, £6.99) is out now
WWW.CANDIS.CO.UK | OCTOBER 2011 131 Coleman’s Rowan
Lucy Truman
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