“Like I said … forever. Don’t you think maybe it’s time you gave her what she wants?”
“Probably. I sort of said it was fine and if that’s what she really wants I’ll go along with it … but …”
“But that’s hardly the proposal of the century?”
He let out a humourless laugh. “Exactly. She says if my heart’s not in it then we shouldn’t get married … but she doesn’t want to waste her life waiting for me to figure things out.”
“I’ll be honest. I don’t really get it.” Noah flopped onto his back. “Why don’t you want to marry her?”
“I’m happy the way things are. But she’s not. We had a big argument and she left.”
“She’ll come back when she calms down.” They owned an apartment together in central London, so it wasn’t as though she could just walk out and not look back. Besides, she’d also left Trystan a couple of months ago. Noah suspected it was her way of backing Trystan into a corner, which wasn’t exactly a healthy relationship.
“She seemed a bit too calm this time,” Trystan mused. “Last time she shouted at me, then stormed out. This time she seemed more sad than angry.”
“Maybe she thought she’d try a different tactic.”
“Maybe. Anyway, why are you calling me so late?”
“Women trouble,” he said.
“Is this about Seren, by any chance?”
Noah felt his forehead wrinkle as he thought about his best friend back home. “No. Why would it be about Seren?”
“You’re still claiming that’s purely platonic?”
“It is platonic. Always has been. Always will be.”
“I thought it might be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.”
He sat up again. “That’s definitely not the issue. I’m actually thinking of asking someone out. There’s this woman who comes in the pub …”
“The one you’ve liked for a while?”
“Yeah, Keira. She was in the pub tonight for her birthday.” He relayed the story of him ending up with her number and that he didn’t know what to do about it.
“If you like her, call her. I’m not sure why you’re confused about this.”
“Because I’m moving home in less than two months. What’s the point of starting something now?”
“Who knows? You might go on a date with her and decide you don’t like her that much after all. Or maybe you find you like her enough to stay in Bristol.”
“I’m definitely not staying in Bristol.”
“Maybe if things work out you could get her to move to St Mary’s.”
“Yeah. I’m sure she’d want to up and move to an island in the Atlantic.”
“I think that’s most women’s dream: to be whisked away to somewhere exotic.”
“Maybe, if we were actually talking about somewhere exotic. I’m not sure how many people want to be whisked away to a remote island off the coast of Cornwall.”
“You never know. Anyway, you’re thinking too far ahead. Just go on a date with her and see how it goes.”
“I don’t know.”
“I thought you’d promised to call her … don’t disappoint her.”