The Complete #LoveLondon Collection

She expected Zack to reach across and unlock the doors so she could climb in, but he got out instead, coming round to open the door for her.

‘You’re getting wet,’ she said stupidly. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’

‘I wanted to,’ he replied, grinning, ‘And Mum drummed good manners into me.’

He looked earnest and kind of cute, his blond hair darkened in the rain. ‘Thank you then, I guess.’

‘Get in then,’ he smiled, ‘we’re both getting wet now.’

‘Sorry!’ Ducking down, she slid into the car and after checking she was settled, he slammed the door. Hard. So hard it shook the whole car.

‘Sorry about that,’ he laughed as he got in, closing his door a lot more gently. ‘That door can be a bit of a pain. I wouldn’t want it swinging open mid-journey.’ He laughed again and she knew her eyes had widened. ‘Don’t look so worried, it probably won’t.’

‘Probably?’ she squeaked.

‘Ninety per-cent.’ He see-sawed his hand, ‘Eighty minimum.’ He paused as there was a sudden gust of wind and the rain rattled on the roof. ‘Anyway, you’ll have a seatbelt on. Just in case.’

‘Ha, ha.’ She replied, knowing from the twinkle in his eye that he was joking.

‘Speaking of,’ he reached across her for the seatbelt tongue, pulling it across her body, ‘this is a bit fiddly too.’

‘Right,’ she breathed, as he did the seatbelt up. He had a dimple near his cheekbone, higher up than the norm. It was sweet. She’d never noticed it before, although they spoke every morning in the staff room before their shift. His easy, laid back manner was a pleasant start to the working day.

He sat back and stared at her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, thanks. I’m just a bit tired.’

‘Side hurting?’ he asked sympathetically, putting the key in the ignition and turning it.

‘A bit of a niggle,’ she said, touched by the concern, ‘I was stood up a lot today.’ Most of the staff knew she’d sustained some kind of injury to her ribs the year before, and that sometimes she needed to take a break or find some painkillers. They didn’t however know the details. Zack had never pressed her for them.

‘Have you taken anything?’ Music came on, and he fiddled with some buttons, getting the heater started.

‘A couple of ibuprofen earlier,’ she answered distractedly, ‘this is Bastille.’

‘Yes.’ He nodded.

‘I didn’t know you liked them.’

‘You said they were good so I bought the album to check them out. That’s what friends do, right?’ he cranked the heater up. ‘They share their likes and dislikes, recommend stuff to each other.’ She nodded in agreement. ‘By the way,’ he continued, ‘how are you getting on with the book I leant you?’

‘It’s really great. I love it.’

‘Good. Well, let me know when you’ve finished it and I’ll recommend another.’

‘Okay, and I’ll bring some of those sci-fi books in that I was telling you about.’

‘Sounds good.’ He stared at her, hands on the steering wheel.

‘All ready to go then?’ she asked pointedly, shivering.

‘I, uh, yeah, sorry.’ Turning to face the windscreen, he shook his head, his hair brushing his jacket collar at the back.

They chattered away as he drove across town, comparing notes on favourite films and TV programmes, mock-arguing about whose line manager was going to explode soonest in the race for the best sales results, exchanging stories about their childhoods, her as an only child, him as one of four brothers.

‘Oh my god, your poor mum!’ she joked, tracing a snowflake shape into the condensation on her window that had built up from their shared breathing.

‘Nah, it could have been worse,’ Zack replied.

‘How?’ she glanced at him. ‘Five boys?’

‘No,’ he said with a completely straight face, ‘it could have been four-’

‘Girls!’ she finished off, pretending to punch his arm. ‘Oi!’

‘Come on…Are girls not higher maintenance than boys?’

‘You’re at risk of sounding like a complete sexist. Luckily for you, I know you’re joking!’

‘Yeah, I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong,’ he answered cheekily.

‘Boys are just as bad as girls, but in different ways.’ She sighed, pretending to be exasperated. Actually, she was having fun.

‘Boys tend to be more adventurous I guess,’ he mused. ‘So tend to get hurt more.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that. First exit off here,’ she directed as they came to a roundabout. ‘We’re only five minutes away. I mean, I was quite adventurous,’ she carried on with their conversation. ‘I went and travelled the world for a year after finishing uni.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ His face lit up. ‘So did I! Where did you go? I did Europe; France, Spain, Italy. Then some of Asia, finishing off in Australia.’

‘Me too! I mean, no, I mostly did Thailand, but spent three months in Australia, at the end. Worked my way along the Gold Coast, had casual jobs in some bars and then picked grapes in a really beautiful vineyard. God, it was so great to feel the sun on my skin. The rainforest and waterfalls were sensational too.’ She sighed longingly, ‘I could have stayed there forever.’

‘Yeah, I’m a sun worshipper too. I worked along the road from the Mount Tamborine Vineyard, at the Glow Worm Caves.’

‘That place is amazing!’ Frankie turned to face him, ‘Wow, talk about a small world; that was the vineyard I was at. We could have met! I was there in 2011, how about you?’

‘I was there in 2010. It was amazing, but a bloody expensive trip too. It was worth it, really once in a lifetime stuff, but I’m still paying it off now, four years later. Still, at least I only have a year left.’

‘Yes! Exactly! Me too. About the expensive bit I mean.’ She fell silent. She’d be repaying it for a lot longer, given when she’d been with Christian she’d barely made a dent in the debts. He’d offered to pay the loans off for her lots of times, but something in her had always balked. It’d felt too much, him paying for the fun she’d had before meeting him. Now she wished she’d taken him up on the offer.

‘I always meant to go travelling again,’ he shared, ‘maybe I’ll look into it towards the end of next year.’

‘Yes,’ she replied absently. ‘Right here, please,’ she directed him down a side road that cut through to the main high street with all its shops and bars.

‘Thanks. Everything all right? You’ve gone quiet on me.’

Even though she was staring out of the window at the soaked streets, she could feel him looking at her. She bit her lip, wondering if her life would have gone in a different direction if she had been at the vineyard a year earlier, if she’d met Zack then, had come back to the UK with a good friend, someone who had shared experiences and shared money worries. She might not have met Christian, or if she had, might have thought twice about falling into a whirlwind relationship with him. Of course, she’d fallen out of it almost as quickly, and on bad days wondered if that had been a mistake.

‘Frankie? You’re worrying me. I’m not used to you not spouting some opinion or bit of gossip at me. Is everything okay?’