‘I sure am,’ he beams, pulling her in close to his side.
‘But… but…’ Lou can’t get her words straight. ‘Who’s Pearl then?’
‘Pearl?’ Ivan looks perplexed but Sofia starts laughing. She whispers something to him and his face clears. ‘Oh right, that’s what I call my teeth.’ He flashes us his giant veneers. ‘I have to take good care of my Pearlies.’
Louise makes a weird noise and goes red. ‘Oh,’ she stutters. ‘Well, that’s good then.’
‘But how did this happen?’ I ask, feeling emotional despite myself. It’s all too much. This is just too, too nice.
‘We matched on Tinder!’ Sofia declares, clearly thrilled.
‘We did,’ Ivan confirms seriously. ‘I had to set my distance settings to the bare minimum to make sure I found her on there!’
‘But if you were so keen, why did you keep saying no when Sofia invited you in for tea?’ Louise is still fighting to understand.
He huffs. ‘Oh, I can’t get up those bloody stairs! I’m seventy-two don’t you know.’
‘I’m seventy-seven,’ Sofia teases and he smiles at her, looking up at her with such adoring eyes. ‘And you could’ve invited me down for tea instead.’
He looks alarmed. ‘That seemed a very impertinent thing to do! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, Ms Dove. I don’t know, the very idea of it! Inviting you into my bachelor pad, what would people say about you and your reputation if I did that?’
‘I know you’re in your seventies, Ivan,’ I say nicely, ‘but this is not 1953.’
He nods slowly. ‘Maybe I’ve been watching too muchDownton Abbey,’ he admits thoughtfully.
‘Well then, you really shouldn’t be gettingluckywithout a proposal,’ Louise reminds him and the new couple both look at each other shyly. Ivan takes a deep breath, turning to Sofia and bending down on one knee.
Louise fully screams, ‘OH MY GOD HE’S DOING IT!’ just as Ivan and Sofia both start laughing. She helps him back up.
‘Just joking, love,’ Ivan says. ‘You youngsters are far too caught up with your silly romantic notions of fairytale endings.’
Guilty.
‘Oh.’ Louise looks disappointed. ‘But fairytale endings are really nice!’
Sofia gives her a comforting pat. ‘Maybe we will do that one day, but we’re not in any rush,’ she says gently. ‘We’ve got plenty of time. I’m only seventy-seven!’
With that, they start snogging again and we tiptoe away, me struggling not to cry and Lou muttering something about baking them love cookies.
I pull myself together – no tears, not yet. I have a feeling there will be a lot of crying on its way and I don’t want to get too dehydrated.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Standing on Alex’s doorstep, I am suddenly very hot. Too hot. I need to take this coat off.
‘What are you doing?’ Louise hisses. ‘Ring the doorbell!’
‘I’m trying to get this coat off!’ I wave at her, annoyed. ‘I’m too hot to see Alex and Bibi yet. I need to cool down. How can I say sorry properly when I’m TOO HOT?’
The coat zip sticks halfway down and I yank at it several times. It doesn’t move.
‘Do you need a hand?’ Lou offers helpfully.
‘Of course I don’t need a hand!’ I snap. ‘It’s a ZIP, Lou, I am familiar with zips, I have used zips before in my life. It’s stuck, that’s all!’
‘Maybe a bit of fabric is caught in it?’ she suggests and I turn to face her.
‘Obviously a bit of fabric is caught in it,obviously, Louise,’ I say crossly. ‘Zips throughout time have got stuck for that very reason, I’m familiar with that situation. Iknowit’s probably a bit of fabric that’s stuck in the zip. I KNOW THAT, LOUISE.’
