Eve walked away at the mention of Serena’s name. She had sent her application for the job off before she had got into the car to come to Leeds and hoped Serena would see merit in the application.
But now she was with Edward and she had almost forgotten she was supposed to be keeping boundaries strong and instead they were shopping like a married couple while her parents looked after his children.
‘I might get Myles a book about guitars,’ he said as he came to her side.
‘Boring,’ she said.
‘Rude.’ He laughed.
She turned to him.
‘Did you and Serena have an affair?’ she asked, hurdling over the supposed boundaries she had just been thinking about.
‘What?’ He laughed.
‘My friend at work said that you and Serena were lovers.’
‘Lovers? That’s a very old-fashioned term.’ He smiled at her, his eyes catching hers then searching her face.
‘Okay, she said that you two had sex.’
He frowned. ‘Why do you want to know?’
Eve regretted the question immediately, but she also couldn’t pretend it didn’t annoy her. But Edward owed nothing to her, not even an answer to the question.
‘I don’t, forget I asked. It’s just gossip.’ She picked up a photography book of dogs catching treats. ‘This will be good for Mum.’
‘Would it matter to you if I had?’ he asked.
His face was close to hers and she opened her mouth, trying to speak or breathe; she wasn’t sure when she was this close to him.
‘Edward Priest, what an honour to have you in our store,’ said a loud voice and Eve saw a man behind him. ‘Would you consider signing the books of yours we have on the shelf? We usually have more but yours sell so quickly, we can’t keep up.’
Edward turned to the man, his face calm, impassive. ‘Absolutely, I would love to.’
Eve paid for the book for her mother and went and waited as Edward signed the books and took photos with the staff and a few people in the store who knew him.
As he signed the last book, Eve saw Dave and his wife walk into the shop.
Eve started to giggle as she saw the look on Dave’s wife’s face.
‘He’s not Edward Priest,’ she said loudly. ‘He’s an imposter. I hope you didn’t pay him.’
Edward looked at Eve who was now wiping tears from her eyes.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said and he took her arm and they ran from the store like shoplifting teenagers.
They ran up Briggate, laughing, her hand in his as he pulled her into a side street and then down into a laneway, and he pushed her up against a wall.
His mouth hovered around hers, as though looking for permission.
‘I never slept with Serena. I would never sleep with Serena. We were not lovers.’
Eve looked up at him, wanting this to be true.
‘I have not been with any woman since Amber left. I haven’t wanted to be with any woman until you, Eve Pilkins, came into my life and turned it upside down.’
He took a deep breath and paused.
