‘Would you like to sit down?’
Anna looked at him, smiled and shook her head. She used to worry, when that happened, that the person offering must thinkshe looked pregnant. Now, she worried that they thought she looked old.
She stole a look at the boy who’d spoken. He was sitting beside a man who was probably his dad, and they were chatting, their heads close together. Anna felt a twinge of recognition, and something else. She put her headphones on and turned on an audiobook, but she wasn’t really listening to it. She was watching this man, the way he was carefully explaining something to his son, the way they were interacting as if they were the only people there. Without warning, the man looked up and caught her eye for a moment, gave her a half smile, and Anna felt something tugging at her, felt her insides soften. She had a sudden memory from years ago, of standing outside the flat she’d shared with Edward, on her way to see Nia just after Cara had been born. She’d picked up a toy dropped by a little boy who was walking with his dad, and she’d felt a strange kind of connection there. She’d forgotten about it afterwards, because she’d got caught up in meeting Cara and also in discovering that Nia’s Jamie was her James. She did the maths, based on how old Cara was now. Could it be the same father and son? Was that crazy?
When Anna changed to the other branch of the Northern Line at Kennington, the father and son did too. But they went past Clapham without getting off, and Anna pushed the thought away, decided she was being ridiculous. At Balham, she made her way to the doors, and saw that they were doing the same thing. She followed them up the escalator and out into the light, carefully stepped over a pair of kids’ sunglasses that were smashed on the pavement. And then they turned into a shop, and she carried on.
Once she’d let herself in, flicked on the kettle and made tea, Anna had a look through the post that she’d brought in from the mat. A gas bill, a couple of leaflets, and something that wasn’t forher. It was addressed to John Murphy. Not the previous owner. And then she noticed that it wasn’t just the name that was wrong, but the address. It was for next door. She grabbed her keys and went down her front path and up the next one, and just as she was about to push the envelope through the letterbox, the door opened.
It was him. The man with the son from the Tube. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, and Anna took a moment to really look at him, his broad shoulders and his beard and his crinkly eyes.
‘I’m Anna,’ she said. ‘I live next door. I…’ She gestured towards the envelope in her hands. ‘This is yours. Or… for someone here.’
He smiled, reached out a hand to take it, and in the transfer, their fingers touched and Anna felt like she’d had a small electric shock.
‘Thanks, it’s mine,’ he said. ‘New postie, he seems to get a bit muddled up. I’m Steve.’
‘Steve? But…’
He folded his arms, looked at her, waiting.
‘Sorry, I just thought the letter was addressed to a John.’
‘Oh, that. Yes, I go by Steve. Middle name.’
Anna grinned, couldn’t help it. She imagined telling Nia she’d met her handsome neighbour and his name began with J.
‘Did I see you on the Tube just now?’ Steve asked.
‘Yes.’
‘And you’re my next-door neighbour?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve only been here a couple of weeks. It’s just me, and sometimes my son, Luke. Is it just you, next door?’
It seemed like a blatant attempt to find out whether she was single. To her surprise, she found that she didn’t mind.
‘Just me.’
‘Well, have a good evening.’
Something in her didn’t want to leave, but she forced herself to. Back up one path, down the other. Since Ben, there had been no one. And she’d thought that was just how it was, now. She’d thought that side of her life was over. But there was no denying that there was something there, with Steve, with her neighbour. She felt a little shiver run through her at the thought of it. Here she was, feeling a bit like a teenager with a crush, feeling like she sort of knew this man who she’d almost certainly never met, or definitely only met in passing. It was exhilarating, and scary, and nice.
Anna let herself back into her flat and leaned back against the door. Took a deep breath. And then she went into her kitchen and started making herself a salad for dinner. A little later, once she’d eaten and she was sitting on the sofa with a book in her hand, she called Nia.
‘Hey,’ Nia said.
‘Hey yourself. Guess what happened today?’
‘You finally pitched that book idea I keep telling you about, the one about my boss and Ellen?Fifty Shades of Dull Office Romance.’
Anna laughed. ‘Are they back together?’
‘Oh, who the hell knows? I’ve given up trying to keep track. But I do have a lot of material, you know, for the book.’
‘I did have a good day at work, actually. I found a new publicity person.’
