‘Wonderful, thank you. Have a good evening, you two.’
‘Wow,’ Ellie said once they were out in the corridor. ‘That’s the first time she’s ever told me to have a good evening. She loves you.’
Anna smiled. She knew Ellie was joking, but she did feel proud of how she was getting on at work.
‘Enjoy your toast,’ Anna said when they were outside the building.
‘Enjoy your pasta. And happy anniversary,’ Ellie called over her shoulder.
When Anna walked through the door, she was met with a loud blast of Oasis. She smiled. You wouldn’t think it by looking at Edward, but he was obsessed with nineties Britpop. She went through to the kitchen. He hadn’t heard her come in, and she watched him for a moment. He was standing at the hob, moving back and forth between two pans that both seemed to need attention, and singing ‘Wonderwall’ at the top of his voice. Anna waited until he’d moved away from the boiling water and then put her arms around his waist from behind. He jumped.
‘Anna! I didn’t hear you come in.’
‘What are we having?’ she asked, reaching over to turn the volume down a little. ‘Can I help?’
‘No, you go and sit down. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.’
She went into the living room, flopped down on the sofa and flicked through the TV channels. There was nothing on, but sheleft it on an old episode ofFriendsand let her mind wander until Edward called for her to come in.
He’d changed the music to Pulp, one of the few bands they both liked. He’d set the table too, and bought a nice bottle of red wine. Anna smiled at him.
‘Thank you for this,’ she said. ‘It’s lovely.’
He smiled back but didn’t say anything, just gestured for her to sit down and put a bowl in front of her.
‘Surely not pasta?’ she teased.
‘New recipe, though. Salmon and spinach.’
‘Yum.’
‘So how was work?’
‘Good, busy. The afternoon flew by. I looked up and it was time to go home. You?’
Edward rubbed his forehead as if the very idea of work was bothering him. ‘Yeah, not too bad.’
‘Weren’t you seeing Rav today?’ she asked. ‘How’s he?’
‘He’s well,’ Edward said, and Anna sensed that there was more there.
‘And Eleanor?’ Anna thought back to Rav and Eleanor’s wedding, how beautiful she had looked, how elegant.
‘Pregnant,’ Edward said.
‘Oh, that’s lovely!’ Anna exclaimed.
And then she saw Edward wince, as if the pregnancy, or her reaction to it, was causing him physical pain. He hadn’t asked her, again, since she’d said she didn’t want to try for a baby, but he made his feelings clear in other ways. And they were at that age, of course, when plenty of friends were announcing pregnancies.
‘This is delicious,’ Anna said, gesturing at her nearly empty bowl.
Edward smiled a little. ‘I thought you’d like it.’
She noticed that he’d stopped eating and was looking at her. ‘What?’
‘This song, it’s…’
It was their song, the one they’d danced to at their wedding. It felt like so long ago.
