Whenever she’d asked that in past phone calls, Prin had had to fight the urge to wail down the phone. He had no intention of doing that. She would probably fly straight over and drag him home.
Today, he didn’t have to.
“I think things might be coming together,” he said. “I’ve made some new friends.”
“I had every faith in you,” she replied. “You’re one of my favourite people in the world and I’m never wrong. Now off you go, get your sleep.”
“Goodnight, Nanny.”
“Goodnight, Prin.”
He finished the call and snuggled down under the duvet. His mind fell on the news about his uncle. They had parted badly. Prin did not want a repeat performance. But duty had literally called. It wouldn’t kill Prin to make an effort.
The bus stopped and a yawning Prin disembarked. He had done this thousands of times since he had got the job at PleasureSeekers. This time felt very different. The industrial estate was desolate and he had a gorgeous man waiting for him.
Prin made his way to the Pleasure Seekers building. He found Scott leaning on the wall by the service entrance that only Barry used. The light seemed to dance around him.
Now that is a Saturday morning treat.
Scott beamed. “Are you excited?”
“That’s not quite the word I would use.”
Scott laughed. “Come on, partner. Before anyone sees us.”
Scott held the door open for him and they went inside. They were by the men’s changing rooms again.
“This is becoming a habit,” Prin said.
“It’s also the first Saturday morning I’ve not had a hangover in decades,” Scott replied. “I quite like it.”
Prin laughed. “We should get moving. I keep thinking Barry is going to jump out of a locker and demand to know if we’ve wiped our feet.”
“How did you persuade Elliott to agree to being on call again?”
“Easy,” Prin said. “Darren was supposed to be doing it and was going on about some football match. I just asked Elliott.”
“He must have thought all his Christmasses had come at once.”
Prin nodded. “I half expected him to say I should do it. Then I would have been sunk.”
“Why? It’s normal for people to have commitments at weekends.”
“It’s not normal for me,” Prin replied.
He caught Scott watching him. He must think him a sad little soul. Prin’s face burned with embarrassment.
They made their way up the staircase and into the office.
“Gosh, it feels so much bigger when it’s empty,” Scott said.
Prin was no stranger to the office at weekends. He did his fair share of on-call shifts. Most of the work was remote but occasionally, he’d had to come in. He agreed with Scott though. It took on a different form without the hive of activity it usually hosted.
“I like it like this,” Prin replied.
“I do too,” Scott said. “Not enough to do overtime, but it’s not bad.”
Prin scanned around. “Where shall we position ourselves?”
