Rebound

Chapter 5

Chapter 5Kate just stared at the card as if it were some kind of talisman while possibilities flashed through her head. Finally she picked up the phone again and dialled the mobile number on the card. Another answering message, bloody great! And she slammed the phone down feeling thoroughly pissed off and dejected.

She decided to lift her spirits with a bubble bath and just as she was stepping into the water she heard her phone trill from the living room. She assumed it was Debs who having returned to her flat and realised Kate’s stuff was gone, knew that she’d been caught out in her lies. She was tempted to ignore it, but she thought she might as well get the row over and done with, so she ran and grabbed her phone, hitting the answer button without even glancing at the display and spitting a gruff ‘Hello’ into the handset.

‘Erm hi, I’ve just had a missed call from this number, this is Alex Turner.’

‘Alex! Lex! Hi! God I’m sorry, I thought it was going to be Debs and was already in combat mode, how are you?’

‘I’m good, you sound like you’re having a rough day though?’

‘I’ve had better but I’ll survive as the song goes. I was wondering about dinner; I know it’s short notice but there’s a Turkish restaurant down the road that I’ve never tried and I was wondering if you fancied it tonight? Eating I mean!’ Kate was blushing violently at this point and very glad Lex couldn’t see her.

Lex in turn was grinning into her phone like a Cheshire cat. She’d been hoping for a call but didn’t really expect it to happen, let alone so soon.

‘That sounds lovely, but only on 1 condition. I’ve also had a run-in with my ex today -- lets agree not to discuss either of them even once for the whole evening.’

At 7.30 that evening Kate was just walking out of her front door as Lex’s Jeep rolled up outside. They hugged a quick hello and wandered the short distance to the restaurant where they were seated next to the window.

They ordered a selection of dishes to share, pleasantly surprised that they had very similar tastes in food, and proceeded to talk about the people walking past the window. They tried to guess their occupations, hobbies, marital status, sexuality and soon found themselves in fits of laughter at the ridiculous conclusions they reached.

‘OK so here’s a question. How come you teach people to ride bikes but you drive your Jeep everywhere?’

‘Hmmm good question’ answered Lex with a mouthful of cheese and spinach pastry ‘I love bikes, always have, but I guess because I ride them for my job it actually makes a change to drive. Plus Sandra hates bikes and refused to ride pillion.’

‘If Sandra is your ex you’ve just broken your own rule! Come on, you’ve helped me, why don’t you tell me about her, it might help you.’

Lex sighed at her own mistake. She had been determined that they wouldn’t do this tonight but had slipped up big time, however she could do with talking to someone and Kate was happy to listen, so why not.

She explained how they had been together for 2 years when 3 months ago Sandra had suddenly decided she needed to have children. Lex didn’t really want kids but was prepared to go through with it for Sandra’s sake. They looked at the options and finally settled on an anonymous donor to reduce the possibility of paternity complications in the future, and started to do some research.

Everything was looking rosy until one day Lex had come home to find Sandra in tears. She said that the more she thought about it the more she wanted to be with the father of her children, and that she and Lex had to split up.

They’d talked long into the night but Lex was unable to sway her decision, despite the fact that Sandra hadn’t had one single heterosexual relationship in 10 years.

Sandra moved out 2 days later and Lex hadn’t seen or heard from her since, until she bumped into her in a shop today. Sandra had been with a man and they were obviously a couple, bringing the hurt of their break up flooding back. They’d greeted each other awkwardly and Sandra had reluctantly introduced her to the man, calling her a ‘friend’ which had hurt Lex more than anything else.

Lex looked up from the napkin she was shredding and looked at Kate, who was frowning.

‘You poor thing, come here’ and she enfolded Lex into a tight and comforting embrace ‘You’ve been through your own s**t and yet you still helped a stranger last night; I think you must be a very special person.’ And she kissed her on the cheek.

Lex laughed sarcastically ‘listen, there’s something you should know about last night. I wasn’t being as altruistic as you think. I’d been eyeing you up for a while until I realised you were with Debbie, that’s how I happened to notice you having the argument.’ Lex expected Kate to be cross, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

‘Really? You were going to hit on me?’

Lex was embarrassed but there was no point in denying it now, so she nodded guiltily.

‘So why didn’t you? I was with you for hours and you behaved impeccably. Did you change your mind about me once you’d met me?’

‘No! god no! it was all I could do to stop myself kissing you, I just didn’t feel the timing was right.’

‘Which is in itself a noble act. You did the right thing, I would have rejected you last night because of the situation, but I’m very glad I met you and I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, and once I do, and once this crap with Debs is sorted out, who knows?’

Kate gave Lex a big wink and a fleeting kiss on the lips just to let her know that all was ok between them, and then paid the bill.

They left the restaurant they decided to pop into a quiet pub just down the road.