Tuesday

Delilah saw Ash through the restaurant window and nearly laughed at the relief of finding him exactly where she’d asked him to be.

She was two minutes late. He had a glass of water in front of him and the menu closed beside it. When he saw her, he smiled before standing. She went straight to him and kissed him, one hand at the back of his neck, without waiting for the waiter to find somewhere else to look.

“Hello,” he said.

“I hoped you hadn’t read anything.”

“Only the fire exit.”

“Sensible.”

He helped her with her coat because she handed it to him. The new button caught briefly in a strand of her hair. They freed it together, smiling, and she sat opposite him in the small pool of light cast by the lamp on their table.

For most of the afternoon she had been working for somebody…