Joe blew Carmel a teasing kiss. ‘Don’t forget, they do great food at the Town House on Whiteladies Road. You won’t regret it if you go there.’
Carmel shrugged. ‘Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. We might find somewhere else we’d rather eat.’
Joe was grinning. ‘I love it when you play hard to get.’
‘And you have fun with your rock climbing,’ Carmel replied smoothly. ‘Break a leg. In fact, break as many as you like.’
‘Honestly, you two.’ Tasha shook her head at Carmel as the car disappeared from view. The bickering and sparring between them was endless, despite Carmel still insisting she wasn’t attracted to Joe.
‘I know. Let’s not go to that restaurant, though. If we do, he’ll just think he’s won.’
Two hours later, having walked across the suspension bridge and back, explored Clifton village and the Downs and made their way down Blackboy Hill and Whiteladies Road, they came across the Town House restaurant.
The menu pinned up outside sounded fantastic. The smell was enticing. It was one o’clock, and the place was busy.
‘Looks great,’ said Tasha. Her stomach rumbled in agreement.
‘There are loads of other restaurants.’ Carmel pointed to one across the road. ‘That one might be better.’
‘This place might be booked up anyway. Shall I just see if they have a table?’ When Carmel hesitated, Tasha said, ‘We could always eat here and tell Joe we went somewhere else, if that’ll make you happy.’
Honestly, mad or what? It was like being seventeen again.
There was a free table for two. There were seared scallops – Tasha’s favourite – on the menu, and the lunchtime atmosphere was fun and buzzy. They ordered a bottle of wine.
‘Cheers.’ She clinked glasses with Carmel. ‘While we’re here, Rory and Joe are out in the cold, clinging to a sheer rock face. I know where I’d rather be.’
Carmel grinned. ‘We win.’
An hour and a half later, they asked the waiter for the bill.
‘No need to do that,’ he told Tasha as she took out her credit card. ‘The bill’s been taken care of.’
‘What? By who?’ Carmel’s head swivelled round as she searched the restaurant for a likely admirer.
‘I believe it’s a friend of yours, a gentleman called Joseph James.’
‘Are you serious? Where is he?’
‘He called the restaurant earlier, described what you were both wearing and asked us to call him back if you turned up. We did, and he was delighted you had. He also gave us his card details to settle the bill.’
‘Oh God,’ wailed Carmel. ‘That’s so annoying.’
Tasha marvelled at her friend’s definition of annoying. ‘He bought us lunch. Is that so bad?’
‘He’ll think we came here because he told us to! He’ll be so smug.’
‘He’s smug anyway,’ said Tasha. ‘But we’re going shopping now, and it means we’ll have more money to spend on clothes.’
They caught a cab back to Clifton village, ready to hit the shops with a vengeance. As Carmel paid the driver on Princess Victoria Street, Tasha’s attention was caught by a girl with long auburn ringlets making her way past, lugging a red pet carrier. A tirade of outraged yowling was clearly audible from inside it. The girl, wearing jeans and a pink jacket, paused to lift the carrier to eye level and in a firm voice said, ‘Jeremy, you’re being embarrassing. Stop it.’
‘They don’t like being carted around in those things.’ Her tongue loosened by unaccustomed lunchtime wine, Tasha added, ‘My mum’s cat was just the same. He once yowled in the car all the way from London to Manchester.’
The girl laughed. ‘Jeremy would make a racket all the way from here to Timbuktu, he hates it so much. Don’t you, sweetie?’
With his snub nose pressed against the plastic bars of the pet carrier and his green eyes radiating hatred, Jeremy hissed at them murderously.
‘Come on, the quicker we get you to the vet, the quicker you can take your fury out on him.’ The girl lowered the carrier and said with amusement, ‘The joy of cats, eh?’
But she loved hers, you could tell. ‘Good luck,’ said Tasha.
‘Thanks, I’m going to need it.’ And with Jeremy still howling like a banshee inside his cage, the girl headed off down the street.
Carmel, having paid the taxi driver, was now gazing with rapt attention at the gorgeously lit display in the window right next to them. ‘And now the shopping starts. Oh God, look at that amazing velvet scarf . . .’
The call came forty minutes later, while Tasha was in a changing cubicle trying on a midnight-blue silk dress. The cubicle was small and Carmel was standing outside it holding all their belongings when Tasha heard her own phone begin to ring.