I’m in the car park. Text me when you get here ☺
I hit send and reached for my cap, which I pulled low over my eyes. I’d never successfully gone unnoticed with a cap in the past. People always recognised me from my size alone. Not to mention that I was on crutches, so if there was any doubt that it was me hiding under the cap, the crutches would take care of that. Why was I even bothering with the stupid cap?
For her. I was bothering for her. She was in my head this morning before my eyes were fully open. And even though my bed was empty, I felt less alone than I had for years.
I sent her a message as soon as I woke up, excited that I could – grateful she’d agreed to give me her phone number. Even after our long talk in the car last night, I was still worried she’d keep her number from me but she cheerfully typed it into my phone when I asked again.
Minutes after sending her that first message today, I checked Facebook. Joel had sent me a link to the West Australian page. I ignored Bluey’s yelps for attention as I zoomed in on each photo.
How could I have been so careless with her? I messaged her immediately. After an agonising wait she replied, and miraculously she didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
So I’d found a girl who wasn’t worried about media attention but wasn’t out to get it either. It couldn’t get more perfect than that.
If today was a normal day, I would’ve joined in with everyone early this morning for a recovery session on the coast. Then I would have driven out with one of the rookies to a primary school for an Auskick fundraiser that had been scheduled in since last year. But instead they sent Joel to the school to play kick-tokick and lecture kids about bullying, while I met up with one of the team physios who started me on the boring non-weightbearing gym program.
Then it was straight into the hydrotherapy pool for forty-five minutes of laps, just like a little old lady after a hip replacement. The only difference being that I did it in deep water with a vest and was expected to jog not walk. When I got out, I was so dizzy from the humidity I reached for the wall, worried I was about to pass out.
I walked out of the club rooms to the stands and watched the team training together for a few minutes – new season, all pumped, all fit, all united with a clear goal. The boundary fence may as well have been sky high and it wouldn’t have been any more of a barrier between us.
Back home, I drove Bluey down to the local dog beach. I’d forgotten how hard managing crutches in sand was until they sank in deep with my first step. I sat myself down as close as I could get to the sea but where the sand was still dry. Bluey bounded after the stick that I threw at least fifty times – jowls flapping, ears back, in his nirvana.
‘All right, enough. Go play!’ I ordered him when my shoulder ached. ‘Off you go.’ I pointed at the ocean and he took off.
I leant back on my forearms and watched him make an idiot of himself in the shallows. He was joined a few minutes later by a white fluff ball about a quarter of his size. The fluff ball had a pink bow between its ears and yapped at Bluey as he sniffed its butt.
I looked to see who the dog belonged to and saw a girl jogging along the water’s edge coming up from the south. The fluff ball’s yapping turned more desperate as Bluey tried unsuccessfully to hump her. She was too light on her feet for him. But she kept hanging around, running up close enough to give him a taste and then bounding off as soon as he tried to get her in his grip.
‘Fifi! Fifi! No! Shoosh!’ The girl slowed her jog down to a walk. ‘Fifi! Come!’
Fifi didn’t come. Fifi, I thought, was having way too much fun teasing poor Bluey with her pink backside.
‘Hi there!’ The girl panted, pulling out her ear plugs.
‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Cute dog.’
‘Argh.’ She laughed, looking at the dogs. ‘She’s so naughty. Fifi! Come I said!’
Fifi still didn’t come.
‘Mind if I sit for a minute while they play?’ she said, as she plonked herself down on the sand next to me, wrapping the earplug wire around her phone.
The wind blew my hair in front of my face, so I lifted off my sunnies and used them as a headband.
‘Oh my God! You’re Nick Harding!’ Her eyes widened.
I pulled my sunnies back down. ‘Hi.’
‘I’m Tanya.’ She smiled. ‘It’s sooo cool to bump into you like this. Oh look, your crutches, how sad.’
‘Ah well, shit happens.’
‘So I guess you can’t even train or anything?’
‘Not for a while, nope.’
‘Aw, you poor thing. I feel so sorry for you.’
The seasoned warning bell in my head sounded. Her tone. I knew that tone. Just as I was beginning to wind down and relax out here at the beach too. I tensed up between the shoulder blades.
‘So what are you going to do with yourself for the rest of the day, Nick? I bet you’re bored,’ Tanya purred.
‘No, nope, it’s all good.’
‘Still, it’s kind of lonely, isn’t it, just hanging around at the beach, alone?’ She flicked her blonde ponytail and pulled down her fitted running singlet, wriggling a little. ‘Are you lonely, Nick?’
My eyes, drawn to the movement, noticed her breasts. They looked good. I took in more of her. Toned body, pretty hair, pretty face, really pretty smile.
She bent her long legs up and her running shorts gaped. Because she was facing me, this gave me a perfect view of her butt cheeks. There were no knickers showing. I let myself imagine her in the G-string she must’ve been wearing – or better still, nothing at all.
‘Nope, I’m not lonely at all,’ I replied, unsmiling. ‘How far are you running today?’
I had no interest in how long her run was. But I needed to distract myself with a question, any question. I peeled my eyes away from her tight butt and watched the ongoing game of cat and mouse between our dogs instead.
‘Short run for me today, six k’s.’
‘That’s impressive for a sand run.’ I kept looking out to sea.
Tanya shuffled herself forward right in front of me, so that she was now between me and the water.
‘Not as impressive as what Nick Harding does.’ She gave my leg a nudge with her elbow. ‘Hey, have you made any plans for lunch? I was thinking of grabbing some sushi. Want to join me? You’re welcome to bring your dog round to mine if you like. I’m just up the road here and we’ve got the best Japanese takeaway at the end of the street.’ She smiled her pretty smile.
I nodded. ‘Thanks, but I can’t.’
‘Are you sure?’ She tilted her head down and looked at me over the top of her sunglasses. ‘We could have a fun afternoon. Just saying.’ She cocked her eyebrow up and slipped her hand around the back of my calf. Her fingernails tickled my skin.
I clenched my jaw, angry at my stupid body for betraying me with its arousal. No better than Pavlov’s fucking dogs, I was.
I pushed myself up off the ground. ‘Sorry, I really can’t. I’d better get going.’
I didn’t make eye contact with her but could imagine her offended look as I bent down for the crutches. ‘Nice to meet you and everything,’ I mumbled before whistling for Bluey. ‘Blue! Come on!’
Tanya brushed the sand off her legs as she stood up too, bending right down in front of me.
I looked away.
She shook out her ponytail. ‘You wouldn’t regret it, Nick. Nobody regrets coming to back to mine.’
Another erection threatened.
‘I’ve got a girlfriend so I actually would regret it.’
‘Oh, I didn’t know. Well that’s fair enough then.’
Bluey bolted over, saving me from the uncomfortable silence that followed. He stuck his nose right into Tanya’s crotch before I sharply pulled him away and clipped his lead on. ‘See you later.’
‘See you,’ she replied without much enthusiasm. ‘Fifi! Come!’
I started the hard trek up the sand back to the car. When I looked back down at the beach. Tanya was chasing the fluff ball, still calling, ‘Fifi! Come!’
Fifi didn’t come.
Back home, I made myself a toasted sandwich and picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. There was an inscription in pink pen with big girly hand writing on the inside cover –
This book belongs to Noor. You can borrow it, but only while you’re in Australia. This does NOT mean it is yours to keep. I hope I have made that VERY clear!
I added ‘So who’s Noor?’ to the growing list of questions I had for Anna.
I rolled my eyes at the blurb but starting reading anyway, just so I could tell her I had. What I would have preferred was to pick up the new James Patterson book that was sitting right there waiting to be read. But when I looked up from the pages for the first time, over two hours had passed and it was time to go to the pool. Any wonder she raved about it! If it wasn’t her who I was heading off to meet, I would have been annoyed to have to stop reading until the book was done.
I threw a towel over my shoulder, tucked my wallet and phone into my board shorts pockets and wore my goggles like a bracelet. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I drove barefoot to the stadium.
Hmm, it was now twenty minutes since we’d agreed to meet and half an hour since I messaged her. Should I message her again?
My phone vibrated:
I am here! Come inside I am waiting – lane 8 ☺
I grabbed the crutches and got in there as fast as I could. I paid for a two-month pool pass and wondered if that was too cocky. Would she still be wanting to meet up with me then?
I expected people to stop me for photos when I went into the pool area, but nobody paid me any attention. It was quieter than yesterday – just a few mums with toddlers in the kiddie pool and the odd person doing laps, as well as an oldies water exercise class. All the schoolkids weren’t here yet. Excellent.
She was sitting at the end of the lane with her feet dangling in the water and those sexy red bathers on again. Her goggles sat high up on her head and when she saw me she waved with her hand tucked in close to her chest. I didn’t regret getting the two-month pass.
I waved back and rested my crutches on the floor behind her. The second my cap was off I tensed up, waiting to hear my surname being shouted. But it didn’t happen and I relaxed. I emptied the contents of my pockets – wallet, keys and phone, tucked them into the cap and then crossed my arms over my stomach and peeled off my T-shirt.
I walked over to the lockers and when I came back, Anna’s eyes were glued to my abs.
‘Hi Anna.’
She didn’t answer. She kept staring.
I smiled and pulled my goggles down so they hung around my neck. I eased myself off the edge until I was standing chest-deep in the warm water in the lane beside hers. I did a quick look around for onlookers with phones. There weren’t any.
Anna stood up and executed a perfect dive, emerging out of the water with a grin.
‘Nice dive.’ I said, raising my eyebrows. ‘Where’d you learn to dive like that?’
‘Oh, at school. Now let’s race.’ She gave me a huge smile.
‘So you’re serious then? You actually want to race me?’ I asked, amused. ‘I’ve done an Ironman challenge, you know. I’m a qualified surf lifesaver. I’m an elite sportsman. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m also six foot six. You sure you want to race me?’
She nodded, grinning.
‘What do I get if I win?’ I leaned my face in close to hers.
‘What would you like your prize to be, Nicholas Harding?’
I chuckled. ‘I want you to come home with me after this.’
She looked away and laughed. ‘I am working. What else?’
‘I get to kiss you.’ I stroked her cheek with my knuckles. The feel of her skin on mine gives me a rush.
She tilted her head to the side. ‘Deal.’
‘Where?’
‘What do you mean where?’ She looked alarmed.
‘Where can we go so I can kiss you if you won’t come to my house after the race?’ I found her thigh under the water and ran my fingers along it, keeping my eyes locked on hers.
She inhaled sharply. I explored the smooth skin on the outside of her leg for a few seconds before she placed her hand firmly over mine.
‘It does not matter where you want to go for this kiss, Nick, because I am going to win. There will be no kissing prize today.’
‘Is that right? So what do you want if you win?’ I was trying hard to control my breathlessness. It was ridiculous how turned on I was just from touching her leg for a few seconds.
‘When I win, my prize will be that you let me make you a Turkish coffee, and you drink it all up.’ She laughed and pulled down her goggles. ‘Eight laps. Freestyle. You ready?’
‘Eight laps? That’s four hundred metres. Why so long?’
‘Endurance, Nick. You are an elite athlete, are you not? Show me what you can do. Your height is too big an advantage for one or two laps. I need more laps because then I can tire you out.’
‘You think you can tire me out? That’s cute,’ I snorted, putting my goggles on too. ‘All right, on the count of three?’
We both pushed off and I led from the get-go. Towards the end of the first lap, I was surprised to find her just over a body length behind me and, by the end of second lap, I was more surprised to find her still there. I took it up a notch for laps three and four, but so did she and she closed in on me. I went even harder but still I couldn’t shake her off. It had been a long time since I’d had to swim this hard but no way was I losing to her, so I put more into each kick. She stayed on my tail and no matter how fast I went, I couldn’t put more distance between us.
For the last hundred metres I sprinted, giving it everything I had – taking huge gulps of air, kicking fiercely and ploughing through the water with my arms. My throat burned, my legs felt like jelly and my shoulders were screaming in pain. My hand slapped the wall a split second after hers at the finish.
I pulled off my goggles and gasped for air. ‘What the hell was that?’ I shook my head at her, laughing. ‘Explain yourself, woman!’
‘You should find out who you are competing against before laying bets.’ She smiled, getting the words out a few at a time in between deep breaths. ‘I was national champion for two years running in Egypt, and world champion in the four hundred, and the fifteen hundred free when I was sixteen. Oh, and for seven weeks I held the world record in the four hundred free.’
‘What?’ My eyes were just about hanging out of their sockets. ‘A world champion? How could you not have told me that last night?’
She shrugged. ‘Perhaps if you did not spend so much time obsessing over whether I ate bacon or not I might have had more time to tell you.’ She stretched her shoulders. ‘Excuse me, professional surf lifesaver, Ironman, elite sportsman, huge six-footsix man. I am going to continue with some slow laps now. Do you think you can keep up?’ She pushed off from the wall while I hung off the ropes, watching her go with my jaw hanging wide open.
My mind raced while I swam. When we stopped for a break after four more laps, I asked her, ‘So do you still compete?’
‘No, not since we arrived in Australia.’
‘Why not?’
She wiped the water from her face and answered slowly. ‘It was impossible to focus. I had no sleep, I had no energy. I was grieving. And I blamed my swimming for why my mother and I were in Australia in the first place.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘She was with me for a competition, one of the lead-ups to the World Championships. Either my mother or father always accompanied me to international meets.’ She paused. ‘Do you really want to know all of this now, Nick – here in the pool?’
‘Of course I want to hear it. I don’t care where we are. But would you rather tell me later?’
‘No.’ She sighed. ‘Now that I have started I want to finish. I just do not want to make you uncomfortable with heavy news such as this.’
I reached for her hand. ‘I’m not uncomfortable. Tell me the rest.’
‘I will swim a lap and come back,’ she said.
‘I’ll come with you.’
When we reached the end again, we rested with our backs against the wall.
‘My mother is Leila Hayati.’
‘You’re looking at me like I should know who that is.’
‘You don’t?’
I wracked my brain and came up blank. ‘No.’
‘Well, a little over a year ago her name made headlines here. That is why I assumed you would have heard of her, of us.’
‘What kind of headlines?’
She gulped. ‘My mother was the leader of the Egyptians for Peace Democratic Party.’
‘Like a major political party?’
She cleared her throat. ‘Yes. She was going to run for president in the next elections and she was the favourite to win. She was popular with the majority of Egyptians – Muslims, Christians, Jews. Everyone loved her. She had tolerant policies and she promised to restore our country to its former glory, the way it was before it was corrupted by politics and radicalism.’
‘Okay.’ I worked at keeping a poker face. Running for president? ‘And?’
‘There was another party called the Islamic Alliance. They had been opposed to my mother for years because of what they considered to be her blasphemous ways. They did not like that a woman, especially one who was a Christian, had this much influence over the people. They felt threatened, I think, that she had such progressive views, and they hated her for not converting to Islam.’ She spoke staring straight in front of her. ‘My parents were worried about our family being targeted by supporters of the Islamic Alliance. So we had bodyguards twenty-four hours a day.’
I swallowed the dread that was building up as I listened.
‘When I started coming up through the ranks of swimming, the Islamic Alliance took offence to my swimsuits. I was not wearing a burkini, you see. They held a press conference to denounce my parents. They believed that the daughter of a highly positioned Muslim academic – my father was the Dean of Alexandria University – should be showing more modesty. They also made a big issue of the fact that I didn’t wear a hijab.’
She blew air up to her wet fringe. ‘Of course my parents believed that the decision to wear a hijab or a burkini was a personal one to be made by each individual woman, not a sanctioned law to be enforced without question on all women. So they ignored the protestations of the Islamic Alliance and I continued to compete wearing a regular swimsuit.’ Her eyes were locked on mine now as she wound and unwound her goggles around her wrist. ‘The week before we left for Australia, a video was sent to Channel 5, which is Alexandria’s big news television station. It was a short clip of a jihadist calling for the immediate resignation of my mother and my withdrawal from the Egyptian swimming team unless I wore a burkini. He said that if we did not listen to his warning, there would be consequences.’
‘Oh no.’ I gulped.
‘My mother called a press conference that same day and said, “Of course we will not let terrorists scare us, nor will we let them threaten the very freedom that makes Egypt the jewel of the Middle East.”’ Her voice wobbled. ‘And the next week, we came to Australia for me to compete. My mother was defiant to the end. She knew we would be filmed at the airport so she had me wear my hair out, and even though she usually held hers back she wore it out too.’
The skin on her wrist had turned an angry shade of red where she’d been twisting her goggle strap.
‘And then what happened?’
‘They set off a bomb in my father’s car.’
As soon as the words were out she broke down.
‘Jesus,’ I whispered.
She hung her head and said through tears, ‘One of our bodyguards, Hamdy, who my father loved like a brother, was wearing the device.’
I ducked under the rope and into her lane and took her in my arms. She silently sobbed into my chest.
A teenager seated a few feet away from us had a red recording light on the phone she was pointing at us.
I called out. ‘Oi! Cut it out!’
The lifeguard was already jogging over.
‘That girl filmed us,’ I told him, pointing.
He gave me a thumbs up and started talking with the girl.
I rubbed Anna’s back. She was pulling herself together now.
‘Let’s go, Anna. Let’s get you out of here.’
I walked her to the door of the female change rooms and then hobbled back to my crutches and dried myself off. It was well over thirty degrees in here, the humidity had fogged up all the windows but still I was shivering.
The pool was just starting to fill up now that school was out. I signed autographs without thinking and ignored the kids who called out to me. I refused all requests for selfies with a shake of my head.
A mum told her son, ‘Don’t worry, mate, he’s a stuck-up prick, that Harding.’
Anna took so long in the change room that I began to worry she wasn’t okay in there. But when she came out her eyes were dry and she looked fresher.
‘Forgive me for keeping you waiting. I needed to sit and collect my thoughts.’
I drew her close to me and we walked out in silence.
I drove us a few blocks up the road and parked in a quiet street. ‘I don’t know what to say. I mean, I can think of a hundred things but none seem right.’
‘I realised as I was getting dressed that I did not finish answering your question from before about why I do not compete anymore.’
‘Oh? What’s the answer?’
‘The answer is I could compete again if I wanted to, if I was prepared to. In fact, I was invited by Swimming Australia to train at the AIS as soon as we were granted permanent residency.’
‘Why didn’t you do that?’
‘Guilt.’
‘But how in the world could you possibly blame yourself? These are sick terrorists who did that. It’s not your fault.’
‘My swimming career destroyed my family, Nick. And not only that, my mother might have been elected and brought much-needed change to our country, but instead she was exiled. If it was not for me none of it would have happened. How can I ever compete again after all that? The least I can do now is to continue the work my mother started. I cannot save Egypt, but I found a situation as desperate as ours in the Middle East right here in Australia.’
‘Asylum seekers right?’
‘Yes. Children spending years in detention is just as big a tragedy. My dream is no longer about breaking records and winning medals that I do not deserve after what I did.’
‘But you didn’t do anything wrong, Anna!’
‘Yes I did.’ She sighed. ‘I did.’
‘Well, just so you know, I’m in awe of you. And I think I’m actually more in awe of you right now than I’ve ever been of anyone I can remember.’
She smiled sadly. ‘There is nothing to be in awe of. I have done nothing special.’
‘Pfft,’ I scoffed. ‘So, back to what happened – you and your mum were here in Perth and what? You never went home? You’ve been here since?’
‘Yes. My mother was well known and on very good terms with some people in the Australian government. She had met with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister more than once. We were granted permanent protection visas immediately when the second video was made the day after the fire.’
‘The fire? What fire?’
‘The explosion – the fire,’ she clarified.
‘Oh, sorry.’ I felt like a moron. ‘What second video?’
‘The same group released a second video with footage of the bomb. A jihadist appeared in front of the camera and claimed responsibility. He then said that if my mother or I returned to Egypt, they would kill me and make her watch. And that they would tape my beheading for the rest of the world to enjoy as well. He was smiling into the camera as he said it. If you google “Hayati terrorist video” you’ll see it.’ She swallowed.
‘Oh my God.’ I felt sick. ‘Please tell me you haven’t watched it again since that first time.’
‘Nick, I think I’ve viewed it perhaps a thousand times.’ She looked at her lap.
‘Oh, no.’
‘You see now why we made headlines here a year ago?’ she said. ‘All of this happened the evening before I was due to compete. Of course I did not race.’
‘I can’t believe I missed all of that. The whole thing doesn’t even bring back the foggiest memory. Head up my own arse as usual.’
She smiled. ‘I like this saying. I have heard Gianni also say it. It is very funny.’ She checked her watch. ‘Nick, I have to get to work. Can you please drive me home? I have had enough of talking about this now.’
‘Of course, but if you want to talk about it again later on, I’m all ears, okay?’
‘Thank you. Let us change the subject. How was your morning?’
I told her about taking Bluey down to the beach, leaving out the part about the girl whose name I’d already forgotten. By the time we arrived back at Fremantle she was laughing and cheerful and the awful things she told me about her past seemed far from her mind again.
‘I must go inside,’ she said after we’d been parked out the back of the restaurant for a couple of minutes.
‘You work for your family. What are they going to do, sack you? Stay with me a bit longer.’
She chuckled. ‘We have been together two hours. Is it still not enough?’
‘Just a few more minutes.’
‘Very well.’
‘Hey, I started reading Harry Potter!’ I announced, remembering.
‘Oh!’ She clapped her hands together. ‘And you like it?’
‘I do. I like it a lot.’
She laughed her husky laugh. ‘I am so happy you like it.’
Her laughter faded after a few seconds. We fell into silence. There was a look in her eye, a signal I immediately recognised.
I took a shaky breath in. ‘Anna, I know I lost the bet, but would it be okay with you if we kissed anyway? Or is it too soon?’ I gulped. ‘If you want to get to know each other more first, and it feels too soon for you, I understand.’ It was the first time I’d ever asked a girl permission to kiss her in such a formal way.
‘I want to kiss so very much.’ She smiled the sexiest smile in the whole wide world.
So I held her wet hair in one hand and cupped her face with the other and I touched her lips with mine. She kissed me back, but it was barely more than a graze of our lips. She was trembling.
I pulled away. ‘You’re so nervous. Have you kissed before?’
She blushed. ‘No, never. Is it that obvious? Am I no good at it?’
‘Not at all. I don’t want to rush you, that’s all.’
‘I am not feeling rushed. I am just nervous.’
‘Don’t be.’ I stroked her cheek with my thumb. ‘You’re so beautiful.’
She smiled. ‘As are you.’
I leaned in and kissed her again. We kissed each other with closed mouths for a minute or two and then I gently probed open her lips with my tongue and found hers. She relaxed into the kiss and our tongues tentatively explored each other’s. Her innocence and her sincerity and her warmth were all there in her mouth.
And because I wanted to be sure that she was enjoying it and that she was comfortable, and because I’d fallen for her so hard, I kissed her with more care and with more emotion than I’d ever kissed another girl.
It was my first kiss as much as it was hers. ‘I could kiss you for hours,’ I murmured when we came up for air.
‘Mmmm,’ she replied through half-closed eyes.
I’d always be turned on by the smell of chlorine from now on because it would remind me of the moment I discovered how good it tasted on her.
My need for more physical contact with her hurt, it actually hurt down there. But I kept my hands cupped on her face to stop myself taking it any further.
She seemed to sense my urgency and she pulled away. ‘Okay, now I am very late and my Aunt Rosa will skewer me like a shish kebab.’
I ran my index finger along the neckline of the white lace dress she was wearing over spotted black and yellow leggings and her signature purple Docs.
‘I like how you dress.’
She snorted. ‘Nobody likes how I dress!’
‘Well, I do. It’s cute. And it’s sexy. I like that you don’t dress like anyone else I know.’
‘That is very nice of you to say, Nick. I liked that white shirt you wore to Masri’s, and I liked how you looked in your swimsuit.’
I dropped my finger a bit further and it made contact with the very top of her breast, which made my stomach dive. ‘You know I wasn’t listening to a word of that, don’t you?’ I said, transfixed by her soft cool skin.
‘Nick!’ She flicked my hand away with a laugh. ‘Okay, I am leaving now.’
‘Why?’ I groaned.
‘Because of work. I have to work! The restaurant opens in five minutes. I should have been here an hour ago.’
‘Can I see you tomorrow then?’
‘Yes.’ She smiled with a few of her quick little nods. ‘Five o’clock again?’
‘Okay, but what about a quick coffee back at my house after the swim. What do you say?’ I held my breath.
‘If I agree to come and spend half an hour or so with you at your house, are we of the understanding that kissing is where it stops, Nick?’
‘Can I touch that bit of your breast again at my house?’ I grinned.
‘No.’
‘Okay. Can I touch it if you’ve got clothes covering it?’
‘Nick.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Kissing you in a car when I have known you for less than three days is quite enough to make me question myself and my morals. If I come to your house you will keep your hands to yourself. Yes?’
‘Yes. Okay, yes.’
‘I am hoping that tomorrow we are told Ricky can come home. So I might be in an extra special good mood. Or if the test results from yesterday are not so good, then I may be in a sour mood.’
‘They’ll be good,’ I said with fake assurance. Please, God, make the results good. ‘Do I get to meet Ricky when he comes home?’
‘Of course.’ She beamed. ‘And my mother wants to meet you too. I hope you will meet them both on Thursday when you come and pick me up for our dinner date.’
‘Your mum?’ I widened my eyes. ‘She’ll nail me! She was going to be a president. Oh God, I’m screwed, aren’t I?’
She shook her head. ‘That woman is no longer my mother. My mother is a shell now, Nick, a shell.’ She had that faraway haunted look again.
I wanted her smile back.
‘Where have all your hokays gone? I miss them. Here yesterday, gone today. What happened?’
‘Hayatis are quick learners.’ She grinned.
‘I want the hokays back, though,’ I protested. ‘I love those hokays.’
‘That will teach you to poke fun.’ She chuckled. ‘So tomorrow, Nicholas Harding, you will tell me more about your career with the Western Rangers, because I know very little about football and I need to be educated, yes?’
‘Yeah, I can tell you about the Rangers if you want, but you’ll be bored to tears.’ I felt a stab of betrayal towards my team and wished I could take the words back. I cleared my throat. ‘Hey, can I come inside with you? Weren’t you going to make me drink a Turkish coffee with that bet?’
‘Perhaps we should give my Aunt Rosa some more time to adjust to you being my boyfriend before you come back to Masri’s, so that she does not poison your coffee,’ she said with a wry smile.
‘Boyfriend? Who said I’m your boyfriend?’
She tapped my thigh. ‘I said.’
‘That’s a bit presumptuous of you, Anna. I’m not even sure I like you in that way yet,’ I murmured, before pulling her in for one last kiss that I dragged out for as long as I could.
‘Ana bahebak, Nick,’ she whispered when she finally broke away.
‘What did you say? Anna what Nick?’
‘Bahebak. It means Anna says goodbye to Nick.’ She smiled her gorgeous smile again. ‘Ana bahebak, Nick.’
‘Hang on a minute.’ I dug for my phone and pulled it out of my pocket. ‘Give me that smile again.’
She didn’t do what other girls had done whenever I’d asked them to pose for a photo. She didn’t protest that she looked ugly or grumble that she didn’t have makeup on. She didn’t make me wait while she checked her hair or pulled out a lip gloss. She smiled. She just looked at me and smiled and she let me freeze it forever. She didn’t even ask to see the photo.
I watched her jog towards the back door of the restaurant.
My girlfriend. My first girlfriend.
‘She was worth the wait, wasn’t she, Dad?’ I said out loud as I swapped the photo of him and me on my lock screen with the one I just took of her.
I wasn’t going to do anything to mess this up. No way.