Josie grimaced at the thought of having to tell Helen just how wrong her year had turned out. “Well, the thing is—”
“I’ve got us a table at the Ivy Market Grill,” Helen continued. “You know it, don’t you? In Covent Garden.”
“I know it, yes, but the thing is,” Josie said, talking as quickly as she could to avoid being interrupted again, “I’m actually out with a…a friend at the moment, so I’m not sure I could—”
“Oh, bring her along!” Helen exclaimed, sounding delighted. “I’d love to meet one of your friends, darling, I do worry about you here all alone sometimes.”
“Well, I…” Josie trailed off weakly. She couldn’t really say no, even if she did want to prolong the day with Max. But this was the one time of year she and Helen saw each other without fail, and it would surely make her a terrible person to refuse to go for the sake of a few more hours with a man she’d only just met. She sighed, and Helen sensed victory.
“Wonderful! I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“An hour?” Talk about last minute. Josie wrinkled her nose. She bet Helen was lying—she must have had other plans that had fallen through today and was trying to rearrange things so as not to have an evening in a hotel alone.
“Yes, we’ll have an early supper, shall we? Can’t wait to see you, darling!” And with that, she hung up, leaving Josie staring mutely at her phone.
“Everything OK?” asked Max, coming up to her.
Josie tugged a hand through her hair. “Yes, I…” She blew out a breath. “That was my aunt. She’s in London and wants to meet me for dinner in an hour—she booked a table but forgot to tell me, apparently.”
“Dinner at five p.m.?”
“Apparently, yeah. I’m so sorry. She said you’re welcome to come, though?” Max frowned, then smoothed out his expression so Josie couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Which maybe was just as well, because she wasn’t actually sure what she wanted him to be thinking in that moment. She would have been happy to spend the rest of the day with him, but the thought of him sitting next to Helen and having every inch of him examined over a three-course meal was enough to make her cringe.
“I’d love to,” Max said, perhaps a touch too evenly, “but it actually works out well—I’ve got some errands to run and I said I’d Skype my parents later.” Josie nodded, not sure why she was suddenly finding words hard to come by. “Where are you meeting her?”
“Covent Garden.”
“I’ll walk you—might as well walk rather than get the tube if you can bear it.”
She nodded, then looked down at her cluster of bags, sighed, and hauled them off the pavement. Lips twitching, Max took two of them off her, and Josie didn’t even try to protest.
“So,” Max said as they neared Covent Garden tube station, the sound of people clapping making its way up to them over the general chatter. Someone must be performing further down. “Tomorrow.”
Josie glanced up at him. His hair was sticking out at odd angles from the wind, which had died down as it grew darker, like the darkness had chased it away. “Tomorrow?”
He didn’t look at her, his attention on a busker playing “Feed the World” on the corner. “Plans?”
“Plans?” Josie took the lead, heading toward the Ivy Market Grill.
“For tomorrow. What are your plans?”
“Oh.” Josie felt the tell-tale heat creep up her neck and resisted the urge to rub at it, though, really, he could have found an easier way of asking her. She wrinkled her nose. She didn’t have anything concrete planned for tomorrow even though she’d booked the day off from work weeks ago, but it seemed a bit pathetic to say that, this close to Christmas. She’d already given two days to him at short notice—the weekend, no less—was it tantamount to admitting that she was a loner with no friends if she was available for a third day at the drop of a hat? Or did he even mean that? He hadn’t actually asked her out, maybe he was just making polite conversation. Or maybe you’re just overthinking it, Josie. She sighed. “I’ve got a few things I have to sort out,” she hedged.
“Things.” Max nodded.
“Stuff I need to get done before Christmas. I’ve got a work Christmas party on Christmas Eve I need to…get ready for.” True, given she hadn’t even thought about what she was going to wear to their charity event, to quote Janice. “And other…stuff,” she finished lamely, coming to a stop outside the restaurant.