Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes [209]
Not too different, obviously, she acknowledged wryly: she still loved the shallowness of magazines. The clothes, the make-up, the relationship advice. So the obvious career move was to look for consultancy work.
Something weird was going on, Ashling realized. At first she hadn’t noticed, she’d just thought it was an isolated incident. Followed by another isolated incident. Then another. But when does a series of isolated incidents stop being a series of isolated incidents and start becoming a pattern?
She’d been afraid to read too much into it because she so badly wanted it to mean something. It was Jack Devine. He’d taken her out for a drink to celebrate her coming off Prozac. Then, a week later, when it became clear that she wasn’t going to go mad again, he’d taken her for another drink to celebrate that too. Then he’d taken her for a drink followed by a pizza to celebrate her starting her salsa lessons again. Then he’d taken her for a full-on dinner at Cookes to celebrate Boo moving into his first flat. But when Ashling had suggested that it would be appropriate if Boo joined them, Jack didn’t seem at all keen. ‘I’m going out for a few pints with him and some of the other lads from the station tomorrow night,’ he’d added.
And now he’d sidled up to her desk and suggested going out again.
‘What are we celebrating this time?’ she asked suspiciously.
He paused. ‘Er, that it’s Thursday?’
‘OK,’ she said. Because it was Thursday. But she was confused. Why was he being so nice to her? Did he still feel sorry for her after all the drama? But that was in the past. And any other reasons for his attention seemed preposterous.
It was Lisa who enlightened her.
‘So you and Jack have finally got it together?’ she said as airily as she could manage. She still wasn’t entirely zen about being overlooked, it just wasn’t her way and probably never would be.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You and Jack. You like him, don’t you?’ she teased. ‘As in like him.’
The hot high colour that spilled across Ashling’s face was her answer.
‘And he likes you,’ Lisa pointed out.
‘No, he doesn’t.’
‘Yes, he does.’
‘No, he doesn’t.’
‘Oh, don’t be so naïve, Ashling,’ Lisa snapped.
Ashling looked at her in alarm, then after a period of stillness, she said faintly, ‘OK, I won’t.’
That evening in the restaurant, Ashling attemped to address the situation. She so didn’t want to, but she suspected she had to. To give her courage, she lit a cigarette which Jack watched her smoke as if she was doing something remarkable.
Stop looking at me like that. I can’t think straight.
‘Jack, can I ask you something? We’re out, having our dinner. Is this a…’ She froze. Maybe she shouldn’t say it, what if she was wrong?
‘Is this a… ?’ he prompted, his expression keen to oblige.
She exhaled heavily. Fuck it, might as well. ‘Is this a date?’
He considered her intently. ‘Do you want it to be?’
She pretended to give it some thought. ‘Yes.’
‘Then it’s a date.’
They both let their eyes wander around the restaurant. ‘D’you want to go on another one?’ Jack asked over-casually.
‘Yes.’
‘Saturday night?’
Yikes. First outing not on a week day. New ground being broken. ‘Yes.’
Once again their gazes set off roaming around the room, looking at anything except each other.
Ashling heard her voice once more. ‘Jack, can I ask why you want to go on a… you know… with me?’
She raised her eyes to him at the same moment that his gaze returned to her, and their looks collided with force. Her breath left her and excitement leapt, like tiny fishes nibbling beneath