‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m not.’ Not yet, anyway.
‘I see.’ Jeremy began making circles on the table with his index finger, an old habit of his when he was thinking. Finally, he stopped and looked up at Alex. ‘Harriet told me she’s not interested in love or commitment from you. She says she’s having a fling on the rebound.’
Alex only just contained his exasperation. ‘I leave you with her for five minutes and she tells you her innermost thoughts and feelings. How on earth did you manage that?’
‘It’s a talent I inherited,’ Jeremy said with a perfect poker face. ‘All the Barker-Whittle males are born charmers. But that’s beside the point.’
‘And the point is?’
‘I know you very well, Alex, the same way you know me. It’s not like you to become involved with an employee, especially your PA. You’re nothing like me. You have hidden depths. And a capacity for caring which I simply don’t possess.’
‘Don’t undersell yourself, dear friend. You have a great capacity for caring. Look how you always remember everyone’s birthdays.’
‘Stop trying to be funny, Alex. This is serious.’
‘What is?’
Jeremy’s blue eyes turned a steely grey. ‘I have this awful feeling that you’re heading for an even worse disaster than Sergio’s marriage.’
‘In what way?’
‘I’m worried you’re going to fall in love with this girl and she’s going to break your heart.’
Alex was taken aback. ‘I can’t see that happening.’
Jeremy shook his head. ‘This is not going to end well, Alex.’
‘Everything will work out fine, Jeremy. Harry and I are just having a bit of fun together. Lighten up, for pity’s sake. It’s not like you to worry so much.’
Jeremy heaved a frustrated sigh. ‘You’re right. I’m in danger of becoming a worrywart. And a workaholic. Ever since I bought my book business, I’ve changed.’
‘I didn’t notice much of a change when I rang you the other night,’ Alex pointed out drily. ‘You were happily bedding your French editor with your usual laissez-faire attitude. Ah...our wraps are here.’
Both men tucked into the food and didn’t speak for a couple of minutes.
‘I do know what you mean about changing, though,’ Alex went on finally. ‘I’ve changed, too, this past year. Possibly it’s because we’re getting older. Just think, both you and I will be thirty-five before the year is out. I hope we’ll always stay friends, despite the tyranny of distance, but our lives are now taking different paths.’
‘God, that sounds wretched. I already miss you and Sergio both. Terribly.’
Alex was touched by his words, but not surprised. Of the three friends, Jeremy had always been the softest, and the most sentimental. He never forgot birthdays. It came to Alex that Jeremy’s laissez-faire attitude to life might hide a deep-seated loneliness. His upbringing, though privileged, had not been easy. He’d been sent to boarding school when he was eight, where his slight frame and pretty-boy looks had resulted in lots of bullying. It wasn’t till puberty had hit that he’d found his feet, his voice breaking and his height shooting up to over six feet, putting paid to the bullying. But his less than positive experiences at school, plus his parents’ constant divorcing and remarrying, had left lots of emotional scars.
‘Who knows?’ Alex said casually. ‘Maybe you’ll fall in love one day.’
‘What?’
Alex laughed. ‘You should see the look on your face.’
‘Well, it isn’t every day that one of my best friends says something to me so outrageous. I would possibly tolerate it from Sergio, now that he’s about to embrace wedded bliss. But I expected better from a fellow dedicated bachelor.’
‘I was only joking. Come on, finish up that coffee. Then we’ll go pick up Sergio.’
Dragging Sergio away from work was not an easy task, but Jeremy managed it when he promised to tell Sergio some fascinating news, but only once they were on their way to Lake Como. Alex knew exactly what he had in mind, but went along with it. After all, if he was going to bring Harriet to the wedding, Sergio had to know about her.
‘Okay, out with it!’ an impatient Sergio demanded within thirty seconds of leaving the factory. Jeremy leant forward from where he was sitting in the back seat, kindly having given Alex the passenger seat.
‘Alex brought a girl with him. No, no, strike that. He brought a woman.’
Sergio shot Alex a surprised look. ‘A woman, eh? What happened?’