‘Madam?’ She looked up to see the maître d’ staring at her. ‘May I help?’
Amy closed her eyes and took a breath. You look beautiful, she reminded herself. You look the best you’ve ever looked.
And when she opened her eyes, the anxiety was gone. That was the old Amy, she thought to herself as she gave her name to the maître d’ and stepped into the restaurant. Right now, I can do anything I want.
Daniel was already there. That was a surprise; Amy had lost count of the times she had sat alone waiting for him to arrive, sweeping in citing some huge meeting with the Americans or terrible traffic on some bridge. He stood up as she approached, and she was gratified to see his eyes widen.
‘Wow,’ he said, bending for an awkward peck on the cheek. ‘You look amazing.’
I know, thought Amy. And for once, she felt it too.
‘This was a good choice,’ she said, as the waiter pushed her chair in. ‘I really love it here. Always reminds me of an ocean liner, all the art deco glamour. Wouldn’t it have been amazing to travel that way?’
Daniel nodded.
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right, now I think about it.’
Daniel agreeing with her? That had to be another first. She wanted to giggle. Poor man really was on the back foot tonight.
‘So, did you have a good Christmas?’ he asked casually.
Perfectly nice, considering my boyfriend dumped me a week before, thought Amy, then pushed it from her head. Give him a chance, she told herself. And at the very least he was here now, trying to make amends.
‘Yes, I went to New York.’
‘So I gather. How are your parents?’
‘They’re fine, but I only saw them a couple of times. I was staying with a friend in Manhattan, actually.’
Daniel cocked his head. She could tell his interest was piqued.
‘Oh really? Whereabouts?’
‘The Plaza Athénée,’ she said as casually as she could, loving the fractional lift of his eyebrow in surprise.
‘Which friend was this? The friend with the driver?’
‘Daniel, stop. You’re beginning to sound jealous.’
‘Maybe I am,’ he said with a slight huff. ‘When my girlfriend disappears out of the city for Christmas and starts talking about rich friends with drivers, of course I’m going to get a bit jealous.’
‘I went with Georgia Hamilton.’
‘Who the hell is he?’ he spluttered back, his cheeks turning a little bit flushed.
Amy had to pinch herself under the table to stop herself from laughing. His jealousy was so obvious, for a moment she actually considered carrying on with the story of ‘George’ just to teach him a lesson. But while that would afford her satisfaction for a short while, it wasn’t really in the spirit of giving him a chance.
‘Georgia, Daniel. A woman. She is over seventy. She’s a rather celebrated publisher, if you must know.’
‘Oh.’
Now that Daniel was reassured he wasn’t in direct competition, he quickly recovered his composure. Even so, Amy could tell he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and she felt a surge of power.
‘Besides, I’m not your girlfriend any more, Daniel. I can do as I please.’
Daniel had the decency to look shamefaced.
‘About that,’ he said finally. ‘What happened the other night. It blew up out of all proportion. In fact it’s what I wanted to talk to you about tonight.’