It was the following Friday after Michael had upset his parents with his abrupt announcement that he might resign from his job at the hotel. He was with his friend Kenny at the Tabard pub in Turnham Green, a ten-minute walk from where they both lived. They met frequently, but this evening, they were celebrating Kenny’s new job with a small local landscaping and gardening company. Michael was still feeling flat, although Louis, the head chef, told him he could remain at the hotel. Geoffrey didn’t return to work and was never seen again. There were rumours that he’d been sacked. Michael thought that was a just result, but his feelings about Hanne deepened when he still hadn’t received a greeting card or any acknowledgement of his birthday from her.

‘How’s the new job?’

‘It’s great. My lecturer on the horticultural course recommended me to the company.’ ‘You deserve it.’

Michael had liked Kenny all the years he’d known him, since they’d shared a two-seater desk at infant school. He was always calm and made jokey comments. Never moody or down, Kenny was Michael’s best friend.

‘Here’s to us.’ Kenny clinked his glass against Michael’s.

‘It’s busy in here tonight.’ Michael said and lit a cigarette.

‘Is that your small talk?’

‘It’s also my chat-up line.’ Michael said, and Kenny laughed. ‘That’s probably why you haven’t got a girlfriend.’

There was a pause.

‘Sorry, Michael.’ I didn’t think.’

‘It’s alright. I’m over all that now.’

Michael wanted to avoid talking about Hanne. Kenny hadn’t met her, although Michael had told him about her after he returned from his week in Heidelberg. They’d met for a drink; they’d arranged to before Michael went to Heidelberg for a week. On Michael’s return, Kenny asked him why he looked so miserable, and Michael told him an edited version of his relationship being over. They didn’t talk about it after that evening. Michael didn’t want to, and Kenny didn’t ask. None of Michael’s other few friends knew about Hanne. Michael was a private person; he knew he was and didn’t mind.

‘Same again?’ Kenny asked.

‘Thanks.’

While Kenny was queuing to be served, Michael recalled a time with Hanne. It was their third evening in Heidelberg. They’d spent the day wandering in the Black Forest and were tired from the cold. When they returned to Michael’s apartment, they made toasted open sandwiches and drank cocoa. Soon after, when tiredness slowed their conversations, they fell asleep, holding each other on his single bed. Hanne woke Michael sometime later when she kissed him. They made love for the first time.

‘Meg must be pleased you’ve landed this job.’ Michael sipped the foam from the top of the beer Kenny handed him.

‘Meg loves dress-making. She keeps saying she’ll make clothes for me once we’re married.’

As Kenny spoke more about his long-running relationship with Meg, which Michael had heard numerous times, his thoughts drifted back to the time in Heidelberg, when he and Hanne both lost their virginity. She told Michael she couldn’t stay the night.

‘I’m sure my father wouldn’t mind. He’s too interested in his successful business to care much about my social life. My mother? That’s another story.’

‘When we had dinner at your parents, I thought I could sense your mother could be difficult, behind her veneer of charm.

‘Let’s not talk about her, Michael. It’s been the most wonderful day, and the evening was pretty good, too.’ Hanne said and winked as she looked into his eyes as they held each other.

‘Yes, well, there’s always the possibility of shortcomings when a man has his first attempt at what I believe is called ficken, in your language. My knowledge of German is limited to a few words I think might come in handy, if you’ll excuse the expression—‘

Michael was cut off by Hanne’s outburst of laughter.

‘I haven’t finished. I was going to say that my pronunciation of ficken was probably not up to much, but I hope my performance was.’

‘What do you think?’

Kenny’s question brought Michael back to the present.

‘I’m not sure.’ Michael wasn’t sure because he hadn’t been listening.

‘It’s important. I’d appreciate some advice.’

‘Of course, let me think about it.’

‘There’s nothing to think about, Michael.’

Michael was aware how sensitive Kenny was, and didn’t want to admit he’d not taken in what he was saying while he was daydreaming.

‘Sorry, Kenny, I’m a bit distracted at the moment. You know, almost getting sacked, and everything.’

‘But you weren’t, so that’s good. Anyway, about Meg.’

Michael listened as Kenny spoke about how he’d never imagined what married life would be like. He leaned across the table, and lowering his voice, Kenny told Michael he couldn’t wait to go to bed with Meg and hoped he’d do it right. He wasn’t embarrassed to say having sex for the first time was one of the reasons he and Meg had decided to get married.

‘Hello, Kenny. Fancy seeing you here.’

A tall, attractive woman, aged about twenty, was smiling at Kenny. Beside her was a considerably shorter woman, about the same age, who might have been considered attractive, too. But her good looks were offset by her ears, which poked out of her shoulder length hair, and made her appear shorter than she was. She was smiling at Michael. Kenny introduced the taller of the two to Michael.

‘Meet Mo, she’s a student at the same horticultural course I was on.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Michael. This is my friend Rosalind. You haven’t met her before, have you, Kenny?’

‘How do you do, Rosalind?’ Kenny stood up and offered his hand.

Michael had always been impressed by Kenny’s polite manners. He invited Mo and Rosalind to join them, and they did. Mo asked Kenny how his new job was going, and he launched into a lengthy account of his first week as a landscape designer. As Mo listened to Kenny, Michael got the impression, in the way she leaned across the table, and looked affectionately at Kenny, that she fancied him.

‘What do you do, Michael, if you don’t mind me asking?’ Rosalind hadn’t stopped looking at him since they were introduced.

Not wanting to talk much about his job, Michael replied he was in the middle of a career change. Which, although wasn’t true, leaving the Royal Western was very much on the cards. While Kenny and Mo settled into their horticultural conversation, Rosalind told Michael about her working life.

‘I work in a travel agency near here. Sometimes me and Valerie, who works with me, come here for lunch. They do a nice ploughman’s. Val always asks for a slice of ham as well as the cheddar cheese. She’s not an ideal lunch companion—she talks and eats at the same time.’

Michael smiled, but couldn’t think of what to say. There seemed little in Rosalind’s remarks that warranted a reply.

‘Does she?’

Rosalind sipped her drink, then launched into more stories about her job, the customers, and how she’d like a foreign holiday.

‘It frustrates me, sending people to hot countries while I’m stuck here, where it rains all the time. One day, I’ll have saved enough to fly somewhere nice. Spain is where I’d like to visit first.’

When Rosalind mentioned overseas travel, Michael was reminded of the letter he’d posted a few days ago in response to the overland trip. He’d told no one, not even Kenny, about his hopes and dreams of foreign travel, and didn’t intend to share them with Rosalind. She didn’t seem interested in what Michael’s intentions were, but seemed drawn to his social life. After she’d told him more about her work colleagues, and how some of them were boring, she asked Michael if he had a girlfriend. It was the first of many times that he was asked such a direct question by Rosalind, with no lead-up. Before he could answer, although he was unsure how he’d answer, she continued. Kenny and Mo were in their own conversational bubble.

‘You mustn’t think I’m being too forward. It’s just that, if you’re single, I’d like to see you again.’

Taken aback, Michael responded and said he’d be delighted to meet Rosalind for a drink sometime. He wasn’t feeling at all delighted, or anything close to that emotion. It was Michael’s way of not wanting to disappoint people. He’d also drunk several pints of beer, which had some influence on his agreement to see Rosalind again. At half past ten, after closing time had been called, Michael and Kenny said goodbye to Rosalind and Mo as they left the pub. On their walk home, Kenny told Michael that he knew Mo had a soft spot for him, and if he wasn’t engaged, he’d ask her out. Michael didn’t mention that Rosalind had asked him out. He was still thinking about that. Kenny said goodnight and went in a different direction. Before falling asleep, Michael wondered if he’d done the right thing when he asked if Rosalind was free next week.