14

“I KNEW it would happen one day, honestly. He’s a teenager now.

He wants to spend his school breaks on skiing trips with his friends

and playing marathon sessions of Fortnite, or whatever the game is

he’s into at the moment. He doesn’t want to waste half of his

holidays stuck in an aeroplane traveling to visit his boring old father.”

I paused to take a swallow of my champagne. It was early for

alcohol, but Audrey had said the finding of my apartment had

warranted a celebration, and as I’d already discovered, it was

impossible to deny her whims.

Which was also why I’d spent the last ten minutes waxing on

about Aaron. What a boring subject for a young female companion.

Nothing could bring out the old man in me like reminding me of my

teenager. I knew better than to bring up the topic, but as soon as the

waiter had taken our order, she’d asked.

And she was compelling, that one was. She didn’t have to ask

twice.

To her credit, she’d remained engaged throughout my indulgent

rant, asking qu