Tom put down his cigar, stood up and grabbed Stephanie by the hand. “Excuse me but I have to talk to my partner urgently. It’s about the new story,” he said, glancing at Brick. Brick just grinned, but then he’d had a permanent grin on his face after the last whiskey, and the cognac he’d followed it with.
Tom led Stephanie further down the bar away from the crowds, took a seat on a bar stool and pulled her close to him.
“Tom, you haven’t even glanced at the new story,” Stephanie pointed out.
“Hmm,” he put his arm around her waist and began nuzzling her neck. “But I was talking about another story, headline news in the ‘Stephanie and Tom’ saga. Another terrible crime has been committed.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened and she faked a shocked look. “Oh my goodness, what terrible crime?”
“Well, it seems that someone has stolen my sanity, broken into my head, taken over my thoughts and they’re holding them for ransom in Brick’s office as we speak!”
“That is bad,” she grinned, “what are we going to do?”
He grinned back. “I can think of something.” His hand began to wander down her back, edging ever lower. She caught it just in time and looked around nervously to see who was watching.
Tom moved his hand to her waist. “Hell, I can’t decide if it was a good or bad thing that Barker interrupted us,” he whispered.
She turned her head to whisper back into his ear. “It was probably a good thing. I’m going to find it hard going into his office now as it is.”
He laughed. “Stephanie, you have such a way with words. Me too, in fact I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
Stephanie played back in her head what she’d just said and her mouth fell open in shock when she realised his insinuation.
“Tom,” she exclaimed, slapping him on the arm. “Behave yourself, especially here with everyone around!”
“Hey, you brought it up! Oops, there I go again,” he laughed.
She blushed and pushed away from him. “Think we ought to go back. They’ll be wondering what we’re doing.”
“Damn!” he watched her go and eventually reluctantly followed her back into the group.
Taking a seat next to Simon again, he whispered, “I just don’t get women. One minute they’re giving you the green light and the next everything comes to a halt!”
He looked at Tom sympathetically. “Yes well it’s Steph you’re talking about here too.” He sucked in his breath and shook his head. “Twice as much of a challenge.”
“Yeah, but she knows how I feel about her now, so I don’t see the problem,” Tom replied.
“Are you sure she knows?” Simon asked.
Tom frowned. “She must do.”
Simon scrunched up his face as if in pain. “Oooh, never assume a woman knows how you feel. Women are weird creatures. They’ll convince themselves of anything and if you haven’t spelt it out to her, she’ll be thinking right this minute that you’re only after one thing.”
“What?!” Tom looked panicked. “That’s not how it is! Well, of course I am after that thing,” he grinned, “but I haven’t ever felt like this about anyone before.”
“Yes, well you know that, and now I know that, but does she know that?”
Tom thought about it. “Why wouldn’t she? After all we’ve been through together and...hell, maybe she doesn’t,” he backtracked.
“Precisely, so tell her,” Simon said.
Tom looked uncomfortable. “What exactly am I going to tell her?”
Simon grinned. “You know, sorry mate but you’re going to have to use the ‘L’ word.”
The colour drained from Tom’s face. “You’re kidding. Can’t I just put it some other way? You know, tell her that I care in a different way.”
Simon shook his head. “What did I say? You have to spell it out to them. To women ‘care’ isn’t the same as hearing the ‘L’ word.”
“Oh, but what if I’m wrong about this whole thing and she doesn’t feel the same, she’ll laugh in my face!”
“Give her some credit! Even if she didn’t feel the same she wouldn’t do that.”
“Sure, but how could we work together afterwards? Her knowing that. And besides, I don’t think I can say it. It would just sound really stupid as soon as it came out of my mouth.”
“Well think about it. And while you’re thinking about it, consider this, if you tell her, my bet is that she’ll be giving you a permanent green light,” Simon grinned, patting him on the back.
Tom’s face lit up as Simon stood and went to find Pippa.
“Permanent green light eh,” he said to himself, grabbing Stephanie’s hand again and dragging her to one side.
“What now?” she asked.
He didn’t like the sound of that, she seemed a bit annoyed with him. Not a good start but he’d have a go anyway.
“Stephie, I was just thinking,” he began, looking into her eyes and getting a sudden attack of the nerves.
“What?” she asked.
“Err, well,” he wracked his brains for the right thing to say without coming on too strong. “I’ve never had a working partner like you.” Although he had meant it, it sounded like a joke, probably because he never usually said such things. He cringed inwardly.
She looked at him wryly. “Yes I know. You’ve never had so much fun in the office with any other partner.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” He ran a hand through his hair and tried to begin again but was interrupted by a frenzied looking Barker who asked if they had seen Bob and rushed off again when they informed him that they hadn't. Stephanie watched Barker go and wondered what was going on over there.
“What I mean is that we’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?”
She turned back to him and gave him a quizzical look. “Mmm?” She wasn’t on his wavelength at all. She seemed a little distracted.
He changed tact, steering clear of work related subjects. “Stephie, I think that you’re...”
Beautiful
“What?” she asked.
Very attractive
“Err... oh never mind,” he gave up.
“Can we go back now?” she said, a little exasperated.
“Wait,” he was determined to say something right. “I don’t want to go back to Ireland, you know why?”
Stephanie had no idea what was going through his head. He was acting really oddly. Perhaps he had drunk too much whiskey.
“Well, I would say it’s because there are people back there who are out to kill you!”
He sighed and looked crestfallen. “Not exactly... I need another drink,” he said, getting up suddenly and moving to the bar.
Barker rushed past in the opposite direction as Stephanie moved back to the group. She frowned. Everyone was acting very strangely!
Tom bought another whiskey and a glass of wine for Stephanie. He was going to work things out that night between them if it was the last thing he ever did!
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