A Kiss in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

one foot in front of the other and trying not to slip on the soggy leaves underfoot.
    Kate was quizzing me about my family, my friends, anything she could think of. I tried to answer as honestly as I could. It felt like she was filling in the gaps of her knowledge about me, maybe trying to reassure herself that she wasn’t making some huge mistake. I told her a couple of stories about Jamie to make her laugh; she said she’d really like to meet him one day. I tried to imagine that actually happening. Maybe I could tell her the truth and she’d be cool with it and she’d understand why I hadn’t been honest from the start. If things went to plan and I kept liking Kate and she kept liking me (that was the tricky part of the equation), then there was a chance everything would be alright in the end. Because that was how life was supposed to work, wasn’t it? True love will prevail or whatever. Not that I was in love with her or anything. Not then, anyway.
    We stopped on a bridge when we got to Dean Village. It was one of my favourite spots in the city. You could look around and almost imagine you were in a different century – as long as you ignored the blocks of flats on the south side.
    Kate leaned against the railing and raised her facetowards the sun. She closed her eyes and sighed. ‘This is perfect.’
    She stayed like that and I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to say something. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, and I didn’t want her to open her eyes. I was enjoying watching her. Not like some creepy stalker or anything. It’s just easier to look at someone when they’re not looking at you. You get to notice things you haven’t noticed before – the little details that make a person’s face pleasing to your eye. I noticed that Kate’s eyelashes were longer than mine, that her eyebrows were a shade or two paler than her blonde hair, that her nose was impossibly straight, that she had a tiny scar on her forehead. I wanted to keep looking, drinking in every last detail until I’d memorized that face. Just in case this all went wrong, whatever ‘this’ was, I’d always have the memory of her standing on that bridge.
    Kate opened her eyes and caught me staring. She smiled and I wondered if she’d done it on purpose – closing her eyes to let me look at her. That seemed too calculated for her though. ‘It’s actually pretty warm when you concentrate, you know. The sun’s making a real effort but you have to stop and pay attention otherwise you’ll just think it’s cold because it’s October and it
should
be cold …’ She trailed offwhen she saw my baffled expression, then she rolled her eyes and shook her head. ‘Sorry, that doesn’t make much sense, does it?’
    ‘Um … I think I know what you’re getting at …’ I didn’t though – not really. I didn’t really understand her, back then. I knew I liked her and that was enough for me. I knew that I
wanted
to understand her.
    Kate laughed and gave me a gentle shove on the shoulder. ‘You don’t have to pretend, you know. You can tell me to shut up when I’m talking rubbish – I can take it!’ She paused and her face transformed into something serious. ‘I want you to be honest with me, Alex.’
    My mouth went dry and I was suddenly sure that she knew. That she’d just been humouring me and all along she’d been waiting for me to say something, to come clean and admit that I lied to her. But then the way she was looking at me convinced me otherwise. There was a sparkle in her eyes, a warmth that surely wouldn’t be there if she knew the truth. I had to say something now. Something special and deep and meaningful. ‘OK.’
I fail
.
    But Kate smiled as if it was exactly what she wanted to hear. ‘Good.’ A mischievous glint appeared in her eye. ‘Now … race you back to Pizza Express? I’ll even let you use your skateboard.’
    I was just about to ask if she was serious when she turned on her heels and ran. An old couple