Forget Me Not Read Online Free PDF Page A

interior. ‘I saw Clive Owen in here last time. He actually winked at me.’
    ‘Lucky you,’ I said. ‘But let’s have some more champagne. I’ll get it while you two find a table.’
    I went up to the crowded bar. I felt self-conscious in my wellies, though it was, mercifully, quite dark – but I couldn’t seem to catch the barman’s eye. And I’d been standing there for a good ten minutes, feeling irritated by now, and annoyed by the spinning spotlights which were making my head ache, when I became aware that the man standing on my right was gesticulating extravagantly at the barman, then pointing at me with both index fingers, thumbs cocked. He saw me looking at him and smiled.
    ‘Thanks,’ I said to him, as I placed my order. I looked at him properly, then felt a sudden thump in my ribcage. He had dark curly hair that spilled over his collar and his eyes were a smoky blue. He was mid thirties, tall and slim, but his shoulders were broad. ‘That was kind of you,’ I added. ‘I couldn’t get the barman to notice me.’
    ‘I don’t know why,’ the stranger replied. ‘You’re very noticeable. You look like …’ Gwyneth Paltrow I hoped he’d say. Or Kirsten Dunst. People do say that sometimes – if they’ve had enough to drink.
    ‘… an iceberg,’ I heard him say. ‘You look so tall, and pale and … cool.’
    ‘And of course I have hidden depths.’
    ‘I’m sure you do.’ To my annoyance, this made him glance at my feet. Puzzlement furrowed his brow. ‘Been on a countryside march, have you?’
    ‘No.’ I explained what had happened.
    ‘How inconvenient.’
    ‘You’re telling me.’ I paid for the bottle of Taittinger. ‘But I always carry alternative footwear around with me.’
    ‘So I see. How practical.’
    ‘Anyway, thanks for your help there. You’re a gent.’
    ‘Sometimes,’ he said wistfully. ‘But not always …’
    Now, as I overtook the car in front, I thought how different my life would have been if I had left it there – if I had simply said a polite goodbye to the handsome stranger, then gone to find Cathy and Sue. Instead, I’d filled a glass with champagne and handed it to him. As I’d done so, I looked at him more boldly – the alcohol and my odd, heightened mood had made me feel uninhibited. I felt his interested glance in return.
    ‘Are you here with anyone?’ I’d asked, half expecting a glamorous female to zoom up to us and lead him away.
    ‘I came with a friend, but he’s gone outside to phone his wife.’
    ‘And where’s yours?’ I asked with a directness that amazed me.
    A look of mild surprise crossed his face. ‘I don’t … have one.’
    ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’
    ‘No …’ he replied slowly, ‘since you ask. But tell me’ – he chinked my glass – ‘what are you celebrating?’
    I thought of my mother. ‘Nothing. But I’m about to start a new life.’
    ‘A new life?’ He raised his glass and I watched the slender columns of bubbles drift upwards, like waving fronds. ‘Well, here’s to that new life of yours. So what are you doing? Emigrating? Getting married? Going into a nunnery? Joining the circus?’
    ‘None of those things.’ I explained that I’d just had my last day in the City and would start my garden design course on the Monday.
    ‘So you’re going from hedge funds to herbaceous borders.’
    ‘I am.’
    ‘From shares to … scented stocks.’ I smiled. ‘From Wall Street – to wallflowers. Shall I go on?’
    ‘No’ I giggled. ‘I had enough horticultural jokes at my leaving party just now.’
    He leaned against the bar. ‘So what happens when you finish the course?’
    ‘I’ll start my own consultancy – Anna Temple Garden Design.’
    ‘Anna Temple … ? You should be worshipped with a name like that. Do you have a large and devoted following?’
    I shook my head. ‘Tragically not.’
    ‘I find that surprising.’
    ‘And what’s your name?’ I asked. ‘I can’t chat you up properly if I