Chapter 10

10

W hat was Sol doing there? Luke had landed that afternoon, checked in at the hotel, went for a walk and got into the first bar he saw when he felt like having a pint only to realize he was in a fancy gin and tonic place where there were no beers to be had. And suddenly, there she was.

As a Londoner, he had the habit of thinking about other cities as small and even provincial, but could Barcelona really be this minuscule? This couldn't be sheer chance. He wasn't supposed to start looking for Sol until the following morning.

"I'm Sol," she said, and he was a bit perplexed. He knew who she was. "And I'm sorry because I don't remember your name," she added after an uncomfortable pause.

It dawned on Luke.

For her, he was just a random bloke from Pilates.

"I'm Luke," he said, and right away he realized he'd used his name instead of his alter ego's. Finding her there had totally caught him off guard. She didn't seem to realize he was called differently at Josie's though.

"What are you doing in Barcelona?" she asked.

She was by far the chattiest and nicest she'd ever been with him.

"Work stuff," he said, hoping she wouldn't go all journalist on him and ask a thousand follow-up questions about what exactly his work or the stuff was. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I don't need a reason. I'm from here," she said.

Was she giggling? No, he had to be imagining it.

"Hold on a second, I need to order some food and the bartender is finally paying attention," she said, then proceeded to talk to the only waiter behind the bar.

Luke tried following the rapid-fire conversation. He spoke Italian with his parents and sisters, so Catalan couldn't be that hard, right? It was. He did discern something about eating, perhaps? At least something sounded like mangiare and now a couple of women sitting at a nearby table were also participating in the frenzied conversation.

Perhaps he was wrong and his family wasn't as unbearably loud as he'd always thought. These people were vociferous.

"We're gonna have to go," Sol told him. "Apparently, they don't have food here. Not even some chips and olives." She rolled her eyes. "We still haven't had dinner. We're leaving in search of another place so we can eat and wait for our other friend to finally arrive. She's gonna be late. She always is."

Did Sol always talk this fast?

"If you're staying in the city for a few days, give me a call. I can show you around," she added.

Was Sol asking him out?

His impression of her during their brief interactions at Pilates had always made him believe that she barely tolerated him and found him annoying.

"I—I don't have your number," he muttered. "Should I DM you?"

He didn't want to seem too eager, and he really didn't understand what was going on. But if she was asking him out, he was game.

"Right," she said and left.

Luke didn't know how to play it cool with her. He had to have said something wrong. But what?

She was back almost immediately though, with her mobile phone in hand. She unlocked it and gave it to him. He looked at her.

"Your number," she said, as if what she'd just done was the most obvious thing.

And it probably was, but Luke's brain wasn't functioning in a particularly expedient way with Sol in front of him. She wore a black slip dress on top of a white T-shirt and classic Dr. Martens boots, and he had a soft spot for anything with a nineties flavor.

He made sure to type his first and last names the way he liked creating contacts in his own device, added his number, and gave her phone back. She called the number and his own mobile vibrated in his back pocket.

"Now you have my number too. Need to go now. Adeu!"

She left with her two friends, and Luke hoped they wouldn't have to walk much before they found a place to eat. They were obviously pissed.

He was about to grab his phone and message Divya about the whole encounter when he realized that not only had he given Sol his real name, but he'd also given her his personal phone number. And he'd done it with no qualms even if she fitted the profile of the thief he was trying to catch.