Chapter 55

July 2023

T he man who'd been standing on a quiet corner of Fitzroy Road was starting to wonder what was taking so long. It wasn't like her to be late, yet she should have been there ten minutes before.

He returned to his perusal of real estate porn on Rightmove where he verified, once again, his almost nonexistent chances of ever affording a bigger place on his current pay. He switched to the Kindle app and kept reading Manuel Vázquez Montalbán's Southern Seas— the misadventures of a Barcelona-native and private investigator that had been recommended to him by a certain Barcelonian—while he waited for his partner to finally get there.

"Dreading the gig already?" Divya's voice interrupted Luke's reading as she approached from behind, ready to fill in for him for surveillance duty.

After the second Meshflixx case had been solved, they had returned to a stable procession of divorce cases, child custody disputes, background checks, and work-harassment inquiries. With them came the necessary surveillance hours. But Divya and Luke were trying to stay away from some of the less ethical practices that took place at their former agency.

"Not dreading this one," Luke said, smiling at his partner. "And not dreading much lately."

"I see," Divya said, a knowing smile on her face. "Please say hi to Sol for me. And tell her I'll be there tomorrow at ten sharp to answer all her pressing questions about the job. Are you still fine with me doing this instead of you?"

"You know I don't get jealous," Luke said.

"Yeah, right!" Divya teased him.

Sol was typing all of it before it escaped her mind when she heard her front door buzz. She checked the time and realized that was probably Luke already. And it looked like he hadn't yet installed the smart lock app on his phone to be able to let himself in!

"Ai!" she protested, running downstairs.

She opened the door, pulled him inside by clutching his T-shirt, kissed him hurriedly, and left him standing at the entryway.

"Ara torno!" she told him, already climbing the stairs. "I need to finish writing just the one sentence."

Ever since she'd decided to take the plunge—inspired by Divya and Luke's entrepreneurial endeavors—and write a mystery novel set in London—inspired by Divya and Luke's work—she had been in an almost frantic writing spell. She had pivoted but, in the end, she hadn't turned to a boring profession.

"Okay, done!" she yelled from the upstairs office a couple of minutes later.

She went downstairs and found Luke making himself a cup of tea in the kitchen.

"Did I kiss you?" she asked. She'd been so absent-minded while opening the door that she wasn't really sure.

"You did," he said, his smile the same seducing one he'd directed her way from the first day they met. "But there's really no reason you shouldn't do it again."

"Right?" She embraced him and realized something. "Are you going like this?"

Luke checked his work attire, which was directly out of Sol's worst nightmares involving Greg Knight.

"I brought clothes and will change after tea," he explained.

"After tea tea, or you mean there's time for tea ?" she asked, suddenly thirsty.

"As much as I'd love to have both kinds," he said, checking the time on his cell phone, "the thing starts in thirty minutes and we'll barely make it as it is."

"And you're sure I'll like this place?" she asked, not even trying to conceal her disappointment.

···

A change of clothes, a Tube ride, and a rushed on-the-go cup of TWG's 1837 Black Tea later, they were both taking their shoes off.

"Will I have to chant om ?" she asked, horrified. Why had she agreed to join him? Right, he'd used all his magnetism to charm her.

"You won't if you don't want to," he answered, amused.

Even if yoga was the sort of low-impact but full-body workout that seemed to fit perfectly with Sol's lifestyle and checked all her favorite fitness boxes, she'd never gotten into it. She was spooked by its whole spiritual side, and she'd fallen soundly asleep during Shavasana when she was first getting acquainted with it. She'd never bothered trying it again.

Yet Luke had managed to drag her all the way up to Kilburn, which wasn't even close to his place, to try a yoga class he'd swear she'd love. Sol had no idea what he'd based that statement on until they got inside the studio, yoga mats in hand, and she saw her.

She had already placed her mat in the middle of the wooden-floored room and was doing some stretches over it. She saw Sol and Luke as they arrived.

"Oh, hi Luke," she said. "I see you brought company."

"Hi Emma," Luke said, placing his yoga mat not far away from the stretching actress. "This is my partner, Sol. Romantic partner," he added, using the term he and Sol had agreed on. Luke loved differentiating between his professional partner and his romantic one.

"Nice meeting you, Sol," Emma said, and she returned to her stretching.

Sol remained immobile in the middle of the studio for a few more seconds until she sat next to Luke, still not sure of what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell me fucking Emma Thompson was your yoga buddy?" she hissed.

"I wanted to see your face when you realized," he said, and she wasn't able to even qualify his ridiculously teasing smile. "It was worth it."

Sol's eyes sparkled. "I just want you to know that I totally forgive you for making us skip tea for this."

Thank you for reading Cluelessly Unscripted .