“What do you mean he’s not here?!!!” I shrieked. “Where on earth is he?!!”
PJ the bartender looked slightly taken aback. “Um, he’s in Ireland drinking Pina Coladas.”
“What! Doesn’t he care about his London restaurants anymore?!!” I demanded.
Anna sat on the bar stool beside me – just smiling, a bit too smugly I thought. When she’d suggested a late night viewing of Rubens and His Legacy at the Royal Academy with an orchestra and cocktails, I had immediately agreed. It was only on arriving at the exhibition and being handed a single pink rose and a matching chocolate that it hit me: Valentine’s Day.
Oh well, in for a penny, in for an evening of pink and red and all the accompanying schmaltz.
Conversations with Strangers 