Free Somewhere Only We Know by Erin Lawless

memories. Reliving old ones. Whilst I still have the time. I’ve got a list on my phone of all my favourite things I need to make sure I do one last time and all the things I never got round to doing.” She turned to face him, her swinging slowing, losing her height. “You always think you have enough time. But you don’t,” she told Alex, willing him to understand what she was trying to get across without having to resort to that old favourite: ‘life’s too short’.
    Alex regarded her solemnly and she saw that he got what she was driving at. Even in the darkness of the dusk his eyes were expressive, straight and frank as they looked into hers. Nadia remembered how she’d told Holly how much she liked Alex’s eyes.
    The first slightly cool breeze that London had felt in three weeks rose up and teased past her. Nadia closed her eyes and tilted her face into it. Maybe the heatwave was finally breaking. Please don’t let this be my final summer here, she begged the universe. Please, please.
    “So what I think we have here is your basic two birds, one stone deal,” Alex said suddenly, startling her out of her reverie.
    “Huh?” Nadia turned round to Alex again; the wind had whispered away and the heat of the evening pressed down on them again as if it had never happened.
    “Well, if you let me piggyback on some of this list of yours,” he said, “I’m living a little, like you suggest, and having new experiences and you are…” he trailed off.
    Nadia smiled, “Having old experiences?”
    “Something like that. I mean, you don’t have to have me tag along to absolutely everything, or anything you’d rather not,” Alex clarified hurriedly. “But, you know, if you’re short on company for something in particular that you want to do… you can just send me a message. I’m usually free!” he laughed depreciatingly at himself. She liked that about him.

    “Okay. Sure.” Possible entries on her “to do” list were already presenting themselves in her mind. Did Alex like Mexican food, she wondered? If not, there was always Bodeans. “How about Thursday evening?”
    Alex baulked slightly. “Thursday?” he repeated, as if he hadn’t actually been expecting her to take him up on the idea after all.
    Nadia smiled all the more widely. “Thursday. How do you feel about doing a Mexican eating challenge where the food is so spicy I fully believe the restaurant when they claim it has hospitalised some people?”
    Alex theatrically gulped. “Not wonderfully, if I’m honest.”
    “Then how about a rack of ribs so large, my friend Ledge theorises they come from a dinosaur?”
    “Oh, the dinosaur ribs, definitely. They sound yummy.”
    Nadia laughed, finally starting to come to a stop, dragging the side of her wedges through the wood chip below the swing set. There was a low burn in her biceps from pushing against the chains and when she stood up from the rubber seat, her legs felt a little weak and peculiar. She reached for her handbag and pulled out her mobile phone from the front pocket.
    “Here,” she said, holding it out to Alex, who slowed to a stop himself, looking up at her. “Put your number in my phone.”
    “Okay.” Alex took it and tapped in his eleven-digit mobile number carefully before handing it back. Nadia saved the number.
    “I’m sorry,” Alex said, already retreating backwards, already losing confidence. “I have just totally hijacked you and forced you to—“
    “I told you already tonight, you apologise too much,” Nadia said, sliding her phone back into her bag. “I will meet you at seven on Thursday, outside Clapham Common Tube station. But for now, I’d better get off home.”

    “Okay,” Alex said, uncertainly, as he too got to his feet. “At seven on Thursday.” He smiled at her. “Thank you for the drink. And for bringing swinging back into my life. And for the life-coaching session, or whatever the hell that was.”
    Nadia laughed. “You’re welcome! To be