Rachel said, holding her mobile in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. “I love it. Really. It’s a sweet, sweet thought . . . and to have sent it by courier from Manchester. Heaven only knows what that must have cost.”“A fortune. But who cares? It was for you.”“So where did you find it?”“I was in John Lewis in Cheadle,” he explained, “looking for a new sock net for the washing machine, when I saw it and I thought ‘that is just so Rache.’ ”“Oh it is, it is,” she enthused diplomatically.“It did occur to me,” Adam said, his tone a tad uneasy, “that you might have preferred flowers. . . .”“Adam, believe me,” she said gently, “it’s great. Flowers would be dead in a week. A plastic shoe rack is something I can cherish forever.”Naturally, she would have preferred flowers or chocolates, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him and hurt his feelings.“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Adam went on, relieved. “I mean, we’re past all that sloppy romantic stuff now, aren’t we?”“Oh God, yeah.
