Single: A Tale of Ten Lovers

3. The Intern

He stopped, still unable to say the word "divorce" outloud.
Ruth saw the flash of sadness in his eyes and changed the subject.

"So Kat was telling me that you're thinking of moving to L.A.?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it. It would be great, but I don't want to be too far away from my kids." He said.

"Yeah, that would be hard." She smiled.

Kat interrupted them to tell them it was time to head over to Wembley. They took two black cabs. Noel ended up being sat next to Ruth in one. They didn't talk during the ride, but both of them felt a little spark between them as they headed to Wembley.
They made their way inside and found their seats. Their group had a whole balcony to themselves and Noel was happy to see that once again, he was sitting next to Ruth. They chatted and each sipped on a beer as they waited for the show to start.

The show started and Noel was enjoying it until they played "Pictures of You". As he heard the lyrics "If only I'd thought of the right words
I could have held on to your heart",
he felt his eyes welling up as he thought about his ex wife. He quickly wiped his eyes, hoping no one had noticed, but he felt a hand on his back a second later. He looked over and Ruth gave him a warm smile and gently rubbed his back then removed her hand. He gave her a small smile then continued watching the show.
After the show ended everyone decided to go to the nearby club except Noel and Ruth. They stood on the street as everyone else piled into cabs and when they drove away, Ruth looked at Noel.

"Do you want to go get some coffee or something?" She asked.

"Nah, I don't like to drink coffee this late." He said then saw disappointment on her face and realized she may have just been asking him out. He felt like an idiot. He thought she was very attractive, but also didn't want to lead her on since he knew she had a crush on him. But he figured he would see how it went.

"I could use a glass of wine though. D'ya wanna go to back to mine? I can make you some coffee." He asked.

A smile spread on her lips.

"Yeah, I'd like that." She said.

They took a cab to Noel's house and went inside. He watched her as she looked around the house in awe.

"This place is great!" She smiled.

He shrugged.

"It's alright."

She followed him into the kitchen.

"Coffee?" He asked.

"Actually, I'll have a glass of wine." She said.

"Ok." He said and got two wine glasses out of the cupboard. He set them on the counter then got a bottle of wine. He poured some in each glass then handed one to Ruth.

"Thank you" She said as she took it from him and took a sip.

He took a sip also then they sat at the kitchen table.

"Kat said she will really miss you around the office. She said you were the best intern she's ever worked with." Noel said.

"Really? That's so nice of her. I'm going to miss her. She's such a lovely person."

"Yeah, she's great. She's been my PA for over twenty years." Noel said.

"That's a long time. You seem like a really loyal guy." Ruth said.

"I am." He smiled then took a sip of wine.

"I don't know if I should even tell you this, but I've had a crush on you for months." She said and looked into his eyes.