Page 100 of The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love

‘You have done the cheesy sightseeing thing?’ he asks.

I shrug. ‘I’ve been busy with work. So much work. And, oh, have I mentioned work?’

‘Cute,’ he mimics back to me.

After a few beats, I admit, ‘It’s not as much fun doing the cheesy sightseeing by yourself. My brother keeps threatening to visit and so I always think I’ll do it then.’ I tail off, embarrassed to have let slip that I’m more into sharing experiences than going solo.

‘So, let’s do some together?’

My head whips up so quickly to check I heard right I nearly bump into a man walking a cat on a lead and George pulls me clear just in time. Frowning back at the sight, it takes me a second to mumble, ‘Together?’

‘Sure. I have time on my hands now.’

‘But I have work,’ I remind him.

‘We could do something on the weekend.’

‘Are you serious?’ I don’t know what to think about this. Zach already told me he’d done all the sightseeing things he was interested in so I never pushed for anything different to movies or dinners during the week. But after I bring him to Jasmine’s wedding, will we be spending more weekends together? Or won’t we?

‘Serious,’ George says. ‘But you have to promise me something.’

I lick my lips. ‘What?’

‘Whatever we do, it has to have the cheese factor.’

I’m going to get to do the tourist thing on the weekend. With a friend. How has this happened? Why has he made it sound so simple?

‘Okay,’ I answer, because this is okay? I picture Sarah staring down at me with an expression that says, “Why wouldn’t it be okay to go out on a weekend with a friend? Isn’t this what you’ve been wanting?” ‘Okay, it’s a deal,’ I add. ‘Prepare for cheese. So much cheese. Hey, let’s go in here?’ I jerk my thumb to indicate the tiny store with its dark intriguing window and black gloss woodwork.

‘A music store?’ George says.

‘Sure. We’ll go through their vinyl.’

‘But I don’t have anything to play it on.’

‘You could use album covers as art on your walls.’

He looks intrigued and then before we can go further, he stops, bends down and picks up a white feather lying on the ground. He holds it out to me but I just stare at it. ‘Oh, sorry,’ he says, and thinking I’m looking at the state it’s in, he takes it back and brushes some dirt off it, and then hands it back out to me. ‘You collect these, right?’

He says it like it’s perfectly normal.

Like there’s no story behind why a person would collect white feathers.

Chapter Thirty

GOING VIRAL WITH VINYL

Ashleigh

I reach out, searching desperately for a way to accept the feather in a way which also makes it look like it’s no big deal. No big deal that he even registered its importance to me.

In the end I realise not accepting it will make it into a bigger thing and so I take it from him and sort of smile a thank you while I tuck it carefully into my jeans pocket and then I take his hand and pull him into the shop.

As soon as we’re inside I drop his hand from mine and clench my palm against the wild tingle left behind.

How do you stay in the moment if the moment is causing all sorts of What Ifs to ripple through you?

And then it’s as simple as paying attention to the soundtrack playing through the speakers. Saturday Night Fever. ‘You hear this?’ I say, grinning. ‘Doesn’t it make you want to strut?’

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