Page 105 of Be More Lucy

She was in a flirtatious mood. That was all he needed. Mark ran up the steps to the flat. Jack answered the door.

‘Why have you invited Caroline?’

‘Because my mother wanted to see her sister. And the easiest way for her to get here is for Caroline to drive.’

‘What’s her marital status these days?’

‘In the middle of divorcing husband number two. ‘

‘Don’t tell her I’m single again.’

Jack laughed. ‘She might work it out for herself.’

‘It’s alright for you. She leaves you alone. It’s me she makes a beeline for.’

‘You’re a grown man. If she makes a pass at you, tell her you’re not interested.’

‘I try every time. She’s not good at taking no for an answer.’

Jack’s phone buzzed. He read the screen and looked thoughtful. ‘Why don’t you ask Lucy to pretend to be your partner today? That would kill two birds with one stone. Caroline will keep away from you if she thinks you’re with someone and you get a chance to talk to Lucy properly about Harry.’

It would mean he could talk to Lucy. But what if she told him she and Harry were serious? Mark didn’t think he could cope with that today. ‘I’ll think about it. Let’s get the last of these glasses over to the marquee.’

‘Mark’s definitely avoiding me,’ Lucy said sadly. She and Em had finished getting the marquee ready, and now they were having a drink in the kitchen.

‘I texted Jack about getting the two of you some time alone, but he’s not replied,’ Em said. ‘He’s probably still trying to keep you apart.’

‘But it wasn’t Jack who was keeping us apart. I saw Mark in the marquee earlier helping Jack with the glasses for tonight, and he made an excuse to leave. He said he needed to check if there were more glasses in the house. No prompting from Jack. In fact, Jack looked at him, completely baffled.’

Lucy took another gulp of her tea. ‘Then I bumped into him in here alone just before you came in, and he said he had to go to the toilet. We’re like the couple on that German weather chalet thing your mum used to have. If I go in, he goes out and vice versa.’

Em looked thoughtful. ‘He’s probably nervous about talking to you, and he doesn’t want it to turn into a scene on our wedding day. You’ll just have to be patient. He’s bound to feel like he’s on an emotional rollercoaster after Hannah’s revelations.’

This was so frustrating in every sense of the word. ‘You know I don’t do patient.’

57

Em stood outside the marquee on her own, feeling nervous. Their guests should have started arriving five minutes ago.

‘Em!’ Ella appeared through the gate into the courtyard, Sam casually strolling behind her.

‘You made it!’ Em hugged her. ‘I was beginning to think no one was coming.’

‘There are temporary traffic lights on the main road. We were sitting in the queue for ages. I wouldn’t have missed your party for the world.’

‘Bar?’ Sam asked.

Ella glared at him. ‘You could at least say hello first.’

‘Sorry. Hi, Em. Where’s the bar?’ he grinned. ‘One big advantage of having a pregnant wife is she can’t drink, so I get to be chauffeured everywhere. And I like to make the most of it.’

‘I’ve got another three months of this.’ Ella rolled her eyes.

‘More if you breastfeed,’ Sam said gleefully.

‘Jack might be at the bar already.’ Em pointed to the back of the marquee.

‘Excellent. Your usual, El?’

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