Page 81 of The Blind Date

Alfie was like his wife, and I could feel the apology in his hug. When he pulled away from me, I watched as he moved to my dad and hugged him as well. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach as I watched our parents hug for ages, all of them looking defeated but trying to hide it.

“I’ll see you next Saturday?” Cedric murmured as he slowly walked past me, his eyes set ahead.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I murmured back.

“Good,” he whispered and when no one was looking, sneakily leaned down to press a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. “I’ll call you tonight, darling.” He pressed another kiss to the other corner of my mouth before he joined his parents and brother.

Keeping up the pretence, I forced a smile as Mum waited for me with a sad look on her face and an outstretched hand. When I took it, she squeezed it gently and guided me to the car.

I felt bad, but in the long run, I knew this was the right thing to do. If Cedric and I ended up working out, then our parents would be over the moon, but if we didn’t, they would be crushed. This was only a small taste of what that would be like.

For now, we needed to keep the pressure off if we wanted to give ourselves a fair chance.

ChapterTwenty

“Alina!” I shrieked in glee before I even set eyes on my best friend. Just knowing that she was back and somewhere in this flat was enough to have me over the moon.

“Saffron!” Alina grinned and waited for me in the doorway with outstretched arms.

The moment my eyes landed on her, everything was fair game. I dodged Desmond, brushed past Toby, and pushed Jeremy out of the way as I ran into her open arms.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered as I squeezed the life out of her. “Please don’t leave me for so long ever again. Next time you go away for that long, I’m coming with you.”

"I would have hated it if you were there on our honeymoon,” Jeremy snorted from beside his wife with a teasing grin on his face.

“Why? Afraid that I would have cockblocked you?” I teased, quirking a brow in his direction.

"You definitely would have,” he laughed. "The two of you would go off somewhere, and I would be left alone with no one to keep me entertained.”

"You're a big boy. I'm sure you could have thought of a few things." I wiggled my eyebrows teasingly at him before returning my attention to my best friend.

“I’ve missed you so much.” Alina squeezed me back with a large grin on her face.

“Me too,” I exhaled, releasing a breath I didn’t even realise I was holding.

“I wish you would get that excited to see me,” Jeremy said, his tone dry as he playfully nudged his wife’s shoulder with his own.

"Oh, hush." She turned and playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "I've spent every day with you these past couple of weeks. Now it's time for me to spend time with my best friend. You can wait patiently like a good boy until it’s your turn again."

“It should always be my turn,” he grumbled with a small pout on his face. “I’m the one you married, not Saff.”

“That’s just a technicality,” I grinned at Jeremy, teasing.

Once our Chinese takeaway arrived, we all sat in Jeremy and Alina’s living room, listening avidly as they retold funny stories from their honeymoon. This was the first time since Alina and Jeremy’s wedding a month ago that all of us were together–sans Liam. I missed it more than I had realised.

"You should have seen him. He burned so badly on the first day that we had to find a local pharmacy and get him some ointment,” Alina laughed at the memory, and then she laughed even harder when Jeremy grumbled from beside her. "From then on, he slathered himself with sunscreen if he so much as went near a window."

“I bet Jeremy looked like a ripe tomato,” Victor laughed.

“It’s not funny,” Jeremy whined. “You would have done the same if you burned the way I did. I have sensitive skin.”

"I've got pictures,” Alina grinned, already scrolling through the gallery on her phone. We all burst out laughing when Jeremy tried to snatch her phone before she could pass it around the group.

Victor, Horatio, and I snickered as we stared at the picture. Despite the very bright tropical shirt that he was wearing, unbuttoned, Jeremy didn't look the least bit happy. The entirety of his chest was red and had begun peeling. The one spot on his shoulder that must have been shielded by something was ghostly pale in comparison which made the sunburn look so much worse.

“That’s got to be the worst sunburn I’ve ever seen,” I chuckled as I passed the phone on for the others to take a look.

To get revenge on his wife, Jeremy narrated a drunken night out from their honeymoon. It was very eventful and colourful, consisting of the night ending in Jeremy finding the love of his life asleep in the fountain outside the club when she was supposed to be in the bathroom.

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