Page 28 of Don't Fall in Love (and how to break the rules)

“No, I know, this isn’t my business. I get it,” said Nisha. “But aside from that, tell me how you feel.”

“What do you mean?” asked Chrissie, enjoying the feel of Nisha’s fingers against her own.

“I mean, forgetting rules and ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts’, do you really think that kiss was just a remnant of the past?”

“Don’t you?” asked Chrissie, turning to look at Nisha properly now. Nisha squeezed Chrissie’s hand.

“Honestly, I don’t know. That was all such a long time ago. We were young and it was new and exciting. We’re so much older now. Perhaps, even wiser.”

Chrissie chuckled. “I’m not sure I am anyone’s idea of a paragon of wisdom.” She took a long breath out before asking the next question. The one she’d been waiting twenty years to ask. “But I still don’t really know what happened, Nisha. Please, could you tell me what happened?” She looked directly into her old friend’s eyes, hoping to see some explanation there.

Silence. Nisha shrugged, removed her hand and looked away. “I was a kid. I was stupid. It happens.”

“It happens?” questioned Chrissie, feeling annoyance grow inside her for the first time.

“You don’t have the monopoly on mistakes,” said Nisha, who was fiddling with the TV remote control.

“But don’t I get any form of explanation?” said Chrissie. “After all these years?”

“Who says there’s an explanation to give?” Nisha shot back. Was it Chrissie’s imagination or was she giving off the air of a grumpy teenager?

Chrissie thought back to what had followed the night of the rain storm.

Neither of them spoke about the kiss, or the way they felt. The next day was a quiet one, but there was a glow, a sense of comfort around them both. They moved together with ease, soaking up the sunshine, reading their respective books.

But as night came there was a crackle between them; an unspoken tension. They moved wordlessly into the tent as darkness fell, and drew together, side by side under the thin blankets. They kissed for hours, hands straying, clothing slowly abandoned. Whispers and moans and giggles escaped their mouths as they explored this new dimension to their relationship.

“I didn’t know I could feel this way,” said Chrissie, breathless, her head on Nisha’s chest.

“Me neither,” said Nisha in a whisper, her hands stroking Chrissie’s dark blonde hair.

“I love you,” said Chrissie, speaking the words as she thought them. She felt Nisha’s heart rate quicken beneath her ear.

“I love you too,” came Nisha’s voice.

“We should always be this way,” said Chrissie, as she fell asleep.

Back in Nisha’s living room, Chrissie felt her eyes fill with tears, which irritated her even further. This was what she’d been trying to avoid. “But that night, after everything that happened that night,” she said, sniffing back a sob, “you left. You waited until I was asleep, and you just left.”

Nisha brought a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes. “It’s what I do,” she said. “I run.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Vine was busy, but once her eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness, Chrissie spotted Philippa across the room. She’d snagged a table by the window, and the moment she saw Chrissie she popped up and waved.

Chrissie mouthed “Hi” and walked over.

It was the lunch break at school. She’d been relieved that playground duty prevented Nisha from joining her for this conversation. Since the day of the soup, things had once again turned frosty between the pair.

“I’m so pleased you got in touch,” said Philippa once they were settled with drinks. Philippa had a double espresso, while Chrissie had a chai latte. “So, what do you need. Time? Money?” She wasn’t messing around.

“Well, um, all of the above, really,” said Chrissie, slightly taken aback by how forward Philippa was. The woman was dressed in an expensive navy blue skirt suit with heels. The kind of outfit Chrissie would never wear.

“Marvellous. Well, I can sort out the cash, I think. We – I mean the partners – have a community education fund we use every year in the city to support youngsters in Birmingham.We haven’t done anything in Kings Heath in a few years, and funding a once-in-a-lifetime educational trip like this would fit the bill.”

“I see,” said Chrissie. It seemed she barely needed to do any of the talking in this meeting. “So what do you need from us?”

“Well,” said Philippa, “how about you and Ms Rajan get some ballpark costs together and send them over? I’ll present them to the partners and we’ll go from there. How does the end of tomorrow sound to you?”

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