Page 33 of The Wedding Game

‘Starving,’ I reply, giving him a warm smile. Josh puts me instantly at ease. He did so at the wedding, at the restaurant, in the hotel and in the park, and now here, in hishome – where he’s never entertained a woman. Until now. I feel I’ve a lot to live up to. I’m either about to set the bar for every girlfriend who follows me into Josh’s life, or this is it. But I’m getting ahead of myself now. I’ve been here for four whole minutes.

He’s already set places for two, and he lights candles in the middle of the scrubbed wooden table that could easily seat ten people. Heat from the Aga bursts out as Josh opens the door and presents me with a bubbling lasagne. It looks great. I’ve never seen an Aga in real life and quiz Josh as to how it works. He baffles me with a general level of basic science, and we sit to eat one of the most delicious home-cooked dinners I’ve ever tasted.

‘Do you have a Labrador?’ I ask as we tuck in.

He stares at me. ‘Me? No. Why?’

‘In every picture of an Aga I’ve seen, there is always at least one Labrador asleep in front of it.’

‘Oh, right,’ Josh laughs. ‘We did have a family Labrador. Or, rather, we do. He lives with my parents.’

‘Aha,’ I say. And then, ‘Tell me about your friends.’ I want to know all about his life, his friends, but I also need to remember to find out about his best friend, for Scarlet.

‘Well, there’s Dan, who you’ve met.’

‘Have I?’ I ask, my wine glass halfway to my mouth.

‘At the wedding? I was his best man.’

‘Of course you were,’ I exclaim. I’ve done this twice now – totally forgotten this poor man, who was inadvertently responsible for bringing Josh and me together. ‘I remembernow,’ I say guiltily as Josh smiles. This makes me wonder. ‘How well do you know Chris?’

‘The usher you decided to ditch me for, after we danced?’ he says with a sideways smile.

‘Yeah,’ I reply slowly, guilt rising even more. ‘Sorry about that.’

‘It’s OK,’ he says, and I think he means it. ‘I don’t know him that well, to be honest. I know Dan from school, and Chris is one of Dan’s mates from uni, I think? That’s the extent of my knowledge.’ Josh looks at me. ‘What did Chris have that night that I didn’t?’ he teases after a pause, but I sense real curiosity there.

‘I’d already promised him I’d return with drinks. Which you paid for,’ I point out.

‘So what happened with Chris, in between me buying you both some drinks and you kissing me not long after?’

So many things, I think.So. Many. Things.

‘We talked and it was nice, and then he got a taxi to the airport and went back to New York.’ I’ve made that sound so much simpler than it was. I left out the fact that I’d felt torn in two directions, unsure whether to get on a plane with a man I’d only just met or stay in London. I’ve been picturing Chris and me together in his adopted city. Would I still be there now? I drag my thoughts back to the present. ‘And then you coerced me into kissing you,’ I say light-heartedly.

‘I didnot!’ Josh laughs. ‘You were up for it, as I remember.’

‘I was,’ I say.I still am.

We eat our lasagne and drink more wine, Josh opens asecond bottle and eventually we wind up in the sitting room, taking our glasses with us. There’s a chill in the air and he deftly sets up kindling in the fireplace, starting a small fire and building it up into a proper roaring blaze.

‘Boy Scout?’ I ask.

‘Farm boy,’ he replies. And there’s something so sexy about that comment. I wonder if he’s got any hay bales and if it would be comfortable? Or if it would be itchy? Like how sex on the beach is a bit … grainy, and notthatsexy in real life.

I tuck my feet under me, thinking about this for a moment as Josh and I cosy up on his sofa. I feel so content, sophisticated in this space (hay-bale thoughts aside) as I sip delicious red wine with an attractive man in his country house. This is ridiculous and I laugh.

‘What?’ Josh asks.

I turn towards him. ‘Nothing,’ I say and then, because it’s probably been a whole ten minutes since I last kissed him, I lean in again. ‘It’s probably time for a tour of the house,’ I suggest, finally pulling away and seeing the heat in his eyes match my own.

‘Is it?’ he asks. ‘Where should we start?’

‘The bedroom.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When I wake up, the sun is shining and I’m alone. A note scribbled on a scrap of paper and left on Josh’s pillow says: ‘Gone to work. Breakfast on the Aga. Be back soon or come and find me? Look for cows.’ I forgot Josh works six days a week.

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