Page 35 of The Wedding Pact
‘Mexico? Switzerland? Spain?’ he proposed, and suddenly August sat up.
‘Spain, I’ve been to Spain, and I travelled all over. It was the summer right after I finished uni and I was out there for three months.’
Flynn sat up straighter too. ‘I was there over the summer too, after I’d finally become fully qualified in law.’
August did some quick maths. She knew Flynn was a couple of years older than her, and that law degrees, along with the placements, can take – was it six years? ‘I left uni in 2012.’
‘That’s the year I went! I just did the south coast and the Sierra Nevada National Park.’
‘So we actuallycouldhave had a holiday romance,’ August laughed, and then brought her wine up to her lips to hide her blush.
Flynn pushed past it. ‘Shall we settle on the national park then? Maybe we met on a camping trip?’
‘Where we slept under the stars? Yes! We could have been cold and besotted and ended up sharing a sleeping bag.’
‘Ha ha, okay,’ he agreed.
‘I would have even put out on the first date, that sounds so frickin’ romantic,’ added August. She picked up a notepad. ‘I’m just going to make a note of this so we can look back on it, like revision notes.’
‘All right,’ Flynn said, shaking himself out of that image when she put the notepad down. ‘So we met in the Spanish hills in the summer of 2012, where we had a holiday romance. Then we stayed in touch and got together back in the UK?’
‘Yep. You lived in London for a while, before Japan, didn’t you?’
‘On the outskirts.’
‘That’ll do. Nobody’s going to ask us about those details, I’m sure. People only care about the fun stuff, things like how we met, the proposal, the wedding, the honeymoon. How many babies we’re going to have and when, and if I’m not drinking because I’m pregnant.’ She took a drink of wine.
‘People wouldn’t ask about babies, would they? That’s so private.’
‘That’sallpeople ask women my age about. And yes, it’s private, but apparently my fanny and its goings on are fair game if the b-word is involved.’
Flynn cleared his throat. ‘Okay, well, shall we do the proposal next?’
‘I have an idea for this one,’ August sparkled. ‘Can I take the proposal story?’
‘Okay, shall I take the wedding?’ He held his hand out for a piece of paper from her notepad, which she tore off for him.
August paused when handing it over. ‘I think we should both plan the wedding. Do you want to take the honeymoon?’
‘Sure,’ he shrugged, and the two of them sat in silence for a while, thinking, making some notes, pausing to sip on their wine, their eyes meeting briefly.
Flynn watched her write, her head bent over the page, her legs crossed, swamped by that big, ugly, jade armchair. He enjoyed her gung-ho attitude and her colourful outfit topped with a messy bun. And he tried very hard not to think about the image of them sharing a sleeping bag under the stars.
Chapter 23
August
It felt so strange for August to be sitting here making up romantic stories about this man she’d just moved in with. Strange, but – now this might be the wine beginning to spread its fingers into her system – also a little thrilling. She was going to have to watch herself around this one.You do have a habit of flirting with the dark, handsome strangers after a little liquid stimulation, Missy.
But of course, as was always the way for August, she didn’t pay a lot of attention to her conscience, and sat forwards to pour them some more wine.
‘Finished?’ Flynn asked, putting his own pen down.
‘Yep.’
‘You go first.’
August cleared her throat. ‘This is my idea for the proposal. We’re in London, taking our final walk beside the Thames on a quiet, Sunday morning. You’ve been transferred to an office in Japan, and you’re leaving today. We’re promising each other that it isn’t the end, and I’m crying and you’re holding me, and we know you’re going to come back lots to visit because your company has a private jet.’
