Page 56 of The Wedding Pact
‘Yep,’ said Flynn. ‘Yep, it’s our anniversary, good memory, Callie. Nothing gets past you.’
‘Maud and Allen send their best wishes as well,’ said Callie’s mum.
‘Oh yes, and I know Mrs H probably does but I haven’t seen her yet this week.’ Callie dug a camera out of her pocket. ‘I’ll be popping in tomorrow though, so I’ll tell her all about it.’
The cake was moist and light, a chocolate centre to the mint icing, making the whole thing taste like a reverse After Eight. Callie’s mum had outdone herself with the baking this time, it even beat the brownies from a few weeks ago.
While they ate, Callie nattered away about her new quest for a boyfriend, inspired, she said, by the two of them and their lovely relationship. A twist formed in August’s stomach at that, at the thought she was misleading Callie who was so sweet. She really needed to put some thought into whether or not to confess. But, it was a good thing that Callie was moving on from her divorce, whether it was thanks to them or not, wasn’t it?
‘Must dash, yoga-with-Mum time, come up if you want, Aug,’ Callie said, standing up as soon as she was done with her slice. ‘First, let’s have a photo of the two of you with the rest of your cake so I can show Mrs H tomorrow.’
August and Flynn dutifully stood side by side, holding the plate with the cake in front of them.
‘It’s not a bloody church coffee morning,’ Callie’s mum admonished. ‘It’s your wedding anniversary. Give us a smooch.’
August tilted her cheek towards Flynn and he gave it a chaste peck, to which Callie groaned.
‘I don’t think Mrs Haverley wants to see us full-on snogging, Callie,’ said August, imagining the look of horror on her landlady’s face at being forced to look at such a photo.
‘You don’t know her like I do,’ laughed Callie, holding up the camera again. ‘And I bet she bloomin’ does. Come on, give her something to bother putting her glasses on for.’
August and Flynn looked at each other over the cake, their eyes flittering briefly to each other’s lips. It was clear they were both trying to work out the best thing to do in this situation.
August was pretty sure Flynn’s look said,Come on, let’s just kiss, but she couldn’t be sure.
She tried to convey to him that she was thinking,It’s okay, let’s do this, but she couldn’t tell if he’d read her right.
Callie lowered her camera. ‘What’s wrong with you two? Did we interrupt you in the middle of an argument or something? Oh bloody hell, Mum, we need to leave them to it.’
‘No, you didn’t,’ said August, seeing the embarrassment on their faces.
‘It’s me,’ chimed in Flynn, a brainwave hitting him. ‘I have a cold sore coming, I can feel it.’
‘Oh,’ Callie stepped away, looking a bit uncomfortable.
‘Yep, it’s tingling away. I don’t want August to catch it.’
‘Quite. Listen, keep hold of the cake plate for as long you need, okay?’
‘Will do,’ Flynn smiled, and August showed them out, though they didn’t need much help fleeing.
August leant against the door after they’d left, her heart beating fast. It really caught up with her sometimes, these lies, the spontaneity they required. And that was a close one. Too close.
‘Flynn,’ August blurted out.
‘Hi,’ he replied, noting the wringing of her hands, her nervous pacing. ‘What’s up?’
‘That – that is what’s up,’ she motioned to the door. ‘That was a little too close for comfort.’
Flynn laughed. ‘Nah, we got away with that pretty well, I’d say.’
‘I think we’ve got to try it, man,’ August said, looking directly at Flynn. ‘I think we have to try kissing.’
She marched towards the cupboard where they kept alcohol and pulled out a bottle of Malibu, swigging it straight from the bottle, holding eye contact with him, a thousand thoughts darting through her mind. ‘What do you think? Are you up for it?’
He watched her, amused. ‘Trykissing? You’ve kissed people before, right?’
‘Millions! Well, not millions, but yes, I have done a lot of kissing. And now I think you and I should.’ She waved the Malibu bottle at him. ‘If we just get this out of the way and have a kiss then if we’re ever put in the position again where we need to kiss each other or whatever in front of other people we won’t be awkward and stand-offish, and give the game away. We’ll just be like,Oh yeah sure, I’ll kiss my husband, no big deal, we do this all the time.’ She took another swig. ‘It’ll just be a thing we do, like the hand holding. Just acting. Rather than it being a THING.’
