Page 62 of The Wedding Pact
Poppy tilted her head to the side, shielding her eyes from the last glare of the evening sun, her face lit up golden and her hair seeming fierier than it had before. ‘Is that why you never got in touch before now?’
‘Ah,’ he laughed. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘It’s fine, we shared, like, three minutes of conversation.’ Poppy smiled at him.
He wasn’t sure what to say to her, teetering on the edge of wanting to walk away and wanting to find out more about her, and then she spoke again.
‘Let me get you that drink, Flynn, and then maybe you can tell me some of those very deep thoughts going on in there.’
Half an hour later, he and Poppy were sitting on one side of a bench in the pub garden, the furthest end from the live music, facing each other. They were onto their second drink, and Flynn was enjoying how easy it felt.
She’d asked about his situation, but not wanting to start thinking about Yui, or what was or wasn’t happening with August, he simply told her things were complicated, and that he wasn’t with anyone right now, but it hadn’t been long that he’d been single.
She seemed to understand – she too had recently broken up with someone and had needed to move out of where they lived. But she didn’t want to talk about it. Instead they discussed simple, happy things like TV, the hen do, books, music. Talking with Poppy was like winding down after a long week, and he realised that was exactly what he was doing.
When the hour came for her to leave, this time he promised he would get in touch with her, and he meant it.
Poppy stood up, swinging her legs over the bench seat and brushed herself off. Then she fixed Flynn with a look. ‘Look, I’m not looking for a boyfriend, and I think I’m right that you don’t want a girlfriend, but I’m enjoying getting to know you. And I want to get to know you more, okay?’
‘All right,’ he replied. She had a flash of August about her in her assertiveness, Yui too for that matter, and perhaps that’s what attracted him to all three women. And then, maybe in attempt to stop his mind wandering back towards his ex-girlfriend and his pretend-wife, he blurted out, ‘Do you get a lunch break?’
‘Sure. Do you?’
‘Not really,’ he laughed. ‘But technically, yes. Do you want to have lunch next week, maybe Tuesday?’
Poppy nodded. ‘Let me know what time and where you make a reservation. I like seafood.’
‘All right,’ he replied, again. ‘Tuesday it is.’
‘Tuesday it is,’ she echoed. ‘Bye, Flynn.’
‘Bye, Poppy.’ And just like that, Flynn Miyoshi was branching out and going on a date.
Chapter 42
August
August closed her eyes and imagined herself as a seventeen year old. ‘I am Catherine Morland,’ she whispered out loud. ‘I’m living inNorthanger Abbey. IamCatherine Morland.’
She stood in her bedroom, her wonderful bedroom in her wonderful home – seriously, it was hard to concentrate when she had to keep pinching herself that she actuallylived here– wearing the same ensemble she’d walked the promenade in during the Jane Austen Festival. With her audition creeping very close now, August was spending every waking hour rehearsing. In the shower, she recited her lines. At work, she found herself adjusting her posture and facial expressions in accordance to the scene playing out in her head. The language she used in emails and press releases began to have a flowery, early nineteenth century ring to it.
Catherine Morland was the leading lady in Jane Austen’sNorthanger Abbey. That’s right, August was going big or going home. The way she saw it was, she’d taken a chance on landing her dream home on Elizabeth Street and it had paid off. Who’s to say what else she could achieve if she took the risk?
Flynn had been so busy with work that they hadn’t spent much time together since the kiss, but she still found her heart jumping when their paths crossed in the mornings, or if she got out of bed for a glass of water in the night to find him hunched over his laptop on the sofa, his glasses on, his brow furrowed. She’d make him a cup of tea and leave him to it, and then dream nice dreams of him and wish he was in his own room, dreaming and peaceful. She wondered if he had been thinking about their kiss, like she had. But she didn’t ask.
Instead, she worked tirelessly, fine-tuning her lines, the scene she would be reading having been sent to her by email when she registered. As the big day drew closer, until it was only a week away, tiny sparkles of hope grew inside her. She just might get this. She just might be on the verge of having her big break into theatre.
The thought was daunting, and the thought was powerfully exciting.
Chapter 43
Flynn
Flynn and Poppy met for lunch, and then met for lunch again a week later. After grabbing takeout sandwiches, Poppy insisted they use the rest of the hour for Flynn to show her where he lived. He was reluctant at first, not because it seemed like a come-on, but because of how it would look to his neighbours if he came home in the middle of the day with a pretty woman while his ‘wife’ was at work.
‘I’m not trying to jump your bones,’ Poppy said, rolling her eyes at him. ‘I’m just interested. You made the view sound amazing, and we could both do with stretching our legs. When was the last time you took your full lunch hour?’
He couldn’t argue with that, much as he needed to.
