Page 89 of The Wedding Pact
Flynn had been wanting to kiss her again for months, even if he’d only admitted it to himself recently. All his frustrations, all those other dates he’d gone on, all his pent-up feelings were a kiss away from drifting away, and he wanted to kiss her, not for show for others, but because he wanted to showherhow he felt.
But she stopped him with a hand on her chest, a ‘no’ in her eyes, and within seconds she’d stepped away from him and become the laughing, gracious party host yet again, batting away protestations at the lack of a kiss with topped up drinks and compliments on the guests’ dancing.
Flynn tried to compose himself, pretending to laugh along at Callie and her mum try a lindy hop to ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’, but he was crushed. She was definitely pulling away.
It seemed that was exactly what he had to do too, enough was enough. He had no right to ruin her night or make demands.
She was perfectly okay without him.
When the Christmas party ended, and for the next week, both August and Flynn were subdued. What was meant to be a carefree night had felt jarring and difficult. Warm Christmas wishes had felt wrapped up in ribbons of deceit.
Flynn wasn’t angry at August, of course he wasn’t – far from it – but his feelings for her seemed impossible to live with.
He needed to talk with her, tell her about what he planned to do, but there never seemed to be a good time. And when he finally did have space with just her, it was Christmas Day.
They spent Christmas together, neither mentioning much about their absent parents, or about the strange void that had opened up between them. August and Flynn simply whiled away the day with quiet companionship, watching Christmas movies and going to their rooms for phone calls with loved ones. At the end of the day, they took glasses of mulled wine together onto the wall outside the house, and when they draped a blanket over the two of them to keep out Jack Frost, it felt like the first time they’d been in close proximity since their near-kiss.
‘Merry Christmas,’ Flynn had smiled, holding August’s gaze.
‘Merry Christmas, Flynn,’ she replied. And as her head came to rest on his shoulder, he wasn’t sure if everything was going to be all right, or whether his heart was going to slip and break at any moment.
Chapter 64
August
New Year’s Eve had arrived, the 31stof December daylight hours whizzing by as if the calendar was excited to jump into January.
While Flynn had to work, of course, August had spent a quiet day in the flat, trying to tell herself that these strange feelings of discontent would be gone soon, a new year always makes things feel fresh again.
That evening, August was heading to a pub in town with Bel, Steve, Kenny, a few other familiar faces and friends, and hopefully Flynn, though at seven-thirty he text her to say he was a long way off finishing for the day.
August called him in return. ‘That sucks,’ she said, upon him answering.
Flynn sighed down the line. ‘Tell me about it; sometimes I wonder if they sacked ten people before they hired just me to cover the work.’
‘How long do you think you’ll need to stay for?’
‘I’m sure I’ll be done by ten … ’
‘Ten?’ she screeched. ‘But it’s New Year’s Eve! Can’t you just quit instead?’ She was only half joking, because how much happier would Flynn be if he just packed it all in?
He laughed at that. ‘Unfortunately, I ended up living in a flatshare with a steep rent, so I’d better not.’
‘All right. Well, I’m heading out to meet the others soon, but come to the pub as soon as you can. I’ll text you if we move on anywhere else.’
‘Will do.’
‘Enjoy lawyer-ing.’
‘Enjoy partying like it’s 1999.’
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘It’s not a party until you get there, okay?’
On the other end of the phone she heard Flynn stifle a yawn before saying, ‘That’s definitely accurate.’
‘Are you and Flynn going to kiss again at midnight?’ Kenny asked later that night, a wicked glint in his eye, shouting to be heard over the crowd of New Year’s revellers inside the pub.
‘Not if he never makes it out of work,’ August shouted back, and then added quickly, ‘But still no, I don’t think that would be a good idea.’
