Page 108 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
“I’m curious. Guy and I were brought up in an almost Victorian environment in terms of the way men were supposed to behave.”
“My dad was what you’d call aman’s man,” said Isaac. “We didn’t talk about feelings, and they weren’t encouraged. My mum handled all that stuff. He was a good man, don’t get me wrong, a great father. But we didn’t have the kind of relationship where I would go to him with my problems unless they were mechanical, or plant related.”
Charles nodded in understanding.
“Mine was the opposite,” said Dev. “We had to talk abouteverything!” He deepened his voice. “ ‘Dev, my son, you must not bury things, it is bad for the soul. We were born with voices, so let us use them.’ ”
“Basically, the opposite of my family.” Ameerah laughed.
“Your family sound like mine,” said Nory to Dev. “Never repress what you could express,” she said, wagging her finger.
Ameerah laughed again. “I don’t think Jake Noel has ever repressed a thought in his life,” she said, and Nory agreed.
The friends were quiet for a time, the warmth of the fire lulling them away from conversation. The only sounds were those of the flames licking the logs in the hearth and the faraway noises of Charles and Jenna’s wedding day paraphernalia being dismantled by Pippa’s power team.
“Well,” said Jeremy, gently rousing Katie, who had droppedoff to sleep. “It’s been shits and giggles, but I need to get my good lady wife up to bed.”
Charles stretched and Jenna heaved herself up off his lap, her hair squashed on one side and the creases of Charles’s trousers indented in one red cheek.
“Yup,” said Charles. “I’d better get the old ball and chain upstairs.” He grinned, and Jenna thumped him playfully.
“Good night, everyone,” said Jenna, standing. “Thank you for making our day perfect.”
Two by two, the little group unfolded themselves from the sofas and followed in a lazy crocodile out across the snowy courtyard and back into the warm castle. They all climbed the stairs and disappeared into their respective bedrooms, calling out cheery but tired good-nights as they went.
Nory, however, was suddenly wide-awake, not just from the arctic blast across the courtyard, but at the prospect of a night with Isaac. He waited for her downstairs while she quickly threw some clean clothes into a bag; changed into her boots; and layered a sweater, coat, and scarf over her wedding outfit. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, every part of her was tingling with excitement.
Thirty-two
Nory was warm and relaxed, her limbs feeling loose as she basked in the afterglow of another round of excellent lovemaking, during which Isaac had pressed all her buttons and found some new ones. After a considerable dry spell, she really had hit the jackpot. It felt almost too good to be true that she was as fired up by his brain as she was by his body.
She was in danger of falling in love with Isaac and she didn’t mind a bit. In fact, now that she thought about it, that danger had been and gone. Could you fall in love with someone after six days? Nory felt suddenly a little nervous of the big feelings she had for Isaac after such a short time. It felt reckless and yet right all at once. Maybe that was what love was: holding hands as you jumped off into an abyss and hoping that neither of you would let go in the fall. A beautiful, terrifying thing.
She could hear the steady rhythm of Isaac’s heart, her head rising and falling with his breaths, and it occurred to her that she could do this forever, be by his side, talk with him, lay with him. He was worth risking her heart for. He was worth making the leap.
“I know you live in the city,” Isaac began, “and it would be a commute...”
Say it! Please just say it, don’t make me be the one to ask...
“But I’d like to see you, exclusively, see where this takes us. We touched on it briefly last night but I’d like to make it a solid understanding between us.”
Yes!
“I’d like that too. Very much.” Nory was smiling so hard she thought her mouth might be permanently stretched. She wondered if Isaac could hear it in her voice.
“I could come up some weekends, and obviously you could come here. I feel very strongly that we should pursue this, us. I don’t want you to think I’m getting ahead of myself...” he carried on.
“You’re not. I feel the same,” said Nory. “I don’t want this to end. I don’t mean just this weekend. I mean us. I want to be with you. I wish we had more time.”
Isaac stroked his finger lazily up and down her arm. “Me too. Do you need to rush off tomorrow?”
“I’ll be getting a lift with Ameerah and Dev, but I don’t think they’ll be in any hurry.”
“Good,” he said, kissing the top of her head and holding her a little tighter.
They were quiet for a while and then he spoke again.
“So, tell me what you did before you owned a bookshop.”
