Page 58 of The Flirtation
Chapter 21
Avery
Ionly hadtwo tiny bottles of red wine on the plane, and zero pills to help me sleep. Okay, I had four tiny bottles of red wine on the plane, and zero pills to help me sleep, but I also got almost no sleep. I didn’t text Luke until I had arrived at Heathrow, in case I chickened out and didn’t make it out of JFK. I went with a business casual text to his businessphone.
Me: Hi there! Just arrived at Heathrow, heading to Bucket’s wedding. See youthere?
I stood there in a corner of the terminal for five minutes, staring at myphone.
Luke: Welcome to London. See youthere.
Okay. No exclamation points. No “darling.” But it was a response.I will see himthere.
After changing into a simple blue dress and freshening up in the loo, I hopped into a cab and directed the driver to take me to St. James’s Church on Piccadilly. It was in the heart of Piccadilly Circus in the West End, which is basically the Times Square of London. A perfectly subdued and romantic location wherein I might quietly profess my love for Luke.Not.
To be honest, I had in fact purchased a large fancy black hat, like the one Andie MacDowell wore inFour Weddings and a Funeral. Because GO BIG OR GO HOME. But the thought of drawing that kind of attention to myself while I was about to lay my soul bare in public made me want to throw up—despite the option of using the hat to cover my face or swat Luke with it, should things go awry. And, since I was not a totally self-centered asshole, I was also there to support Buck and Ingrid at their symbolic United Kingdom nuptials. I had called Ingrid and told her that I would be able to attend after all, and she informed me that they had hoped and planned for me to change my mind and looked forward to seeing me again. I wondered if they would have me seated at the same table as Luke. I wondered if there would be dancing at the reception. I wondered why it was still called the United Kingdom and not the United Queendom. I wondered why they drove on the left side of the street here. I wondered why I hadn’t had more to eat on the plane, and why there was so much fucking traffic. If I didn’t make it to the church well before the ceremony I would have to wait until the reception to talk to Luke, and I didn’t even know if he’d be attendingit.
I asked the driver if there was a faster way to get there, and he assured me that he would get me there on time, even though I never told him when I needed to be there. Still, I trusted him, in the way that Americans trust people with English accents because they sound so much smarter than us no matter what they’resaying.
He did get me there before the ceremony had started. People were still milling about on the sidewalk and in the courtyard in front of the church. I was probably the only person there carrying a large weekender bag, but I didn’t want to use a locker at the airport in case I’d need my things elsewhere, and I didn’t want to pay for a hotel room in case I didn’t need one—whether it would be because I ran back to the airport screaming and crying or because I spend the night in Luke’s flat—only a short amount of time wouldtell.
I scanned the crowd of polite, well-dressed people, and tanned, shaggy-haired surfers in suits. It was not difficult to guess who was a guest of the bride’s or thegroom’s.
“Avery?!” I turned around and saw Natalie—my former assistant Natalie. In all my haste and turmoil I had completely forgotten to let her know that I would be coming today, and to be honest, I was very surprised that she was at the ceremony. She looked so much more grown-up and so much more Anglo-Saxon than when I’d last seen her in New York. She basically looked like KateMiddleton.
“Oh my God Natalie hi!” I quickly ran over to give her a hug. “So good to see you—I decided to come last minute. Have you seenLuke?”
“Um?” She was about to lean in and say something into my ear, but a handsome young man in a grayish blue suit approachedus.
“Looks like they’ll be starting on time,” he said to Natalie, then nodded at me. “Hallo, I’m William.” Then he recognized me. He looked at Natalie, eyes widened. Natalie pursed her lips and nodded her head. “Oh bloody hell, you’re Avery aren’t you?Hi!”
“Hi, William, hi, have youseen?”
“Um, yeah, he’suh…”
I looked around and spotted Luke, inside the back of the church. I felt my heart drop to my stomach, and just ran towards him, before I could change my mind. He was looking around, possibly looking for me. I tapped him on the shoulder. He looked so beautiful in his charcoal grey suit, and very serious. His eyes did not so much light up when he saw me, as they looked resigned. “Hi,” I said. “Can I talk to you, for aminute?”
“Of course,” he said, nodding. “I’d love to talk to you too.” He led me towards a corner, near the entrance. There were around two hundred people getting settled into the pews. There was the echoed rumbling of voices as people chatted and shuffled around—no one cared what that lady was saying to that man in the corner before the ceremony started, and no one would be able to hear—it was perfect. Luke put his hand on my arm for a moment, while I took a deep breath. “It’s good to see you,” he said,earnestly.
“Oh, it’s so good to see you.” I had to fight back tears. I hadn’t planned exactly what I’d say, because I didn’t want it to sound rehearsed or phony. And also because whenever I started thinking about it I got diarrhea. “I’ve missed you. Somuch.”
His eyes flickered and looked around the room, before giving me his undividedattention.
“Luke, I’m so sorry for the way I treated you before you left NewYork.”
“There’s no need to apologize, listen, I needto—”
“No I have to. I pushed you away, because I was scared, but that’s not an excuse. It’s been so long since I’ve been in a relationship. I mean, I’ve never been in a serious adult relationship. I might be really bad at it. I might be crazy. But you make me feel like the best possible version of myself, and I want to be good to you and I want to be with you. Whenever possible. Wherever. If you’ll haveme…”
He exhaled and looked down. “Avery,I…”
“Luke?” said a throaty female voice from behind him. “We’d better find a seat, darling, they’re starting.” Italian accent. Calm.Elegant.
Fucking Chiara.It had to be. She was stunning and sexy, in that way that only Italian women can be. Her dark shiny hair was half-covered by a large fancy black hat. Just like the one that Andie MacDowell wore inFour Weddings and a Funeral.I kid you not. The way it looked on her, it made everyone else look dumb fornotwearing ahat.
“I’ll be right there,” Luke muttered, his eyes fixed on me. “Avery.”
“Okay, right,” I said. “You’d better—I haveto…”
