Page 59 of The Flirtation
“Avery,wait.”
“I just wanted to say that—I have togo.”
Iran.I ran out the front of the church, and waved to Ingrid as she stepped out of the back of a Rolls Royce, looking spectacular and graceful and gracious as ever. I heard Luke call out my name once, but I just kept running. I had no idea where I was going, I just had to getaway.
Luke
Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.I couldn’t run after Avery, because I was by the entrance and the ceremony was literally about to begin. Bucket and his mates had taken their places at the end of the aisle, and Bucket had definitely seen me, and I could see Ingrid and her party out front. I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.Please don’t leave London. Come to reception after. Chiaran
I was not able to finish the sentence before sending it, because Chiara literally took my mobile from my hand and pulled me into a seat as the organ music began. Chiara had come to see me a couple of times in the past two months, and I’d gone out with her, in an attempt to keep myself busy. I felt numb. I’d let her yell at me and drag me around town on the weekend, but it felt like such a charade after my time with Avery. I’d told Chiara that I wouldn’t be able to join her in Corfu this particular weekend because I had to attend the wedding of a client, and then she just showed up at my flat two hours before I had to be at the church, and fifteen minutes later I’d received a text from Avery. I’d told Chiara that I had RSVP’d that I would be attending without a guest, but I could not shake her. Partly because she was a determined Italian woman, partly because I was a polite Englishman, and partly because all I could think about was what I’d wanted to say toAvery.
The ceremony lasted about half an hour. It was lovely. I’m quite certain. I could only imagine how Avery must have felt and where she might have gone. I kept looking down at my phone, in Chiara’s hand. Her other hand kept a firm grip on my knee, to keep it from bouncing up and down. When Bucket kissed the bride, I was the first person to jump to his feet and clap. I wrested my phone from Chiara’s grip and was among the first in line to congratulate the family and bride and groom as I made my way towards Piccadilly. I told Chiara I had to go and not to follow me. I no longer cared if I was being rude—Avery’s happiness was at stake. Chiara spat out some kind of elaborate curse in Italian. At least I knew she wouldn’t yell at me in a church. She hissed, “Don’t ever call me again!” and I said, “I think that’s for thebest.”
Avery had not responded to my incomplete text. I sent her another one that said:Please call me. Where areyou?
I sent her one more text:Darling. I’m coming to findyou.
I was staring at my phone like a sulky, impatient teenager when I reached Buck in the lineup. I put the phone in my pocket and gave him a sincere hug. “I am so happy for you,” I said. “It was a beautifulceremony.”
“I’m so glad you came! Where’sAve?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest. She was here and then she wasn’t. I’m trying to findher.”
Bucket sensed high drama, and nodded. “Got it. Go to her, man. We thought it was so cool that you both put the same advice in your seashells tous.”
“Right, good,” I said. As if we’d done that intentionally. What do youknow.
What I’d written on that piece of paper, as I watched Avery dipping her toes into the water, backlit by a pink and orange sunset, was this:Always say “I love you” whenever you feel it. Don’t wait for the right moment. The right moment is alwaysnow.
