Page 34 of The Bad Wedding Date

“That’ll never happen because I’m committed to this role. In fact, why don’t we come out of hiding? Why don’t we go and mingle among the wolves? Let them know we aren’t scared of their bite.” He glanced over his shoulder to where groups of women were two-stepping, performing their best mum dancing to their husbands. When Fraser turned back to me, he shrugged. “You could strut on to that dance floor and show them what you’ve got.”

“Together?”

“I don’t dance.”

I rolled my eyes.

“If dancing is out, we could go to the bar and make conversation with people.”

“I don’t like people,” I said blandly.

“You do. You’re great with them. You just hide away in corners pretending you don’t so you can act like it doesn’t bother you that these people judge you when they’re the ones who should be judged.”

“Fuck you, Fraser.”

“That’ll cost you extra.”

I couldn’t help it—I laughed.

He nudged himself closer and looked down at his hands, which were now reaching out until his fingertips could trace the edge of my thigh. That simple connection and that faint touch made my stomach tighten. I swallowed, not at all discreetly, and waited for him to look up into my eyes again.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I croaked.

“What made you want to become a care worker? Tell me why you do what you do for a living when it would be so easy for you to live like everyone else here.”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I don’t want an easy life. I want one filled with purpose.”

“And your job gives you that?”

Memories of my grandfather being thrown into care the moment he became too old and too much of an inconvenience to my parents floated through my mind. Frail hands. Broken skin. Dry lips. His endless confusion. The way my mother turned her back on her own father, leaving him with a bunch of strangers who didn’t know how kind-hearted he’d been for the previous ninety years of his life. People who didn’t know he was the only person who had ever mattered to me. People who didn’t hold his hand when he was scared the way I would have done. People who saw him as another patient, not someone they loved. Not someone with a heart.

I stared down at Fraser’s index fingers, both of which were softly trailing barely noticeable lines back and forth against my thigh. I couldn’t remember ever finding comfort in such a simple yet intimate gesture.

“My job lets me know that I actually have a soul,” I said quietly. “I want to be the one person in my family who does what the others are too scared to do. I want to touch lives and sometimes save them without taking out an ad in The Daily Mail to celebrate my own charitable endeavours.”

“And who touches and saves you?”

“I don’t need saving.”

“But you are trying to find your purpose.”

“I guess so. I want to be different. I want to bring more to the table. Is that a bad thing?”

“If you don’t go out there and actively search for it, yes. You can’t always sit in the shadows, waiting for that purpose to find you.”

“What are you trying to say, Fraser?” I scowled, searching his eyes.

“You want to leave a different legacy behind to these people, Charlotte, I can see that in you, but from where I’m sitting, there’s one thing that’s going to stop you from doing that, and that thing is you.”

I winced, unable to stop myself from showing the sting of that comment.

He smiled sweetly, looking down at his fingers against my thigh before he looked up again. “What I mean is that anyone who ever left a legacy behind didn’t care what other people were doing. They only cared about the path they were on. They didn’t care about others’ opinions. They only cared about what they thought about themselves when they dropped their head on their pillows at night. They didn’t care about turning up to a wedding single or taken. They only cared about turning up for life itself. So, if you want to prove to these people that they don’t matter, prove it to yourself first.” He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “Let your hair down. Get out of the corner. Have fun. Show them who the fuck you are.”

Just like that, a part of my heart unlocked, and with it released a strange feeling of fortitude and courage I hadn’t known I had.

“Why do I have a feeling you’re going to be the death of me, Fraser?”

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