Page 129 of Versions Of Us

I don’t have time to wonder though, because the next minute EJ is pulling me up onto the dance floor. “Come dance with me, Kristen!”

I laugh as he begins to perform some extremely eccentric moves on the dance floor and then Liv and I join in, imitating him until we’ve drawn a decent crowd. “I love you guys,” I say, throwing my arms around the pair of them.

“We love you too,” Liv says. “Which is why you need to trust us with what’s about to happen.”

“Huh.” My eyes narrow in confusion. “What do you mean? What’s about to happen?”

Liv giggles as EJ pulls a silky ribbon of material from his back pocket. It takes me a minute to recognise it. It’s the tie he’d been wearing for the wedding ceremony. He stretches it out in his hands and loops it around my neck.

“Henley has a surprise for you,” he says.

“He does?”

“He does,” Liv confirms. “And because it’s a surprise, you need to wear a blindfold.”

“Um… kinky?”

Liv laughs. “No. Well, maybe. I don’t know.”

Henley is now walking over to us, a devilish smirk on his perfect face.

“Are we leaving now?” I ask.

“Yes,” Liv replies. “And we will see you both for brunch at the Haven tomorrow morning. Thank you for all your help with the wedding preparations. Now go and have fun.”

Liv gives me a tight hug and then EJ uses his tie to blindfold me. Henley moves his hands over my waist and leads me to his truck. I hear him open the door and then I squeal as he lifts me up and places me in the passenger seat.

“What are we doing? This is insane!”

“Do you trust me?” I hear his voice to my right.

“Always.”

Then he slips the key in the ignition and the engine roars to life. We’re only in the car for a few minutes before I feel it come to a complete stop.

He exits the car, then the passenger door is opening and he’s lifting me out of it again. I gasp as my feet find the ground, tiny blades of grass pricking at my feet between the straps of my sandals. Henley guides me further forward for a few steps, then the ground becomes harder, pebbles crushing underneath my heels. Another ten steps or so and then he stills me in place.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

“Yes.”

His fingers brush my neck as he loosens the blindfold. I blink, my eyes needing a chance to adjust to the night.

“Oh my God,” I say in awe, my hands coming up to cup my mouth. “Is this…”

“Yep.”

I stare in wonder at the small riverside cottage we’ve shared so many memories in. The back porch roof is still adorned with the same festoon lights, but the decking is larger, wider, a wicker loveseat now in place where our old wooden chairs once were.

“Come on.” Henley holds out his hand to me and I allow him to lead me up the stairs.

“These stairs,” I say. “They’re different.”

“Yeah,” he replies. “Well, the old ones were falling apart.”

“I don’t understand. Did you build all of this yourself?”

He doesn’t answer, just grins as he unlocks the back door and gestures for me to lead the way inside. I enter to find that the place is fully furnished too. Some of it new, some of it pieces that Henley must have brought back over from the loft.

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