AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Ah, my love, you made it,’ says Petra, and her whole face transforms. Lightness. Sparkle. Softness.
‘Of course.’ Kira smiles, tipping her head to one side, the tight bouncy curls of her afro, bouncing. ‘They’re playing Fleetwood Mac.’
‘I can hear that.’
‘And they’re dancing in the next room.’
And Petra nods, gives her a big, beaming smile. ‘Is that a big hint?’ She turns to me. ‘Do you mind?’
I grin at her. ‘Go! Dance to Fleetwood Mac!’
And as Petra starts to walk away, Kira’s hand on her back, she ducks back to me and says, ‘Time to step out, Millie. Meet the spring.’
*
A hand slides around my waist as I stand at the bar and I melt almost instantly at the touch.
‘And where’ve you been hiding?’ Jack’s deep, hot voice speaks in my ear and I smile, turn to face him.
‘Talking to Petra. Oh, and under a blanket next to a heater out there listening to Chatty slash Mute Martin talk about his verruca.’ I smile. ‘You?’
‘I was going to ask if there was room under the blanket for me,’ Jack grins. ‘But also, I do not need to hear about the verruca.’
‘You don’t know that for sure, Jack dot Shurlock.’
‘Oh, I do.’Jack says, his hand sliding away from my waist as he comes to stand next to me at the bar. ‘I got a fuckin’ verbal dossier on it yesterday.’
I laugh. ‘What a leaving present.’
Jack chuckles, and says, ‘What’re we having then?’
It’s weird. We haven’t been in front of colleagues in a social situation since .?.?. all of this. The rhubarb farm, the treehouse – and oh, God, I can’t even think about the treehouse without my entire body turning to jelly. Maybe Cate is right. Memories of the treehouse will stay with me for the rest of my life. The hours we talked, how safe I felt, and Jack’s soft, skilled kisses. I keep thinking about those hands, that sexy rumbling groan, the way it was so hard for us to stop touching each other. Ugh. He’s leaving he’s leaving he’s leaving and I am at his farewell party and he seems really happy actually, and really fucking ready to sign me over to a bakery classes countries and countries away from him—
‘Millie?’
I clear my throat. ‘Oh! Erm. No. It’s fine. I’m getting it.’
Jack cocks an eyebrow. And what am I doing? Being scared to accept a drink, stay with him, drink beside him in front of everyone in case it means, what? I fall in love with him? It’s all too late. Everything is too late. Damage control. What damage control?
A barman appears; tired, but smiling. ‘Same again,’ says Jack, handing over his glass. ‘And?’ He looks at me and the barman does too.
‘A white wine,’ I say. ‘Spritzer.’ I look at Jack shyly. ‘Thank you.’
Jack gives a small smile, then he scooches closer to me, his warm, strong arm touching mine.
And God, I can’t even bear to look him in the eye right now. My chest feels heavy, like it’s full of not one, but hundreds of heavy golf balls of doom. I don’t want him to leave. Everything I feel for him – it’s too much.
‘I can’t believe you’re leaving.’
Jack nods, softly, a wave of his hair, dangling, as ever, over his forehead. I reach up and touch it. He smiles slowly. ‘As I say, it always feels like it might not happen until I’m on the plane.’
‘Ugh.’
Jack laughs. ‘What? What is it?’
Don’t leave me, is what I want to say. I know it’s not been long, but please don’t leave. But instead, I say, ‘I just sort of wish you weren’t going. Just yet, anyway.’
Jack smiles, gently, then says, ‘Really?’
