When the final burst of fireworks finished after a solid twenty-minute quite phenomenal display, the band started up again inside the barn. Some people went back inside but others started to drift off around the garden. There was an almost full moon and the sky was clear, so you could see well enough to walk but not well enough to make out exactly what anyone not close to you was doing, or who people were.
‘Shall we explore the garden?’ Raf’s voice in Georgie’s ear sounded almost purry.
‘Yes, it looks gorgeous.’ Much like Raf.
Alex had very proudly shown them his ride-on mower at the beginning of the evening – to much laughter from Ankita – and he’d definitely done a good job on the lawn because it wasn’t too hard to walk on in three-inch stilettos. But when they got into the woods, it was a lot trickier and a lot darker.
‘What’s that?’ Georgie screamed, batting manically at something that had touched her face.
‘I think it was a cobweb,’ said Raf, brushing it gently away from her cheeks. She nearly jumped a mile at his touch. Thank goodness it was fully dark in here and he hadn’t seen. Honestly, her skin was tingling like mad where he’d touched her.
Help, there was something else touching them.
‘What’s that?’ she shrieked.
‘A leaf, I think.’
‘Oh.’ Georgie peered through the dark. ‘Stop laughing.’
‘Sorry.’ He was laughing even more now.
‘Max and I watched a horror movie last weekend. It was only rated 12 but it was sofrightening that I had to sleep with the light on afterwards. Terrifying. This is like that.’
‘Didn’t you say Max is eleven? Washescared?’
‘He’s actually nearly twelve and no he wasn’t scared, though I have no idea why. Like, I don’t know why you aren’t scared now.’
‘Yes, you’re so right, I should be. Adults regularly get horribly murdered by ghosts or lions in woods in Gloucestershire. Whoknowswhat might happen next?’
As Georgie opened her mouth to tell him to shut up, something tapped her on her back. Proper tapping. Like possibly an actual ghost, even though she was pretty sure that ghosts did not exist. The tapping happened again. She screamed. And screamed. And kept on screaming. This was just like the poltergeist in the forest in the film. And then she realised thatobviouslyit had been Raf tapping and now he was almost doubled up he was laughing so much.
‘Sorry,’ he gasped. ‘I shouldn’t have done that. I think I might have under-estimated your imagination.’
‘Have you finished being juvenile?’ asked Georgie, aiming for haughty and dignified.
‘Yep.’ He hadn’t. He was still sniggering. ‘Sorry. Have you recovered?’
‘Totally. I was just humouring you.’
‘Course you were.’
‘Oh my goodness, what was that?’ Georgie yelled. ‘On my foot. A small animal, I think.’
‘Would you like to leave the wood?’
‘Yes, I really would.’
‘Come on.’ He took her hand and they walked back the way they’d come. When they got to the edge of the wood, they werestill holding hands. Raf stopped walking. ‘It might be a little too scary for some people, but it’s beautiful, isn’t it?’
‘Mmm.’
Now that they were out of the woods and she could see him properly againand,crucially, she wasn’t worried about animals and ghosts any more, Georgie couldn’t think about anything except the fact that they were still holding hands, and his hand felt very big and warm and strong. Just exactly right for her. The Goldilocks thing. She was staring up at his face, she knew she was, but she couldn’t help it.
He looked back at her. His eyes moved from hers to her lips.
‘Georgie,’ he said.
‘Yes?’ Her voice sounded weird.
