‘You wanted to say some things?’
‘Oh yes. Do you remember the night we met?’ He reached for my hand again.
‘Of course. Best night of my life.’
‘We said it was fate that we met, remember?’
‘It was meant to be,’ I agreed. Neither of us was supposed to be in Nottingham the night we met. I’d been drafted in last minute to make up numbers on a friend of a friend’s hen do and Jason had spontaneously decided to visit an old friend there after his weekend plans fell through.
After a day of never-to-be-repeated-because-it-was-so-terrifying ‘fun and frolics in the great outdoors’, the hen party donned fairy wings and net skirts and embarked on a pub crawl. We ended up in an eighties club where I spotted Jason on the dance floor looking very cute and very out of place in a thick jumper. ‘Aren’t you hot?’ I shouted over the music.
‘I’m used to the heat,’ he replied. ‘I’m a firefighter.’ Oh behave! I had an obsession with firemen so that one line told me all I needed to know. Then when I found out he lived in London… Well, I was moving there from Manchester two weeks later. It had to be fate.
‘Can you remember what I said attracted me to you that night in Nottingham?’ Jason asked.
‘My fluffy wings?’
He laughed. ‘The outfit certainly helped. But there was something that made me get your phone number at the end of the night.’
I shrugged.
‘It was that you’d spent the day on a gorge-walking adventure. Any woman who’d spent the day abseiling, climbing and walking through waterfalls was worth getting to know better.’
Oh! That was unexpected. I thought I’d told him it was a one-off for the hen do and I’d never have agreed to make up the numbers if I’d realised what was planned. Maybe I hadn’t. Probably wasn’t the moment to confess it now.
‘I’ve never had a girlfriend who enjoys being outdoors and keeping fit as much as I do,’ he continued. ‘I can’t believe I’ve found someone who loves to go to the gym…’ Didn’t he realise I tolerated rather than loved going to the gym? Obviously not.
‘… who enjoys mountain biking…’Eek! I’d better not confess that my mountain bike hadn’t actually been stolen but was hiding in Clare’s garage because I’d have a coronary if I ever had to put myself through the extreme torture again that Jason described as a ‘gentle leisurely ride’.
‘… and hiking. It’s such a dream come true. I love that you have the same passions as me.’ He looked at me all dewy-eyed across the table and I tried to hold his gaze with confidence while my pulse raced. Oh no!I’d anticipated a proposal speech to be all about how happy I made him and how much he loved my company. Actually, that’s effectively what he’d said, but I so hadn’t seen it coming from that angle. I knew honesty was the foundation of a good relationship, but these were only little white lies, weren’t they? I mean, I did regularly accompany him to the gym, but mainly because he worked shifts so I’d hardly see him if I didn’t. And I did go hiking, but that’s because I loved being in the countryside, not because I liked to trample twenty miles across it. Perhaps the time for confession wasn’t when he was about to propose. It wasn’t like that was all we had in common. We did loads of other things together. The gym and all that stuff was such a small part of what we did… wasn’t it?
Thankfully Jason’s scary fitness speech had ended. ‘You know you mean the world to me so I wanted to make you really happy on your birthday. I racked my brains trying to think of the perfect gift. I wanted to give you something you really long for so… here it is. The one thing I know you really, really want…’
He reached into the pocket of his suit jacket. My heart leapt as he produced a small green velvet ring box. ‘Happy birthday, Sarah,’ he said, placing it in front of me.
‘Is this?—?’
‘Open it and you’ll see.’
With shaking hands, I eased open the lid. My stomach lurched as it opened wider and wider to reveal… What the…?
There wasn’t an engagement ring inside.
There wasn’t even a pair of earrings.
There was a small key.
I looked at Jason, then at the key, then back at Jason again. A thought struck me. He hadn’t got down on one bended knee yet so maybe this was the start of an elaborate game to find the ring. It would be locked in a tin in a suitcase in a safe or something like that and I’d have to follow a trail of rose petals and fairy dust. How incredibly romantic.
He handed me an envelope. The first clue maybe? I tore the seal open and scanned the contents. Maybe not.My fist tightened, crumpling the edge of the paper.
Dear Mr Wilkes & Miss Peterson,
We’re delighted to confirm your six-month premium membership at The Fitness Factor. This is a fantastic investment in your health and wellbeing. Your exclusive membership guarantees a place in our most popular classes – no waiting lists for you – as well as a weekly premium-members-only pool session and climbing wall session.
And you’ll have exclusive use of your very own lockers for the duration. We’re pleased to enclose your keys.
Finally, we’ll be launching an exciting programme of outdoors adventures next year on which premium members will have priority booking.
