‘I was definitely interested.’ He kissed the top of my head as I lay against his chest. ‘If I’d got your text, I’d definitely have turned up at the shop.’
‘I waited for an hour, then I came home and cried my way through aromcom fest ofMy Best Friend’s WeddingandHe’s Just Not That Into You.’ I pointed to thePretty WomanDVD box on the coffee table. ‘Can you spot the theme?’ I decided not to mention the hour spent on my searching for Steven frenzy first. There was such a thing as too much honesty.
‘I’m so sorry.’ He stroked my hair.
‘It’s not your fault. It’s that damn phone. And to make matters worse, the next time I heard from you was that text you meant for Skye instead. When I texted to say you’d sent it to me by mistake, your reply was all formal with no kisses or anything.’
Nick groaned. ‘What a pair we are. When you didn’t reply – or rather when I thought you hadn’t – I thought I’d blown it for pushing you when I knew you wanted to search for Steven. I needed to talk to someone which was why I texted Skye.’
I cringed. ‘Did you tell her about the Steven thing?’
‘Sorry,’ Nick said. ‘I couldn’t avoid it. Are you angry with me?’
I shook my head. ‘She won’t tell anyone else, will she?’
‘No. She’s great with secrets.’
I sat up, reached for my wine, then passed Nick his. ‘What did she say?
‘She understood. She’s quite into clairvoyance.’
I smiled. ‘That doesn’t surprise me.’
‘She said the attraction between us was obvious. She’s a great believer in fate, just like you, and she reckoned that if it was meant to be, it would happen.’
‘Sound advice,’ I said. ‘When you came into the shop yesterday…’
‘It was to follow Skye’s advice and make sure we were still friends.’
‘I sent you a text in the hope I’d still catch you. Did you get that one?’
Nick nodded. ‘I was nearly home when it came through.’
‘You didn’t reply, though.’
‘I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how you felt about me and I was worried I’d text something that might scare you off if you weren’t interested.’
‘I was very interested. Believe me.’ I kissed Nick again.
‘I don’t want to ruin the moment, but…’ he said when we pulled apart.
‘But what about my search for Steven?’
Nick nodded. ‘Sorry. I have to know.’
‘It’s over.’ I paused. ‘I’ve been in touch with three Stevens during the past week and they all asked if they could meet me tonight. The only person I really wanted to be with was you and, even though I thought there was no chance of that, I still turned them all down. I chose you.’
‘So you don’t believe in the CD anymore?’
I shrugged. ‘I can’t dismiss the CD because of that stuff about my uncle, the picture and the bracelet. But I have to assume she was wrong about Steven. I liked you when I first saw you looking all dashing in your morning suit and I’ve been fighting it ever since. After Jason, I wanted to believe I was going to meet the man of my dreams and I was so happy to believe that he was called Steven, I had my eyes closed to the Nick right in front of me. If you’ll have me, I don’t think I need to search for Steven anymore.’
‘Of course I’ll have you.’ Nick kissed me again. ‘Do you really mean that? It’s over with Steven?’
‘I really mean that. If a Steven walked into my shop tomorrow, I don’t think that there’s anything he could say or do that would make him more perfect for me than you.’
25
‘I’ve missed you so much.’ Clare almost knocked an elderly couple flying in her effort to get to my side of the shop counter late the following morning.
