‘I guess. I don’t know. He’s never mentioned anyone.’
‘Maybe he’s just super fussy.’
‘Maybe. His parents seem really lovely and happy. I think he’s holding that up as a benchmark.’
‘I can’t see him staying single for all that long, though. Can you?’
From the corner of my eye, I saw Charlie returning to the living room, his colour back to a light golden tan.
‘All right?’
‘Absolutely. I thought you’d be out of that. Or have you got comfortable in it now?’
‘I’m just about to go and change.’
‘Shame. Suits you.’
‘So, I do the bride bit, and you do the blushing?’ I teased him with a smile, which he returned.
‘Ah, that’s not fair. You took me off guard. You can’t just throw out words like basque and stockings without warning a man!’
‘He does have a point, Libs. I mentioned it once casually over dinner ages ago, and Sam nearly choked.’
‘Right. Noted. Though I must say I fail to see how it might possibly come up again in the future.’
Charlie shrugged. ‘Never say never.’
I shook my head and made to turn back towards my bedroom.
‘I’m assuming you don’t want any shots of you in the—’
‘No! Thank you. Blimey, you really are out of your shell today, aren’t you?’ I laughed.
‘Must be the company.’
Tilly grinned and gave him a squeeze, which he returned. It was good to see him relaxing. He’d seemed not only tired yesterday but tense. Mucking about with us and doing something he clearly enjoyed seemed to have helped him shake off whatever it was, letting his personality shine through. As Tilly said, it was unlikely that Charlie Richmond was going to be single for long, especially once this side of his personality got to be generally known.
‘Right, I’m going to change and—’ The doorbell chimed, interrupting me. ‘Flippin’ heck, it’s been like Piccadilly Circus here today,’ I said, pulling open the door and coming face to face with Alex.
‘Bloody hell.’
‘I wish people would stop saying that to me,’ I said quietly, taking in the look of shock and slight panic on Alex’s face. ‘Hi. I didn’t think your shift finished until later.’
‘I… err… I swapped with a mate as a favour.’ He was still looking me up and down.
‘Do you want to come in?’
Alex brought his gaze up to meet mine, and I could tell he wasn’t entirely sure about the answer to that question.
‘Hi, mate.’ Charlie came to stand beside me and took in Alex’s face, and mine. ‘The girls had a shoot to do for the blog on bridal stuff. I was giving them a hand.’
‘For the blog?’ Alex repeated.
‘Yep.’
I saw the relief flood in. I knew I wasn’t the only one who had spotted it and for some reason I suddenly felt a little bit ridiculous.
‘I need to change. Charlie, can you…?’ I wasn’t sure what I wanted Charlie to do to be honest but I did know I needed to get away from Alex for a moment and get out of this dress.
