‘Oh, absolutely. But the moment Alex saw you at Mum and Dad’s party, he knew. He can probably read me better than anyone. And, like he said, I’d left out the part about you being gorgeous, so really that was all the confirmation he needed.’
‘So, he asked me out to get back at you for feeling somehow less than you?’
‘Yes and no.’
I frowned at him.
‘Despite what I’d said, once he saw you and saw me with you, he knew what I felt for you was way past just liking you as a friend. But Alex really did like you too. I don’t want you thinking he was just using you to get back at me for something.’
‘But he kind of was…’
Charlie let out a deep sigh. ‘Yes. I suppose so, in a way. But if I hadn’t been on the scene he would have still asked you out. But, once it came to it, as much as he liked you, he couldn’t go through with it. He knew, probably even better than I did, what you meant, and do mean, to me. When extra shifts came up, he’d take them, just so that he’d have a valid excuse for not seeing you. Like I said earlier, normally Alex is pretty charming as regards to sex but he couldn’t go through with it with you. He cared about you too much… and he knew that once he went there, our friendship would never be the same.’
Shaking my head, I blew my fringe up out of my eyes. ‘Why don’t men just talk about things?’
Charlie let out a breath that contained a laugh. ‘God knows. It would probably make things a lot less complicated.’
‘It really would.’
‘When I found out he’d stood you up that night, I was so angry with him! I hated to think of you just sat there alone. I stormed round to see him the next morning and everything kind of blew up! We were both yelling at each other and every insecurity we each had came shooting out.’
‘Oh, Charlie.’
‘No! Don’t look like that. Honestly, it was the best thing that could have happened. It totally cleared the air and by the time we had finished I think we both understood each other a lot better.’
He ran a hand down my hair. ‘I hate that you ended up being a pawn in all this, though.’
‘It’s OK. He didn’t hurt me. I felt a bit of an idiot in that restaurant but apart from that I was OK. Although I will say seeing the look of abject horror on his face when I opened the door to him whilst wearing a wedding gown didn’t do all that much for my ego either!’
Charlie grinned. ‘Yeah, I think he was suddenly panicking that things might have got a little out of hand.’
I rolled my eyes.
‘You kind of did both our heads in with that.’
‘You too? But you knew it was all pretend. All just for the blog.’
‘I did. But, God, Libby, you looked so… incredibly beautiful. You took my breath away. I had to keep myself busy so that I couldn’t focus on the thought that one day some unbelievably lucky guy was going to see you like that for real. I didn’t want it to be anyone else. I wanted it to be me and the thought of it being someone else just drove me nuts.’
‘Charlie,’ I whispered, as he rested his forehead against mine.
‘I know you’ve said you might not want to get married, and if that’s what you want, I can live with that. As long as you’re only not getting married with me.’
‘I’ve had some long talks with my dad over the past few weeks and I might have changed my mind on that…’
His smile said more than words ever could.
‘But you and Alex?’
‘We’re good. I promise. He’s been brilliant these last few weeks. I was going crazy and he kept me mostly sane.’
‘I’m sorry I caused you pain, Charlie. I really am.’
‘Don’t even think about it now. If I’d been more brave and just admitted I was head over heels with you in the first place, it probably would have saved everyone a lot of heartache.’
Charlie twiddled the ring I always wore on my right hand. My mum’s emerald engagement ring.
‘I thought if I just packed it all away and concentrated on being a friend to you, the rest of the feelings would go away. And I convinced myself that they had.’
