AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The shop door banging open distracted her from her latest daydream, and she glanced up, half expecting it to be Alex, unable to wait until evening. Instead, she smiled to see Charlie Frost with a dark-haired woman she assumed to be Mia standing beside him.
‘Good morning.’ Lily tried to dampen down the grin, just in case Charlie hadn’t let Mia in on his plans just yet. ‘Can I help you?’
‘It’s all right, Lily,’ Charlie said, his own smile wide and beaming as he looked down at Mia. ‘She said yes!’
‘And you couldn’t wait for the ring to propose?’ Lily moved towards the locked safe where she’d been keeping the finished ring, waiting for Charlie to collect it.
‘Apparently I’m just that irresistible,’ Mia said, but she was grinning up at Charlie as she said it.
‘It was the perfect moment! I couldn’t let it pass.’ Charlie dropped a kiss on the top of his fiancée’s head.
‘The perfect moment, huh?’ Lily unlocked the safe and pulled out the ring box. ‘Maybe you should recreate it for me. With the ring, this time.’
She handed the box to Charlie, who nodded. ‘Okay. Picture the scene. It’s the midnight movie at the Coliseum cinema, and for the first time in weeks we’re the only people there.’
‘Only because you made Walt postpone it until two a.m., after the wedding had finished,’ Mia pointed out.
‘It’s our tradition,’ Charlie said. ‘On Saturday nights, we go to the midnight movie.’
‘I’m very sorry if my friend’s wedding nearly got in the way of your cinema viewing,’ Lily said, trying not to smile. ‘I’m amazed you had the energy to go, after all that cooking.’
‘He did doze off a few times,’ Mia confided.
‘But I woke up for the important bit!’ Charlie grabbed Mia at the waist and manoeuvred her to sit on the windowsill, perching himself beside her. ‘So there we were, watching The Philadelphia Story –’
‘My favourite!’ Lily clapped her hands together, and ignored Charlie’s glare at her interrupting again.
‘One of mine, too,’ Mia added.
‘I know. That’s why I had to propose last night, even though I didn’t have the ring yet,’ Charlie explained patiently. ‘Anyway, so we get to the bit where Tracy’s announcing the change of plan to the wedding guests, and I just knew I couldn’t wait. And when she says to Dexter, “Are you sure?” and he says something like, “I’ll risk it, will you?” I just got down on my knees beside her, like this, and said – ’
‘Will you risk it?’ Mia finished for him, smiling fondly at her fiancé as he knelt beside her. ‘Not the most conventional proposal phrasing…’
‘Hey, you said yes, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. Yes I did.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘And you promised me something sparkly in return…’
‘Oh, yeah, hang on.’ Charlie fished the ring box out of his back pocket and opened it, still on one knee, presenting the ring to her.
Lily watched Mia carefully. This was the moment, one she never normally got to see. The brief second when the bride-to-be got her first glimpse of her ring without knowing in advance what it would look like. The second before she could school her features, look pleased even if she was disappointed. This was the moment she needed to see.
Mia’s eyes widened as she saw the ring, her hand coming up to her mouth, fingers trembling, and Lily knew she’d done the job right.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Mia said, voice a little wobbly. ‘It’s just what I… How did you know?’ She looked up to Lily for an answer, but Lily shook her head.
‘It was all Charlie. He described you so perfectly – what you love, who you are, why he loves you – after that it was easy.’
Mia smiled and threw her arms round a waiting Charlie.
‘Shall we see if it fits, then?’ he suggested.
It did, fortunately, thanks to Charlie’s unorthodox method of apparently measuring around Mia’s ring finger while she slept and giving Lily the piece of string he’d used marked to the right size. Lily packed the beaming pair off to Alex, as her recommendation for wedding photographer and engagement photos, if they wanted them.
And then she tried to get back to work.
The only problem was, thoughts of Alex had been replaced with less pleasant ones of Edward and the wedding that wasn’t. How had she thought that he was the man she should marry, even for a moment? Seeing Charlie with Mia… Lily had no plans to marry at all, but if she ever did, she wouldn’t settle for anything less than what they had.
And in the meantime… Her grin returned as she remembered the fling arrangement with Alex. And grew even wider when, at the end of the day, he appeared in the shop doorway.
‘I understand I have you to thank for my latest bookings,’ he said, leaning against the doorframe.
‘Charlie and Mia? You most certainly do.’ Lily picked up the pair of earrings she’d just finished, and hung them on the display tree on the cash desk. ‘How, exactly, were you planning on repaying me, I wonder?’
Alex’s smile was slow and promising. ‘How about we start with me taking you out for a drink after Cora cooks us dinner, and see where we go from there.’
Lily grabbed her bag from under the desk. ‘Sounds like a plan.’ After all, who needed romantic proposals and happily ever after when you had the promise of another fantastic night with Alex Harper?
* * * *
With hindsight, Alex supposed it was inevitable that Cora would notice the shift in his and Lily’s relationship. It was natural that he’d act differently around someone he was intimate with, and Cora was a perceptive person. He just hadn’t expected her to pick up on it so soon.
‘You slept together.’
Alex blinked at her and then glanced at Lily, beside him on the doorstep. ‘Uh, hello to you too?’
‘Can we come in before we talk about this?’ Lily asked, looking miserable for the first time since he’d kissed her the night before. He didn’t like her being unhappy. Made him want to make her smile again. And now he’d discovered the best ever method for getting her to grin like a cat with cream, he really didn’t need any encouragement to do it again.
Cora huffed a sigh, but stood back from the front door. ‘Fine. Come in. Alex, Rhys is in the kitchen with the wine. I need to talk to Lily.’ He shot Lily a look to make sure she was okay with that, and Cora slammed the door. ‘For God’s sake, Alex, I’ve been her friend for twenty years. You’ve slept with her once. I think I’m allowed to talk to my best friend in private.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Alex backed off towards the kitchen, hands up. But he didn’t bother to hide his smile when he heard Lily murmur, ‘Three times, actually.’
Yeah, she was going to be just fine.
Rhys handed him a beer the moment he entered the kitchen. ‘You’ve really done it this time, mate.’
‘So it seems.’ Alex took a long swig of beer. Apparently he was going to need it. ‘I don’t get what the big deal is. We’re both single, consenting adults. We both know what we’re getting into.’
‘She’s worried about her. About both of you, actually.’ Rhys turned back to the oven, and pulled out a roasting tray full of wonderful-smelling meat.
‘About me?’ Alex frowned. ‘What on earth is she worrying about me for?’
Rhys sighed. ‘Hang on.’ Covering the beef with a sheet of tinfoil, he grabbed a beer for himself and sat down at the kitchen table, motioning for Alex to do the same.
Alex obeyed, wondering if he was about to get the equivalent of the “if you hurt my daughter” spiel.
‘You know I have absolutely no interest in who you sleep with, right?’ Rhys started.
Alex nodded. ‘God, I hope not.’
‘And I really, really don’t want to be having this conversation right now.’
‘I kind of got that.’
‘It’s all… feelings and stuff.’ Rhys waved his beer bottle around to illustrate. ‘It’s one thing talking to Cora about them. But another bloke…’
r /> ‘Cora asked you to talk to me, didn’t she?’
‘Yeah.’ Rhys sighed. ‘So do me a favour, and just pretend it’s her saying all this, okay?’
‘Will do,’ Alex promised. ‘So. What’s the problem?’
‘She’s worried about you.’
‘You said that already.’
Rhys shot a glare across the table. ‘This will go quicker if you don’t interrupt.’
