‘I think I’ll see you again then.’ He folded the piece of paper and tucked it in his shirt pocket. ‘Noelle knows this isn’t something I do for just anyone and would only ask if it was important to her – soyoumust be important to her. Treat her with the respect she deserves.’
‘Of course. Thank you again.’ We shook hands and I left the room feeling jumbled up inside. If her dad ran the check and found a current address, my search could be at an end. But what about my time with Noelle?
She didn’t want a relationship unless it gave her everything. A supportive long-term partnership, a future with kids – it was no wonder she didn’t want to get messed up with me – that’s what I knew, despite what her dad said about me being important to her. But she was becoming important to me. I knew that now and I didn’t want this to be the end of the road for us – even though it most likely had to be.
‘I didn’t expect it to be quite this close,’ Stephen commented as we walked two streets from my parents’ and stopped in front of my sister and Quinn’s house.
‘Convenient, hey?’ I knocked on the door. ‘Tim lives just around the corner too. All the others still live at home.’
‘How come you chose to move into the city then?’
I shrugged my shoulder. ‘I like the city and – well—’
‘You wouldn’t get anything done if you were too close, would you?’
My lips parted with surprise. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘I saw how many jobs you were given in one afternoon. Is that why you chose to come to England at Christmas?’
‘Well, I had research to do to finish my book, and a deadline…’ I lifted one shoulder. ‘They don’t mean to. We all fall into roles within our family, don’t we?’
He was about to speak when Lucy opened the door. She’d changed out of her day clothes, she was wearing a nice top with some cropped leggings and fastening a pair of dangling earrings as she welcomed us in.
‘She’ll probably wake up at about eleven for a bottle, but we’ll be heading back by then, so if she doesn’t get off to sleep don’t worry. She’s gone down easy, so all you guys need to do is keep an ear out and watch some TV, or, y’know, whatever you want to keep you entertained.’ She dropped a big wink in my direction. As I was the Queen of Unsubtle, I just gave her an unimpressed stare.
They shuffled around fussing about where diapers were and the formula and the number for the paediatrician for another ten minutes. She caught me again at the door, whispering to me. ‘Seriously, Noelle, c’mon, you’re only young once. Have a bit of fun with him.’
‘That’s all it’d be though. Short-term fun.’ I kept my voice low as well.
‘How do you know? He’s just spent all day with our family. Why would he do that if he wasn’t expecting to see them again?’
‘He was just doing what I told him. To make sure we got Dad on side.’
‘Yeah, I’m not convinced anyone could put up with watching the twins acting outRosencrantz and Guildensternwithout deeper motivation than that. But even if that is the case – Lord, Noelle, do it for me okay?’
‘That is wrong on so many levels.’
‘I never got to run around dating like you. I love Quinn but we met so young, y’know. Make the most of it and have fun.’
She kissed my cheek and the door closed behind them. I understood what she was talking about; I could appreciate settling down so early made it feel like she’d missed out, but if she thought getting my hopes up and then dashed over and over again was fun she wasn’t really considering of it from my perspective. But that was nothing new. With so many people trying to offer me advice on my love life, it was no wonder I didn’t have a clue what to do. I knew what I wanted to do, but that didn’t mean I should.
The house was silent. I looked at Stephen and he looked at me. Quietly. Steadily. My stomach was doing flips and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the chicken kebab I’d eaten.
‘Shall we?’ I pointed him towards the back garden. The shadows were lengthening and there were two chairs in a shady spot. I brought out the baby monitor and debated getting glasses of wine for us but it was already feeling dangerously romantic.
‘Where have they gone for their date night?’ Stephen asked.
‘The open-air cinema.’
‘I didn’t think those existed anymore. I figured it was something from a bygone era. Like inGrease.’
‘It’s a rooftop one, not a drive-in. Thereisa drive-in, an old-fashioned one, which takes about an hour and a half hours to get to, in Warwick. It was a tradition in high school, if anyone had a car to drive out there at Spring Break.’
‘Sounds fun. The drive-in I mean, not the rooftop one, obviously.’ He gave a rueful smile.
‘Eh.’ I curled my lip. ‘The drive-in was a long journey and a lot of money to pay just to make out in a car.’
His dark eyes were in shadow, but they were trained on me, unnervingly steady again. ‘You used to go just to make out in the car? Noelle, I’m scandalised.’
