I see.
My whole body suddenly starts to throb in a way that feels deeply unfamiliar and very interesting indeed. I can barely move a muscle as, there on the rooftop, in the middle of the most insane day I’ve ever experienced,River Oakleyglances greedily at my lips and tilts his head slowly towards mine. I linger on his arrogant mouth, his unkempt golden stubble, before allowing my eyes to drift closed. My shoulders start to soften as I feel those lips, that stubble, the apple pie and whisky scent of him on … mycheek?
Wait.
He is kissing meon the cheek?
My eyes fly open in surprise. I take a step back. River is fully grinning at me now. It transforms his face. From surly and intimidating, to bright and warm and fun. I notice, then, a tiny gap in between his front two teeth. It’s annoyingly charming on a face so otherwise faultless. Hmm, those teeth were not in the description I wrote of River Oakley. They absolutely should have been.
I adjust my raindrop-covered glasses and push away the unexpected disappointment swirling my belly at the lack of a real kiss.
It must show on my face because River shrugs a shoulder and throws me a wink. ‘Some girls just ain’t ready to be kissed like that, Gertie.’
I blink, momentarily affronted. And then I can’t help but laugh out loud. Oh my God. Theaudacity. Though, I have to say, as a writer I can’t help but appreciate a humdinger of a line when I hear one.
Gosh, those poor good women of Burnet County. Their poor hearts. They had no chance. This man knowsexactlywhat he’s doing.
‘That sounds a lot like something a romantic hero might say,’ I shout over the deluge, making a mental note of it and tucking it away for a future book.
‘Romantic hero? I don’t think so,’ River calls back disdainfully. ‘My mother always said romance is a game for fools. And I happen to think she was bang on the money.’
‘Oh, but you’re missing out!’
He scoffs. ‘I got everything I need in my life.’ Glancing up at the rapidly moving clouds above us, he tips his hat inmy direction once more. ‘Now, for the second time, I must bid you goodnight.’
I shake my head and chuckle. ‘Goodbye then, River Oakley!’ I hold my hand up in a soggy farewell as the rain continues to hammer down on the roof, the thunder reverberating around us like we’re smack bang in the middle of the boom. ‘This was so weird! Good luck with it all! And hey, maybe you could try to be a little nicer to—’
I cut myself off because, all at once, the rain stops, just as abruptly as it started. The thunder too. Like someone flicked an off switch on the storm. The pair of us look up open-mouthed as the clouds rapidly clear, revealing a moon that lights the inky sky to a calm dusky blue.
‘Wait,’ I mutter. ‘What …? I thought that was …’
‘No, no, no,’ River groans, bouncing on his heels a little. ‘Take me home, Goddesses …’ he repeats, only it doesn’t quite have the same energy as before. ‘Please?’ he tries. ‘Universe?’
But nothing happens. He doesn’t disappear into a puff of smoke, or a flash of light. It’s a total anti-climax. Without the apocalyptic drama of the rain and the lightning, he’s just a man on a London roof terrace asking a bunch of unknown goddesses to take him home.
‘Um … I … I think maybe that was just a summer storm …’
My cheeks start to redden. How embarrassing. I only let him feel me up because I genuinely thought he was going to disappear. And now … awkward. So awkward. Like whenthe nightclub is closing and the big lights come on and you have to reckon with the choices you made in the dark.
River’s smile has dropped, mouth a sullen line once more. ‘It didn’t work? Thatwasn’tit? Fuck.’
‘I never would have, you know, tried to … if I didn’t think you were about to disappear.’ My voice is coming out prim, I don’t seem able to stop it. ‘It’s very,veryunlike me. As you’re aware, I’m in love with another man. Henry Irving. Deeply in love, in fact. Totally committed.’
‘Calm down, Gertie.’ River lifts his chin. ‘You ain’t exactly my type.’
I bristle, despite myself. ‘You might want to inform your ass-grabbing hands of that.’
He doesn’t reply, but his eyes glint with amusement. A rush of pure indignance surges through me.
My nostrils flare. ‘You … you’re … you’revery arrogant!’
River presses his ass-grabbing hands to his face and says in an overtly emotionless voice, ‘Very arrogant?Say it ain’t so.’
My eyes widen. ‘Oh my God. You’reterrible.’
He sticks out his bottom lip pityingly. ‘Cute. That the best you got?’
I huff. The truth is that yes, unfortunately, it is the best I got. At least until I wake up in the middle of the night, two months from now, and think of a perfectly scathing response.
