Kate felt utterly defeated and exposed. She wasn’t fooling anyone – he knew damn well she hadn’t moved on.
‘And I love you,’ he said. He leaned almost imperceptibly closer, and for an awful, heart-stopping moment she thought he was going to kiss her.
Kate looked away, breaking the spell. ‘Don’t you have a concert to go to?’ She eyed the car hovering in the background.
Will glanced distractedly at it, then back to her. ‘Come with me,’ he said urgently, grabbing her hand.
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
‘Come on, everyone would love to see you, and we could talk properly.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ she said tightly.
‘I love you,’ he pleaded despairingly. ‘Why can’t you believe that?’
Kate sighed. ‘How long have we known each other, Will?’ she asked rhetorically. ‘And in all that time you’ve never looked twice at me – not in that way. Not until my mother and Rachel put the idea in your head.’
‘Haven’t I?’ he said.
‘No.’ Surely he wouldn’t have the gall to admit now that he remembered that night of the Trinity Ball, after all those years of pretending it had never happened.
‘Are you sure about that?’ he persisted. ‘That night of the Trinity Ball?’
‘Okay, maybe you did once,’ she said. ‘But you were out of your head – you didn’t know what you were doing.’
‘In vino veritas,’ he said. ‘They say you don’t do anything drunk that you wouldn’t do sober.’
‘Then how do you explain karaoke?’
Will laughed. ‘No one can explain karaoke.’
The snow was falling thicker and faster now, great chunks settling on Will’s hair and shoulders. It melted on Kate’s eyelashes and into her hair.
‘Hadn’t you better go?’ She nodded to the car.
Will glanced at his watch. ‘Come with me,’ he pleaded.
‘No.’ She felt frozen to her core, and it had nothing to do with the snow.
‘But I love you!’
‘Do you?’ She examined his face, longing to believe him. ‘I don’t know,’ she said defeatedly. ‘I guess I’d always be wondering if it was real. Maybe you would too.’
‘Christ, nothing has ever felt more real in my entire life! What do I have to do to convince you?’
Kate looked at him yearningly, almost willing him to say something that would.
‘I don’t think you can,’ she said sadly.
Will was on the verge of tears, she saw, or was it just the biting cold that made his eyes sparkle? He glanced at his car and waved to the driver.
Still he didn’t move. ‘I never got a chance to give you this,’ he said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a shiny red envelope. ‘It’s your Christmas present.’
Kate looked at it. ‘I didn’t get you anything,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think?—’
‘Doesn’t matter. I got it ages ago. Take it.’ He thrust it at her.
Kate shook her head. ‘Maybe you should give it to someone else.’
