‘I was just thinking that I’m not sure which part of this evening was the bigger lie,’ he replies, pulling on his T-shirt.
‘What lie? What do you mean?’
He sits to put on his shoes. ‘I mean, whether the bigger lie was the one we told to everyone at that table about rehab…’
‘Or?’
‘Or the lie we’re telling ourselves, so we don’t have to admit that we’re completely drawn to each other for reasons neither of us can explain.’
As he locks eyes with me, my stomach tumbles into my feet.
‘You looked really beautiful this evening,’ he says quietly. ‘And I think you’re pretty damn incredible… but I can’t stay because God help me, I won’t want to leave.’
I’m not sure whether this is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me, or the worst.
‘So, what now?’ I ask.
‘Nothing,’ he replies. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Nora.’
He leaves, closing the door behind him and I slump back down on the couch. I feel stunned. I feel annoyed. My head is spinning.
Do I even like Will? I feel like I really might like Will, but I didn’t come here to like someone, especially not someone who likes someone else. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
I feel like my heart might just explode. I need to call Victoria.
CHAPTER23
BOOTCAMP: DAY 4
I’m feeling slightly hungover this morning, but that’s not what’s making me feel as peculiar as I do. My phone call to Victoria started with her telling me off for calling at midnight but quickly changed to her sayingohmyGodin between me also repeatedly sayingohmyGod.
‘But it’s only been three days!’ she said. ‘How on earth can he be all confused and besotted in three days? I mean, you’re great and all but… I don’t get it.’
I was briefly offended that she didn’t think I was charming enough to bewitch a man in seventy-two hours. Then I looked down at my chipped nails and one hairy toe and concluded that she had a point.
‘It’s an intense set-up here,’ I replied, ‘Everything is very emotive and personal and things it would take a year to tell someone, you’re confessing after four hours. A couple who were divorced and ready to murder each other are now madly in love again…’
‘I thought you fancied the yoga teacher?’
‘Everyone fancies the yoga teacher.’
‘Are you going to sleep with him?’
‘The yoga teacher?’
‘No, this Will guy.’
‘No!’ I insisted. ‘That’s the problem. We want to and we can’t and now we have three more days of ignoring how we feel.’
‘Oh my God, you’re so doing it. The tension will be too much. You’ll be banging it out before the end of the week.’
‘We won’t! Look, he wants his wife, and I don’t want to have yet another—’
‘Yeah, the timing isn’t ideal, but it doesn’t change the fact that you seem to be disgustingly into each other AFTER THREE DAYS. Ugh, I wasn’t even into Benjamin after three days – sorry,honey, I wasn’t. Go back to sleep.Nora, this is a good thing. You haven’t been interested in anyone for years!’
‘But what if I’m only interested because he’s not available?’
‘Yes, but what if you’re the reason he becomes available?’
