Page 93 of Snowed In with You

‘I don’t know,’ said Nate, burying his face in her hair and breathing her in. ‘A singer and a writer seems like a pretty good combination to me.’

‘And obviously I thought Sasha was your girlfriend,’ said Lucy, colour rushing to her cheeks. ‘It turns out that wasn’t remotely correct.’

‘I heard about that,’ laughed Nate. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you, but I didn’t want you to judge me, or Sasha. And I never imagined you’d come to the conclusion I was banging my mum.’

‘I don’t think she thinks I’m good enough for you,’ said Lucy.

‘I think she’s just wary of me getting hurt,’ said Nate. ‘She told me you’d promised not to get in touch until after tonight. And Alex made me promise to do the same.’

‘I almost made it,’ said Lucy. ‘You’ve only got half a show to go.’

‘I was going to give you until tomorrow lunchtime, then send out a search party.’

‘You have more patience than me,’ laughed Lucy, feeling so ridiculously happy she thought she might cry. But there was still one question she needed to ask. ‘When we were in Zermatt, you said there was somebody you liked, but it was complicated.’

‘Yeah,’ said Nate, picking awkwardly at some fluff on his jeans. ‘That was you.’

‘Really?’

Nate nodded and blew out his cheeks. ‘I’d had a ridiculous crush on you for ages. But you weren’t the dating type, and I wasn’t exactly Mr Confident, so I never told you. Apart from “Can’t Be Mine”, which is very much about you.’

‘Wow,’ said Lucy, not sure what else to say. It was what she’d suspected and hoped for when she was devising this mad plan, but it still felt unbelievable to hear it from Nate.

Nate nodded. ‘I wrote it after Zoe’s wedding, back at my mum’s place in Bath. I don’t think I’d even taken my suit off.’

‘I thought that was about Sasha too.’

Nate gave a barking laugh, his thumb stroking the back of her hand in a way that gave her goosebumps. ‘Yeah, that’s all kinds of disgusting.’

‘I’m sorry about shutting you out,’ said Lucy, looking up at him. ‘In Zermatt, and at the wedding. You were right about Leo, and I was scared about how you made me feel, and at the time I didn’t know what to do with that.’

‘And now?’ asked Nate, holding her gaze.

‘It feels a lot clearer,’ said Lucy with a shy smile. ‘And I’m in a much better place, generally.’

‘So am I,’ said Nate. ‘Who was holding the other end of your incredible banner?’

‘That was Jonno, obviously.’

‘Outstanding,’ said Nate. ‘That man really loves you.’

‘Yeah, he does, the idiot,’ said Lucy. She stroked her finger up his forearm, nudging it under the rolled-up cuff of his shirt to reveal the Z of his tattoo. ‘I saw this, on YouTube,’ she said. ‘That’s what made me realise that maybe you hadn’t entirely left me behind.’

‘I’ve been trying to hide it,’ said Nate, pulling the sleeve loose so she could see the whole thing. ‘It’s been causing quite a stir in the fan forums; they’re all trying to work out what secret message it holds.’

‘I love that you had it tattooed,’ said Lucy, tracing the letters with her finger. ‘When did that happen?’

‘A couple of days after we got back, before the marker pen completely faded. Everything was mad, all endless meetings and social stuff and getting sucked into Alex’s crazy vortex. I just asked for a couple of hours on my own and found the nearest tattoo parlour in London that could do me a walk-in.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, feeling Nate’s breath catch as she pressed her finger against it, their bodies arching towards each other.

‘I just wanted a reminder of where it all started,’ he whispered, weaving his fingers into hers. ‘The crossing point from the old Nate to the new one. And the person who was with me when it happened.’ He leaned down to kiss her, and for a long moment Lucy couldn’t feel her toes.

‘So what happens now?’ she asked when they broke apart, conscious the clock was ticking on their time together.

‘Now, I have to go back on stage,’ said Nate, checking his watch again. ‘Like, right now. But I’m going on a European tour in a few weeks. Just bars and clubs in France and Germany and the Netherlands, nothing massive. I could definitely do with some PR help.’

‘I don’t know anything about music PR,’ said Lucy, realising what he was asking. ‘Or PR, for that matter.’