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“It’s beautiful,” she says.
I smile. “I’m afraid you won’t get to keep it. It’s been in my family for years. Put it on and don’t lose it.”
She puts it on and holds her hand out in front of her, admiring it. She smiles a little sadly and then she drops her hand back into her lap and looks out of the window. The conversation seems to be over, and I am relieved when the light goes on in the cabin to tell us we can move around.
“I’ll get us some drinks,” I say.
“Just a diet coke for me please. I want to be levelheaded when I meet your family.”
I decide that’s not the worst idea and I pour her a diet coke and a large whisky for myself.
“Ice?” I ask.
Cindy nods. I add ice to both glasses, then I take the drinks back to my seat. I hand Cindy her Coke, and as she takes it, her fingers brush mine. Instantly, I feel that rush again. This is going to be a long week if I feel that every time we accidentally touch each other.
I take a gulp. “Shall we get our story straight?”
“Ah, yes, let’s get our epic romance all synchronized, the moment we met, how long we’ve been together, the rainy day you got on one knee after a meal in a French restaurant and proposed …”
I frown. I didn’t expect her to get so detailed. I was actually hoping to wing it. No one needs details like that.
“If your aunt is so worried about your future, she will ask us questions about how we met. And if our stories don’t match, she’ll smell a rat,” Cindy says, taking a sip of her drink.
She studies my face for a few seconds, then she laughs softly. “You don’t have a story planned out, do you?”
I shake my head a little sheepishly. “No. I never considered going into that kind of detail. I was planning on keeping it simple. How about I’ll grunt and pretend it’s too private to discuss, and you can make up anything you feel will fly.”
She pauses, her brow creased slightly as she thinks. “OK. Here goes. Let’s say we met in a supermarket.”
“Um … no. I don’t shop for myself.”
She grins. “Silly me, of course you don’t. How about you ran out of milk and you popped into the supermarket for that?”
“Unlikely, but carry on,” I said, intrigued.
“Well, I was trying to reach something off the top shelf and you got it down for me. And then, as we continued shopping … of course, you only came in for milk, but you were so entranced by me you couldn’t help yourself.”
I grinned.
Ignoring me, she went on with her story. “You made sure that we kept running into each other in each aisle. We ended up getting served at checkouts side by side, and when we got out of the store and went to the car park, our cars were parked next to each other.” She paused. “Er … what kind of car do you drive?”
“Take your pick. A dark green Rolls, a yellow lambo, or a silver Aston.”
She bites her bottom lip and my mouth waters.
“Let’s go with the silver Aston Martin,” she decides. “You told me it was fate and asked for my phone number. I was thinking the same thing; that fate had brought us together and since you were such a dish, I gave you my number.”
I smiled at the cheeky look she gave. God help me, she was flirting with me.
“Anyway,” she went on, “you texted me the same day. That was, shall we say, four months ago. For our first date, we went for the most delicious Italian food.”
“Didn’t you mention earlier it was a French restaurant?”
“I’ve changed my mind. Italian sounds more passionate,” she says, lifting one shoulder.
“Right.”
“We drank a whole bottle of champagne—”
“I never drink champagne,” I interrupt.
She frowns at the way facts are ruining her pretty story. “Well, that night you did. Then you walked me home and we ended up on my porch for hours, just talking. There was so much about you I wanted to know and it was the same with you. We didn’t even care that we were cold. You gave up your coat for me, and yet you barely even noticed the cold. Until dawn was in the sky and all around us was pink and rosy. At that moment, we both knew it. We were completely smitten with each other. Then to our surprise it began to rain. You bent your head and kissed me, and it was the most wonderful kiss in the whole world.”
The muscles in my jaw twitch with the effort not to laugh. “Four months ago, would make it the tail end of winter. Wouldn’t the rain be too cold to be hanging out in?”
