AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Elsie gazes sadly up at me and nods.
‘Tell you what... how about we let Lois herself decide?’ suggests Rory, looking from his sister to me and back to Elsie.
‘Okay. She might say Clara can come instead.’
‘She might.’
Elsie nods. ‘I’m going to tell Lauren that Clara might come.’ And she skips away happily.
I wince at Rory. ‘Tricky.’
‘You’re telling me.’ He gives a weary smile. ‘To tell you the truth,Iwish you could come, Clara.’ He shrugs. ‘Lois isn’t interested. In dancing, I mean.’
I nod. ‘But you’ve already invited her, so you can’t...’
‘Exactly. Oh, Clara, why is life so complicated?’ He smiles, searching my eyes, and my heart misses a beat. I have the strangest feeling that he wants to talk to me–reallytalk, like we used to when we were gardening together.
I really want to know what’s on his mind.
But I can’t possibly ask.
Because what if he wants to talk to me about Lois? I can’t allow myself to get drawn in. It would be so disloyal to Lois, and feeling the way I do about Rory, could I really trust myself to be objective with my advice to him?
My mind is turning cartwheels of confusion.
Is Rory having doubts about their relationship? Maybe the first flush of romance has waned a little. But every relationship goes through peaks and troughs, doesn’t it? It’s just a blip and they’re sure to be back on track in no time. For Lois’s sake, I hope so...
Suddenly, it’s all too much. I need to detach. It’s too confusing. I’m the verylastperson Rory should be confiding in.
So I take a breath, paste on a big smile and say the first thing that comes into my head. ‘So, anyway, should I be congratulating you?’
‘Sorry?’ He looks confused.
My cheeks catch fire.Of course I’m desperate to know if they’re engaged, but coming out with it like that... I could die of embarrassment...
‘Sorry. I just... maybe I got the wrong idea.’
He hesitates a moment. Then he gives a sheepish smile. ‘You didn’t, actually. Get the wrong idea.’
‘Oh.’
‘I thought she might have told you. Lois did bring up the subject of... marriage.’ He smiles at the memory. ‘But we decided it’s a bit early in the relationship to be thinking about that kind of commitment. There’s plenty of time. We’re still getting to know each other.’
‘Of course you are.’ I nod. ‘Wise decision. As you say, plenty of time...’
Relief is flooding through me. I don’t have to be a wedding planner any time soon. But at the same time, I feel terrible for Lois. Knowing her as I do, I just know she’d have interpreted Rory’s reaction to her proposal as an outright rejection. She wouldn’t have heard the sense and the logic in his words– that they had all the time in the world to get to know each other better.
She would have heard only the ‘no’.
My feelings are so confused, I’m suddenly worried Rory might be able to read my mind. So I turn away, pretending to be looking in the shop window.
Oh, hell, Rory’s right. Life is so bloody complicated.
‘Going in to investigate?’ he asks.
‘Sorry?’
‘This place. It’s new, isn’t it?’
