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“I like your dress.”
She grinned. “Thanks. It has pockets.” She stuck her hands out and swayed, showing me them.
Shit. That was a mistake.
She was frigging adorable.
“I know. That’s why I commented.” I laughed and fell into step beside her, walking to the lake.
“You did that just so I could show them off? What a gentleman.” She nudged me, still grinning, and dipped her chin. “Every dress should have pockets.”
“What for?”
“Snacks and weapons of mass destruction, obviously. What else would a woman put in her pockets?”
“An excellent point.” I’d give her that one.
Honestly, that was something we could all aspire to keep in our pockets.
Man or woman.
“So what happened this morning?”
“Ugh.” Her smile dropped, and I hated that I’d brought it back up. “It’s really not that bad, it’s just drama.”
“Here.” I pulled her through an archway covered in ivy and a climbing rose to a part of the lake that most people missed. It had its own small dock that was my favourite spot to fish from, and I’d chosen this spot for my mum’s memorial bench.
“Oh, this is pretty,” Ellie said, sweeping her skirt under her legs as she sat on the bench. “Um, Kev woke up and chose regret this morning.”
“Probably the automatic choice given how drunk he was last night,” I replied, sitting next to her.
“Well, yes. The other part was that he’d texted Aaron before I confiscated his phone, and I knew that because Aaron called me first thing this morning and asked what the hell he was talking about. He screenshotted and texted me while on the phone so I could see the long, rambling, very misspelt apology my brother had sent from the pub’s toilet.”
I grimaced. “It’s never a good idea to drink and text.”
“I agree there.”
“Kev came down when we were on the phone, was mad I was talking to Aaron, then they argued. Aaron told him to shut up and call him when he was ready to act like an adult and not like a child.”
Ouch.
“He has a point,” I said gently.
“Oh, he does. That’s why Kev chose drama. I told him just that.” Ellie shrugged. “He’s thirty-two, not eighteen. I told him that running away was a bad decision when if he’d just spoken to Aaron yesterday morning, it all would have been sorted.”
I leant back and stretched my legs out in front of me. “Does he even want to get married?”
“That’s the thing.” Ellie turned to me. “He does. He’s even considered proposing to Aaron himself, and I’ve known for a while that Aaron wanted to. I’m not sure what happened, and he won’t actually tell me why he couldn’t answer, so I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Cold feet, maybe? It’s one thing to think you want something, it’s a whole other scenario when you’re faced with the reality of it.”
Hell, this woman had me realising that first hand.
“I don’t know,” she said softly, looking back out at the lake. “He’s not going anywhere today because he’s in no fit state to drive, and the last thing I want is to have to bail his car out of somewhere because his stupid, hungover backside is over the limit.”
“Do you think he’ll leave tomorrow?”
“I’ve got no idea. I hope so. He’s all up in my business and won’t let me write.” She sighed. “It’s like having thirty Winstons around.”
