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‘George?’ Xavier asked.
‘Hell no, we won’t go,’ George chanted in reply.
Hell was right and it was set to continue. I squeezed Xavier’s leg as a signal for us to leave and he squeezed mine back in reply. FFS. I’d have to grab him once we were alone.
‘More drinks?’ Xavier asked as the waiter appeared.
‘Why not?’ George smiled. ‘If that’s cool with you guys?’
I glared daggers at him, making it 120 per cent clear that it was absolutely not cool. ‘Sure,’ I said, smiling sweetly. What was he playing at?
‘Great. We’ll take four large beers and four shots of tequila, please,’ he said to the waiter, as the music started cranking up.
‘Bloody hell George, that’s a lot of booze!’ I said alarmed.
‘Money doesn’t count when you’re on holiday,’ he said with a wink. Oh yes. That was one of his life rules.
‘Time to partyyyyy!!!’ Pippa loosened her ponytail and shook out her hair en route to the ladies as Xavier disappeared into the kitchen to thank Maxim. I could finally speak to George without any airs or graces.
‘Alone at last,’ he said, moving to sit next to me and draping his arm along the back of the chair.
‘Do you mind,’ I said, promptly removing it. ‘What are you doing, George? Is it not bad enough that you abandoned me on our wedding day; now you’re waving your new girlfriend in my face whilemynew boyfriend pays for all the drinks?’ I was livid.
‘He is your boyfriend then? Replaced me pretty fast, didn’t you?’ George said, teasing.
‘Not as fast as you, by Pippa’s cucumber calculations.’
‘Nothing happened that night. We just got talking. It was a superfood-themed dinner that work put on and the desserts were made from cucumber.’
‘I don’t care about the details, George,’ I said, holding my hand up. ‘You dumped me on our wedding day and said there was nobody else. It seems a bit of a coincidence that Pippa was on the scene the whole time and now you’re out here on holiday together.’
George put his hand on my leg and shuffled towards me, giving me his signature, sorrowful look. The same curly-haired face I’d seen say sorry a million times before. His hand felt both familiar and alien as I moved my knees to the side and batted it away.
‘What are you doing? Can you keep your hands to yourself, please,’ I said.
‘Don’t be like that. I’m sorry, Holly. I admit I wasn’t wholly innocent, but it wasn’t just Pippa. I was scared of the commitment. Getting married didn’t feel right.’
‘I imagine it did feel strange if you were knocking off the Triple B behind my back.’
‘Don’t call her that.’
‘I don’t call her that. YOU call her that. That is literally your name for her.’
‘It was and it was childish of me. Don’t you think it’s weird that we’ve bumped into each other here? Like fate or something? Is the universe trying to tell us something?’
Was this some kind of surreal joke? He was so cavalier about people’s feelings. Mine and now Pippa’s, casting us aside to suit himself. How had I not seen this side of him before?
‘Yes. I think the universe is trying to tell me that I nearly made a terrible mistake,’ I said, moving away as George leant in. ‘I’m not interested anymore, George. Did you think I’d be forever waiting until you clicked your fingers? Xavier is three times the man you are.’
Pippa returned just as the waiter appeared with the drinks, passing them to us and placing Xavier’s on the table for when he came back.
‘Cheers!’ Pippa said, holding her tequila up, in celebration of God knows what.
‘Cheers!’ George replied, kissing her on the lips, as they both downed their shots, leaving me with no one to clink. I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder as Xavier cheers-ed me out of nowhere and mirrored George, kissing me full on the lips. My whole body tingled as his lips found mine. I leant in, wanting the kiss to carry on, then caught myself and slowly pulled away, knowing it was all for show, that he was only doing it as a favour. He was happily married and there was no room to have even the smallest of feelings. I couldn’t do that to another woman. Even so, we locked eyes slightly breathless as we both drank our shots. I glanced over at George, who surreptitiously winked while Pippa wasn’t looking.
‘Can we get out of here?’ I said as Xavier supped his beer. I couldn’t bear the idea of a full après-ski session with Winky McWinkerson and Pippa. They’d already outstayed their welcome as far as I was concerned.
‘Of course,’ he replied, taking concerted gulps to get his lager down. ‘So that’s the George you were going to marry?’
