CHAPTER 5
KATIE
Sunday mornings are my favourite time of the week.
It’s the day when I carve out a chunk of time to do nothing.
Saturdays usually disappear in a flurry of chores and must-do-things that I neglect during the week.
But Sundays? They are for lying in bed, with a cup of tea and my new favourite novel.
I’m currently in a ‘I want to have my heart ripped out of my chest’ reading phase and am deep down the Kristin Hannah rabbit hole.
I started with The Great Alone and am now crying my way through The Nightingale.
With no intention of getting up and adulting until I’ve reached the bitter-sweet end.
“Katie? Are you up?”
Jade, it seems, has other plans for me. True to her word, last night she was waiting on my couch when I returned from meeting with Nathan, and we spent several hours dissecting every word, syllable and inflection of our two-hour, two-hot-chocolate conversation.
She was less than thrilled that I turned down Nathan’s offer to have dinner, proclaiming it to be the height of stupidity, and we lapsed into a tense silence after that.
“Go away,” I yell now while burrowing deeper under my duvet.
“No can do!” She bounces into my room, a flash of bright purple and aquamarine, jumping into my bed and snuggling in beside me. Clearly, I’ve been forgiven for sins against romance (her words, not mine), and she’s here to make up.
Or make trouble. Either way, she’s here.
“What are we doing today?”
I raise an eyebrow at her. Jade is a social butterfly and is booked solid most days. Sundays for her generally involve some sort of exercise (ugh) and going outside (also, ugh). So, I’m not entirely sure what she’s doing here with me.
Picking up my book, I wave it in front of her. “This is what I’m doing today. I have no plans, other than to rot in bed and sob over these two sisters and all they endured during World War Two.”
My friend looks baffled, her eyes flitting from the book in my hands to the expression on my face. “Oh no, this will not do. You need to leave your bed and go out.”
“I went out yesterday,” I whine.
She grins. “Oh, I remember. You went on a date with Nathan Jackson.”
My insides take a tumble, intestines twisting around my liver and making their way up to my heart.
At least that’s how it feels whenever she says stuff like that.
No matter how many times I argue it was just a catch-up between two old friends, she argues back—louder—that you can’t just be friends with a man like that.
Which, fair. But also, what it is. Or was. Because it’s not happening again.
“How about this?” she changes tack. “Why don’t you get out of bed, and we can Uber Eats breakfast?”
Hmmm. The conundrum. On the one hand, bed. On the other hand, food. In an ideal world, I’d have food in bed, but with Jade looking at me with her determined face, I’m pretty sure she’ll veto that idea. She’s always vetoing my suggestions.
“Fine.” I let out a long-suffering sigh, so she knows how much this is paining me, and drag my tired old-before-its-time body out of bed. Scooping up my hair, I wrangle it into a messy bun at the base of my neck and cover my pyjamas with the warmest sweatshirt I own.
“Really? You go on a date with Nathan Jackson, and you’re wearing that?”
I frown down at my torso. “First, it wasn’t a date. Second, it wasn’t a date. And third, this sweatshirt is cozy and extra-large, so it keeps more of me warm.”
She shakes her head, pushing me out of my cave and into the sun. Okay, not the actual sun, but my brightly lit living room. Same thing.
“What shall we eat?”
I consult my stomach as I pour us both a cup of tea. “Bagels?”
Jade’s eyes light up, and she gets to work, scrolling through her phone and placing the order. We’ve done this often enough to know what we want and from where; a wonderful by-product of having your best friend also as your neighbour.
“Done. Food will be here soon.”
She flops on the couch, and I bring the teacups over to join her. Settling in, I pull up my fuzzy socks and sigh. This isn’t so bad. It’s not vegging in bed all day, but it’s still comfy clothes and a soft surface to lounge on.
“So, have you heard from Nathan?” she asks.
I groan. Not this again. “No, and I don’t expect to.”
Her pale pink lips jut out in an uber pout. “He didn’t say he’d call?”
“Why would he?” At this point, I’m just exasperated. Jade is not buying what I’m selling. Which is the truth: Nathan and I have no reason to see each other ever again. “We caught up. We reminisced. We said goodbye. The End.”
My phone flashes on the table next to us. I glance at it, and my back suddenly goes ramrod straight.
“What is it?” Jade asks.
I grab up my phone and read the message on my screen.
NATHAN
Are you home?
Certain my eyes are playing tricks on me—what sort of witchcraft has Jade played with my phone?—I shake my head and my phone and read the message again.
“It’s from Nathan,” I admit, restarting my phone just in case it’s been hacked.
My friend’s face shines like the cat who got all the cream. “Oh, really? Is that so? A message from the man you’re never going to hear from again? Fancy that.”
I kick her in the shin, not a little bit sorry when she winces at the contact. “Shut up. This is serious. He wants to know if I’m home.”
Her eyes widen and, quick as a flash, she darts to the window.
“What are you doing?”
She looks between me and the view outside and down below. “I’m checking to see if he’s standing outside with a boombox above his head.”
I throw a cushion at her and focus back on my phone. It’s re-started, and the message is still there.
Are you home?
Well, obviously I am. But how to answer?
“Tell him you’re home,” Jade supplies the obvious.
I chew on my lower lip. “But why is he asking?”
Her eyes stayed glued to the street outside my window, like she thinks he’s magically going to appear. “There’s only one way to find out.”
With a knot in my stomach, I type out a reply.
KATIE
yes.
“Now what?”
We stare at each other, holding our breaths until we almost pass out, and when nothing happens, we both exhale in unison. Me with relief. Jade with pure disappointment.
“Well, that happened.” She slumps back next to me, shooting my phone furtive glances, like she’s willing it to light up.
I do the same, staring at my phone, but for different reasons. I’m hoping it will stay silent and that Nathan won’t follow up. My heart is getting way too thumpity at the mere thought of that man.
“Where is our food?” I ask after several minutes of silence. My stomach has been promised bagels, and it’s the least patient of all my internal organs.
She glances at her phone, listless, like all the joy has been sucked out of her day. “It should be here any minute.”
I spring to action as a knock finishes her sentence. Food is here!
“Hello—” My joyful Uber delivery person greeting dies on my lips. Because in place of my eagerly anticipated man with bagels on my doorstep stands Nathan Jackson. And he looks even yummier than my breakfast bagels.
“Kitty Kat.” His mouth caresses my nickname as he scans me up and down with twinkly blue eyes. “You seem happy to see me.”
I gape at him, my brain a deserted town filled with tumbleweeds and nothing else. Nathan is at my front door.
“Katie?” Jade peers over the couch, hurtling her body over it when she sees who’s standing in front of me.
“Ohmigosh, hi! I’m Jade, Katie’s friend, and you’re Nathan Jackson.
Big fan!” She shoves her hand into his, forcing him to shake hers up and down while she stares up at him, her energy frenzied.
“Hello, Jade.” Nathan glances at me, his lips curling with amusement. “It’s nice to meet you.”
I gather my wits about me. “What are you doing here?”
His gaze sharpens on me, once again taking slow inventory of my face, my hair, my body. My body in a—oh, no!
“So, Jade,” he turns back to my friend, her hand still holding his hostage. “I see you’re a fan, but Katie maybe not so much?”
My face heats to resemble the colour of the Vortex Motors team sweatshirt I’d put on this morning. Fire engine red and burning hot.
“Oh, ha, yes,” Jade titters. “Contrary to what it looks like, we’re both big fans. Of you. And your team.” She breaks off, puffing out a breath like she’s run a marathon. Nathan has that effect on people. His sheer presence robs you of your ability to just…breathe.
“Hmmm,” he murmurs, his eyes stuck to where the sweatshirt hits the middle of my thighs.
I’m wearing pyjama shorts that are swallowed up by the size of this top, so it looks like I’m naked from the bottom down.
If you discount the knee-high fuzzy socks.
The mismatched knee-high fuzzy socks. Kill me now.
“You should come in.” Jade tugs on his hand, which is still held in hers. “We can make tea.”
Her braids are dancing as she almost vibrates with excitement.
She’s giving off crazed-fan vibes, and I’m wondering if Nathan is concerned about his safety.
To look at him, though, as he saunters into my flat like it’s his own, he seems unbothered.
Except for the almost imperceptible frown as his eyes flicker across my chest. Across the Vortex Motors logo and the number eighteen on my chest, to be specific.
“Thank you, Jade. I’d love a cup of tea.”
She nods, almost bowing before racing the five steps to my kitchen, where she busies herself with what looks like determination to prepare the best pot of tea ever.
“What are you doing here?” I ask again. He brings his attention back to me at the exact moment my hair tie gives up the will to live.
An avalanche of hair spills down my back and over my shoulder, and I groan.
Now is not the time, hair. Can’t you behave for once?
“I mean, this is unexpected,” I add, using my teeth to tug at a hair tie on my wrist while wrestling my hair back into a messy bun.
This time on top of my head, where hopefully it is more likely to stay in place.
He stares unfocussed at my hair piled atop my head before shaking himself. “No, this is an ambush.”
“An ambush?” Jade yells from the kitchen, poking her head out, her eyes sparkling. “What sort of ambush?”
“After our date yesterday,” he starts. From the corner of my eye, I see Jade fist-pump the air in triumph. “I was thinking about what you said. About how sad, single gals like you are being doomed to life without Christmas trees.”
Jade groans from somewhere close behind me. “Please tell me you didn’t refer to yourself as a sad, single gal.”
I glare in her direction. “It was an analogy. Used to paint a picture.”
“A deeply depressing picture,” she mutters.
“Anyway.” I fix the hulking man in front of me with a firm stare. “What does that have to do with you turning up here? Unannounced.”
He chuckles. “What good is an announced ambush?”
“Good point,” my traitorous friend agrees with delight.
I hate them both.
“Explain yourself.”
Pulling in a deep breath, he exhales, aiming a killer smile at me. It’s the one I see staring back at me from my TV screen when he’s on the top step of the F1 podium, and it has my knees whimpering as they knock together.
“I’m here to take you Christmas tree shopping.”
Jade crashes into me from behind, and I hurtle through the air, smack bang into Nathan’s broad chest. His arms band around me, holding me steady, and I pull in a deep breath, collecting a whiff of his expensive cologne as I go.
He smells like a mix of aromatic spices, like cinnamon and ginger and other things that make my mouth water. Or maybe that’s just him.
“You alright?” he asks, his tone gruff.
I nod, stepping back quickly and fidgeting with my bun. To my surprise, it withstood the tumble into Nathan’s arms; a good thing, too, given I’m out of readily available hair ties.
“Sorry,” Jade singsongs from where she’s now perched on the arm of the couch. She couldn’t look less sorry if she tried. “And I’m sure Katie would love to take you up on your offer, Nate. This flat is crying out for some Christmas cheer.”
Nathan raises one blond brow at me while I scowl at Jade. She’s all but forcing me to go do this with him, and my stomach is flipping out at just the suggestion. How will it withstand going through with it? Spending time with this man, doing Christmas stuff together?
“I’m sure you have better things to do with your day.”
He shrugs a shoulder. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”
Fair.
I wrack my brain for ways to get out of it, but I know there’s zero chance the matchmaking Puck on the couch would ever let me get away with a lie for an excuse.
“I mean, if you’re sure?” I peer up at him, trying to gauge his motivations. Had I come across as so sad and pathetic yesterday that he’s here because he feels sorry for me? “You don’t have to.”
Nathan and Jade groan together. “He knows he doesn’t have to. He’s offering anyway,” she says with a pointed look. “Shut up,” she adds, mouthing the words behind Nathan’s back.
“It’s true. I don’t have to. I want to. In fact, my car is out front and is ready whenever you are.”
“You drive a car in London? That’s brave.”
He blinks at me with a smirk, and I replay my offhanded musings in my head. Did I just tell a World Champion F1 driver that he’s brave to drive the streets of…London?
“Never mind.” I cut him off with a grimace. “I’m grateful for the offer. Thank you. Would you like to go now?”
I glance at Jade, who’s furiously tapping on her phone, no doubt cancelling my bagels, and back at Nathan. He’s frowning again, his eyes narrowed into slits.
“We can go now. I just have one request.”
“Yes?”
He takes a small step towards me, encroaching on my space, leaning over to say in a low voice. “Please change into another shirt.”
I let out an audible gulp and nod, stumbling back on numb feet to my bedroom, feeling the heat of his stare as I go.
“And expect a delivery sometime tomorrow. You’ll look so much better in navy blue, I’m sure.”
Navy blue. The colours of Redline Racing. His team. He’s sending me his shirt, and it sounds like he wants me to wear it. Oh boy, my thumpity heart is thumping even harder now. And it’s only going to get worse.
Because in a few minutes, that gorgeous man out there is taking me Christmas tree shopping.