Chapter 17
Peter held Gaby close and wondered if everyone else on the dance floor could feel the sparks flying between them.
As they moved slowly together in time to the music, he cherished the sensation of her hands resting against his chest, her head tucked against his neck, her body swaying next to his.
The sweet aroma of her shampoo mingled with the light perfume she wore and had him closing his eyes to inhale her scent.
Somewhere on the other side of the pub, his friends and colleagues were watching.
He could feel their eyes on the pair of them, wondering at this sudden outbreak of romance.
They’d all been coming to this pub for monthly Friday nights out for a couple of years now and Peter had never slow danced with any date he’d ever brought with him.
Not like this, anyway.
With Gaby in his arms, he could stay like this forever, just swaying to the music as her body moved with his.
When he’d kissed her last night, every memory of every kiss they’d shared as teenagers had roared back to life inside his mind.
She awakened something in him, something he hadn’t realised had been asleep.
Dancing with her only convinced him further that what they’d had back then as kids had been the most special relationship of his entire life.
And now she was back in his arms and it felt like coming home.
They hadn’t said a word since they started swaying together to the slow music. There was no need to speak. The ease and comfort he felt while holding her close, paired with the surge of desire he felt, was a combination he’d only ever experienced with her.
To feel those emotions again now was a gift he’d never expected.
The slow song ended and switched to another fast and upbeat song. They stopped dancing and looked at each other as the dancefloor filled with energetic revellers. Peter wanted to continue what they’d sparked between them a moment ago.
“Let’s sit down,” he said.
Gaby nodded and turned back towards the table where his friends were gathered, but he stopped her with a soft tug of her hand.
“No, let’s find somewhere quieter,” he said. “I want you to myself for a while.”
Her eyes darkened as she smiled, and Peter felt a surge of excitement at the idea Gaby might want time alone with him as much he wanted it with her. On the other side of the bar, he found an open table for two tucked into an alcove. It was quiet and private and lit by flickering candlelight.
It was perfect.
He bought drinks for them and joined her there. As he sat down, he noticed she was rubbing at her foot beneath the table.
“I didn’t step on your toes while we were dancing, did I?” he asked, appalled to think that while he’d been lost in the moment of holding Gaby in his arms, he’d also been cluelessly stomping all over her feet.
“No, nothing like that,” she said with a laugh. “I made the mistake of wearing new boots tonight. I’m now paying for it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Was she just saying that so she didn’t have to dance with him again? Had he imagined an amazing moment shared on the dancefloor that simply hadn’t existed?
“I’m sorry too,” Gaby said. “I loved dancing with you, Peter.”
She held his gaze as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand, her expression open and candid.
So, he hadn’t imagined it. She’d felt it too.
“I could’ve danced with you all night, Gaby,” he said. “Having you in my arms brought everything back from when we were kids.”
She dipped her gaze, her smile almost shy. “We had some amazing times together back then.”
“When I kissed you last night…” He weighed up whether to say it, but he was in this now and saw no point in holding back. “It made me realise how great we were together. How much I loved you.”
She let out a quick breath. “I loved you too, Peter. You were my first love.”
“You’re the only one I’ve ever loved.”
He definitely didn’t mean to say that. The words just tumbled out in all their raw honesty.
Gaby looked up from her wine glass, her eyes wide. “Really?”
He nodded. No point denying it now. “Yes, really. That summer we shared was the best time of my entire life. I always thought that if that’s what love felt like when I was eighteen, then it would only get better once I was older. But I never felt anything like that again.”
Until now. He caught the words before they escaped. His confessions were already taking him to the brink of disaster judging by the look on Gaby’s face.
“You don’t mean that,” Gaby said.
“I do.”
“But you’ve had relationships since we were together, haven’t you?”
“Plenty. But none of them meant what ours did. And I’ve never been in love again. Not even close.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “I… I… are you sure?”
Her astonished question made him laugh softly.
“Pretty sure. Look, I don’t want you to think I’ve been pining for you all these years, Gaby.
That would be creepy and sad. We went our separate ways and I lived my life and I’ve enjoyed relationships that meant a lot to me.
But none of those relationships were ever enough to go the distance.
When we crossed paths again last weekend, I started thinking about what we had together when we were teenagers and realised I never felt that way again. ”
Gaby ran a finger around her wine glass, thinking about what he’d said.
“I’ve been remembering those days, too. They meant a lot to me, Peter.
When I think about them now, I realise what we had was so special and we were lucky to find each other.
Well, what I mean is that I was the lucky one.
You turned that summer into some of the best days of my life. ”
“Considering the life you’ve led since then and the places you’ve lived, that means a lot to me, Gaby.”
“No, you don’t understand. When I arrived at my aunt’s at the start of that summer, I was so unhappy.
My parents’ endless battles with each other had taken a toll and made us all miserable.
All I’d wanted to do was escape from them both and have some peace at last before I started university.
But when I met you, you turned that summer into something magical. ”
She held his gaze as she spoke. He remembered how unhappy she’d been at the start of that summer, remembered their conversations when she’d opened up about her parents’ calamitous marriage, remembered how much he wanted to make her smile just to see the light in her eyes.
“It was easy to fall in love with you, Peter, because you made that summer so magical and so wonderful,” Gaby said.
“I don’t think I knew how to explain it all those years ago.
I told you I loved you back then, but it was only later I understood the depths of what I felt for you and how you made me feel. ”
She blushed and sipped her wine. “Sorry, that’s too much.”
“It’s not.” He took her hand across the table because he didn’t want her to stop talking, didn’t want to lose this connection between them. “We used to tell each other we were meant to be together that summer and we were meant to find each other. I believed it then and I believe it now.”
“You think we were meant to meet again?”
“Yes. I mean, we’re enjoying being together again, aren’t we?”
Gaby nodded. “We are.”
“Then it was meant to happen.”
“For what reason?”
It was a good question. Peter wasn’t sure he knew the answer.
To remind him that every relationship he’d ever had since he was eighteen had ended with a whimper because no woman compared to Gaby?
What was the point in reminding him of that, when Gaby was only here for a few more days and nothing, absolutely nothing, could ever come of any of this?
He pushed back on that unhappy thought and squeezed her hand again. “Because maybe we both just needed a reminder of who we used to be.”
It was the best he could come up with. What he’d said didn’t make much sense but that didn’t seem to stop the thoughtful look in Gaby’s eyes.
“A reminder of who we used to be,” she echoed, a small smile at her lips. “I like that. You’re a poet, Peter.”
He laughed, then drank some wine and thought about how ask the question he really wanted to ask.
“Have you been in love many times since we were together, Gaby?”
His mind conjured images of her travelling the world and having sweetly passionate affairs with suave and accomplished men who fell at her feet.
He imagined whirlwind romances and lovers scattered across the globe from Paris to Rome, New York to Los Angeles, and any number of exciting and exotic locations in between.
Gaby had said he was her first love, but, unlike him, her life of travel and adventure must surely mean she’d fallen in love over and over again since they’d known each other.
When he looked up from his wine glass, he braced himself to feel foolish for admitting his own truth only to have Gaby describe the many beautiful love affairs she must have enjoyed over the past fifteen years.
But what he saw in her expression surprised him. Stunned him, actually.
“I don’t think I’ve been completely in love again,” she said. “Not like we were.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
“No. It’s the truth. But I don’t think I realised it until just now.”
Their eyes stayed locked and the pub and the people around them seemed to vanish. Peter kept Gaby’s hand tucked inside his across the table, the touch of her skin the only physical thing anchoring him to the world as his mind whirred.
“Spend this weekend with me, Gaby,” he said before he could think himself out of it. “I need more time with you. We could walk up Blackberry Hill and along the riverbank and do all the things we used to do.”
Her cheeks coloured. “All the things?”
He tried not to smile and failed. “That’s up to you.”
She laughed softly and sipped some wine. “I’m leaving in a few days, Peter. You know that don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“We don’t have an entire summer ahead of us like we did fifteen years ago.”
“I know. And I’m sorry for it. But we have this weekend. Why not take it?”