Chapter 6
Chapter Six
A llie was glad she had decided not to divulge to Martha the writing plan she had concocted with Martin. Martha was even more full of opinions than usual. She had been outraged on Allie’s behalf about Jake and the goings on at Brinkman’s (which was good) but had scoffed at Allie’s wailings about Verity (which was not the supportive attitude Allie had been looking for).
‘What do you mean you can’t contact her?’ Martha had demanded. ‘So what if they’ve taken her phone?’ Martha rolled her eyes in frustration, which was a look that always came to Allie’s mind when she thought of Martha. ‘This is the digital age,’ she continued, ‘for goodness’ sake, Allie, of course you can contact her if you put your mind to it.’
That was Martha’s answer to everything in life, it was all achievable if you put your mind to it. Thank god Allie’s writing career had been successful, putting aside this latest, recent hiccup, because Allie couldn’t imagine the disparaging remarks she would have had to endure if her writing gig had involved sitting around all day at home and making no money. And from Martha’s perspective, it was true, she had worked hard, got an excellent job doing something unfathomable to Allie at a pharmaceutical company. Had met her partner Ruth through friends and they were now deeply, madly in love and absolutely devoted to each other. So whenever Allie was feeling especially bad about not having lived up to her father’s ambitions for her, she felt glad that at least one of his daughters had. And maybe Martha did have a point. Maybe if Allie had put her mind to things more, she wouldn’t find herself both single and cynical, with a terrifying lack of job prospects on the horizon.
‘Do you ever wonder what Dad would think of our lives now?’
Martha looked sharply at Allie, but her eyes immediately softened. ‘Yeah, course. All the time. You?’
Allie nodded but didn’t say anything. Martha switched to concerned sister mode ‘Allie? Are you OK? I mean apart from the work stuff and the Dominic stuff?’
Allie shrugged. ‘I can’t help worrying that I can never live up to his expectations.’ Martha looked at her curiously. ‘Why would you think that Allie, he would be so proud of your writing, you know that!’
‘I actually meant more my disastrous love life,’ Allie said in a small voice. ‘And my inability to pick the right man.’
Martha looked like she was considering saying something and then thought better of it. ‘Oh Al, don’t be silly. He would just want you to be happy.’
‘But I’m not, am I? You are. You’ve got Ruth, he would have loved her. And Mum had Dad, and we all know how happy they were. And she seems happy with Nigel now, doesn’t she?’
It was Martha’s turn to shrug. Nigel had been on the scene for the last ten years and to be fair to him, he was the best kind of pseudo stepdad. He never overstepped the mark, never pretended to be their dad, was always respectful at moments where one of them might be thinking of their dad. He made their mum happy, which was all they could ask for, and he owned a villa in Spain, which meant that they didn’t have to worry about their mother’s vitamin D levels.
‘But he’s not Dad,’ Allie confirmed.
‘No, course he’s not. But, yeah he’s OK, and yeah, Mum seems happy. Why are you so worried you’re letting Dad down?’
‘Oh, it’s nothing.’ Allie shook herself. She had never told Martha about her last conversation with their dad, never divulged his hope for their happiness and perhaps it was best not to rehash the past right now. ‘Just feeling a bit sensitive at the moment, that’s all.’
* * *
After her lunch with Martha, and inbetween making some notes for Martin, Allie conceded that of course Martha was right, she was being ridiculous thinking that she couldn’t track Verity down. She quickly sent her a DM on Instagram, like any normal person would have done hours ago. Allie felt a little embarrassed not to have done it before, but in her defence, she thought, she had been blindsided by life and wasn’t thinking straight.
Later that evening, in need of some fresh air, Allie stepped outside the bookshop in Dulwich, and checked her phone for the billionth time. Verity still had yet to reply, but perhaps she didn’t use social media in the way Allie did; to distract her from work and to pretend she was conducting useful research.
She sighed and looked back in the bookshop windows, it was a lovely shop, full of handpicked staff favourites and special editions, all bespoke curated, but as predicted it had taken her two train changes and a bus to get to. Still, the author in question had been good to Allie when she had been starting out as a writer. So it was the least Allie could do to show up, buy a copy of the book that she probably wouldn’t get around to reading for months and praise the author on her latest success. She looked back down at her phone trying to decide whether she really needed to go back into the shop again, or whether she had networked enough.
‘Hello.’
Allie looked up from Google Maps straight into some familiar dreamy grey eyes.
‘Hi,’ she said, startled. ‘Will, right?’
He smiled, his eyes creasing, a hint of dimple flashing in one of his cheeks. ‘Allie Edwards.’ The way he said her name, not as a question but as a statement of fact, made her stomach drop. She immediately began fantasising about him saying her name in a much more intimate setting.
‘You remembered!’ Allie couldn’t help exclaiming despite realising how pathetic this might make her sound.
‘Hard to forget meeting a bestselling author, especially when I saved her from a dark alley.’
Allie laughed.
‘Don’t mock,’ Will said, deadpan. ‘I felt like the hero in one of your books.’
For the second time in a day Allie felt genuine amazement that someone had read one of her books, before reminding herself that he didn’t necessarily mean that he’d actually read one of her books, just that he understood the standard tropes of the romance genre.
‘Are you here to save me again?’ she asked, realising with a delicious thrill that maybe she was actually flirting with this man.
‘Do you need saving?’
Allie felt her cheeks turn red and nodded in what she hoped wasn’t too eager a manner. ‘I could do with an excuse not to go back into the party.’
‘Then I’d love to be your excuse,’ Will replied, ‘come with me?’
The way the invitation was issued made Allie exhale deeply. ‘Yes,’ she replied, embarrassingly breathily.
He led her round a corner to the back entrance of the bookshop and held the door open, ushering her inside and then leading her back into a small kitchen area. The penny dropped.
‘Oh, of course, you’re working tonight. Sorry, I shouldn’t interrupt.’ Allie began to back out of the doorway, mortified at believing that Will had been flirting with her. He caught her hand, stopping her. ‘It’s OK. I’d like the distraction. Stay with me while I plate these up?’ He gestured to some boxes of food laid out on the surface behind him. ‘It won’t take me long.’
Allie looked down at her hand held by his and then up into his eyes, feeling a wave of heat sweep through her body.
‘Erm, OK, sure.’ She allowed herself to be pulled back in.
‘Not many places to sit, sorry, but I won’t tell health and safety if you want to sit up here?’
Allie contemplated the brushed steel surface he was pointing at and before she could think through any complications she hopped up onto it and crossed her legs, realising this brought her almost eye level with Will. He smiled at her and rolled his sleeves up, giving her another tantalising glimpse of that tattoo. She cleared her throat, embarrassed by the way she was quite clearly ogling him and tried to think only pure thoughts as she watched him deftly unboxing the food and laying it out on the platters.
‘Hungry crowd tonight, this is the second round. My colleague dropped off the first round earlier.’
‘Leaving you in charge tonight?’
He turned and looked at her, his eyebrow raised in amusement. ‘Yes, I’m in charge tonight. ’
Flummoxed by his inflection, she said nothing.
‘Here, try one of these.’ Will leaned over, holding what looked like a tiny goat’s cheese tart. She took it from him, their fingers brushing, and he watched as she ate it, not taking his eyes off her lips.
‘What do you think?’
Allie didn’t know how to respond. Was it appropriate to say that the tart was almost as delicious as the man who had handed it to her? It was all she could manage to say ‘mmm, good,’ without spraying crumbs everywhere.
Will bit back a smile as if well aware what was on her mind. ‘Do you want to try this?’ he said and for a split-second Allie was hoping he was pointing at himself. Rather disappointingly, it looked like he was offering a small puff of pastry. He walked over to her, so close now that her knees touched the fabric of his shirt, and she looked up at him, wondering if he felt that spark running through him every time they touched.
Knowing that she was staring, she quickly took the food, managing this time to rather more eloquently ask afterwards, ‘What was in that one?’
‘It’s choux pastry, filled with crab meat. Actually I probably should have checked first that you’re not allergic.’
Allie clutched at her throat.
‘Oh god, you are allergic!’
‘I’m joking!’ Allie laughed, grabbing his arm as she did so. ‘Sorry, that was mean. The look on your face though.’
Will’s face relaxed, and he placed a hand on his toned chest, causing Allie to once again look at the way his shirt stretched over it. ‘Thank god, because I have to confess my knight in shining armour routine doesn’t stretch to handling anaphylactic shock.’ He went back to his food prep and then looked back at her over his shoulder. ‘I’m glad I didn’t poison you, wouldn’t say much about my cooking.’
‘Wait, you made them?’ Allie looked at him in amazement. ‘I thought…’
‘You thought I just handed them out?’ His eyes twinkled with amusement. ‘Nope. Multi-talented. Just not adept at handling allergic reactions.’
‘Wow, well, I’m impressed. Must make you a valuable employee.’
Will looked back at her again, his expression of amusement still fixed in place. ‘Do you want to go for a drink?’ he said suddenly.
‘I thought you were working?’
‘This won’t take me long. I just need to take these inside and set them up on a table. Five minutes, max, then I’m all yours.’
Allie’s mind went to all sorts of wild scenarios where Will really was all hers. None of them were appropriate for family-friendly viewing. And was this particular scenario a date? Was he asking her out? She looked at his back as he plated the food up, wondering if she could deduce what he was thinking from the way his muscles tensed under the pale blue shirt he was wearing.
‘Don’t they need you to hand food out tonight?’ She pointed at the trays of food that Will was now loading onto a trolley.
He looked over at her, his mouth twitching at a joke she wasn’t sure she quite got. ‘No, they don’t need me to hand them out tonight. It’s a table buffet. I just need to put the platters out on a table at the back and then come and pick them up in a few hours’ time.’ He looked at his watch. ‘So if you still need rescuing, I’m free to do so.’
Allie still wasn’t quite sure what to make of this cute waiter, with his hidden talents for cookery, and whether he actually was flirting with her. ‘OK,’ she said slowly. ‘As long as you won’t get into trouble.’
Will looked amused again. ‘Stay there,’ he said, ‘I’ll be five minutes.’
Allie kicked her legs up and down as she sat on the work surface wondering if Will would actually reappear, or if he’d simply walk out the front and leave her in here, and how long she should wait before accepting that it was all an elaborate hoax and there was no way a guy as cute as Will was into her. She had just pulled out her phone and was writing a message to Jess when he reappeared. Allie looked up and quickly stuffed her phone into her bag before Will could see exactly how she had been describing him.
‘So,’ he said, ‘I have time to kill. Want to join me?’
Allie looked up at him and broke into laughter. ‘Wow, you know how to make a girl feel special!’
Will grinned back. ‘You’ll be doing me a favour.’
‘And how could I refuse an invitation like that?’
Will put his hand out to take hers. ‘Come on.’
* * *
‘So let me get this straight, your first book went to number one?’ Allie nodded. ‘Your second book did too?’ Allie nodded again. ‘And your third book has been optioned for a film?’
‘But not actually made into one yet!’ she protested. While she was enjoying lapping up the adulation from a cute guy, she was also trying hard to keep things in perspective. Which was hard when his leg was pressed up against hers under the table and she could feel the heat of his body which, contrary to the laws of physics, was making her shiver.
Will waved his hand, dismissing her statement. ‘And yet you have nothing better to do than sit in a pub in Dulwich with me?’
‘Don’t flatter yourself, I was at a book launch remember? I’m doing you a favour.’
‘How could I forget.’ Will held a hand to his chest and pulled a stricken face.
Allie laughed.
‘Seriously though,’ Will said, edging even closer to her, ‘I think it’s pretty amazing.’ He held her gaze and Allie felt herself flushing under it.
‘Thanks,’ she replied, flustered. ‘But what about you? How long have you worked in…’ She paused, wondering how to describe his occupation. Was it OK to say catering? Would he be offended if she called him a waiter? ‘Erm, events,’ she settled on.
Will picked up his drink, his body language suddenly screaming discomfort. ‘I’ve been with this company for a few years now.’
‘Oh wow.’ Allie couldn’t hide her surprise, part of her had presumed Will would have been doing this as a stopgap, or perhaps as a filler between, she didn’t know, acting jobs or something. She kicked herself at her inner snobbery. It wasn’t as if her career had been one of graduate fast-track schemes and actually, mostly it was just luck that she hadn’t had to pick up part-time jobs over the years.
‘So, you like the company then?’ She quickly tried to cover her pause, but Will had obviously noticed, though if he was offended, he didn’t seem to show it.
‘Yeah,’ he gave her an inscrutable look, ‘I feel rather attached to them.’ He stretched out on his chair, his leg pressing against Allie’s again, her stomach now in free fall. ‘I believe in what they stand for – organic where possible, healthy event food which doesn’t scrimp on flavour.’ He laughed. ‘I’ve really drunk the Kool-Aid, haven’t I?’ Allie tried to focus on what he was saying instead of just staring at his teeth, which were beautifully straight, and white, and yet, amazingly didn’t look fake. ‘But it’s good to get customer feedback on the menu. By the way,’ he caught Allie’s eye, ‘we won’t be serving those vol au vents again.’
Allie blushed. ‘You told them what I said?’ She felt completely mortified and Will laughed at her stricken expression.
‘It went straight into the ear of the person who needed to know.’
‘Oh god,’ Allie panicked, ‘sorry. Honestly, don’t listen to me. I’m sure they were delicious, I just find it impossible to do party talk and eat enormous canapés at the same time.’
‘It’s a perfectly valid point. Smaller vol au vents next time.’ He raised his beer towards her glass of wine while looking at her fixedly in the eyes.
Allie gulped and tried to look away before she blushed an even brighter shade of red. She could lose herself in those eyes of his, not to mention the sensation of those pin prickles of desire that crept across her skin every time he looked at her. When was the last time she had experienced this? Had she ever experienced it?
‘Anyway,’ she flustered, putting her glass back down and finally breaking eye contact. ‘It’s not like I’ll be organising any book parties for a while so you really shouldn’t worry about my opinion.’
Will raised an eyebrow at her and Allie felt her stomach dip. She’d much rather sit here and swoon over Will than recall today’s events, but he was obviously waiting for an explanation. She sighed. ‘I found out today that my editor is leaving.’
‘I’m sorry. She’s been your editor for a while?’
‘Yep, since my first book,’ Allie said, ‘dragged me out of the slush pile.’
‘That’s got to be hard. Editors and writers have pretty close relationships.’
‘That sounds like you know something about publishing,’ she risked giving him a nudge with her elbow and was amazed to discover that when you really fancied someone, even touching them with your elbow did funny things to your insides.
Will shrugged. ‘I go to a lot of book launches, for work,’ he clarified. ‘I hear a lot, that’s all.’ He seemed keen to dismiss this line of questioning. ‘So, who will your new editor be? Do you know yet?’
‘Nope.’ She shrugged. ‘But, in the meantime, I have to deal with Jake Matthews, who is a snake of the highest order.’
Will smiled. ‘I didn’t realise snakes had a ranking order.’
‘Er, yeah.’ Allie frowned. ‘You’d really put a python up against a grass snake?’
‘Well, technically I think a grass snake is a type of worm.’
Allie laughed. ‘You’re funny.’ She swiped at him with her hand, which he caught in his.
‘Good,’ he said, not letting it go, ‘because I like your face when I make you smile.’
Allie felt the breath catch in her throat. Will was suddenly closer than he had been before. The distance between them was shrinking every second. ‘And I like hearing you laugh,’ he continued. He spoke into her ear, his breath against her cheek making her shiver again. She looked up into his grey eyes, which seemed more serious now. She turned imperceptibly towards him, he noticed, shifting his body to mirror hers. His hand went to her face, brushed a strand of her hair softly from her eyes and ran his fingers across her cheekbone. Allie shivered at his touch. He paused, catching her eye, waiting for her to make the next move. It didn’t take her long.
And as her lips touched Will’s, she sighed and knew that she was ruined. This was the spark she had been writing about for so many years that had, up till this point, been missing from her life. And that now, she could never go back to mediocre men, Will had ruined every future kiss with any other man. Not that she was complaining. If this was her last ever kiss, it was worth every second of its deliciousness. Will’s lips were warm and dry, his touch like an electric charge across her skin. And even as they kissed, in her mind, she could see the words on the page as she would describe it all later.