Chapter 44
Unsurprisingly, Mark’s prediction about hangovers and early flights mixing badly is spot on. My head is pounding as we board.
We’re all on the same flight this time, but our seats are spread out.
I sit next to Pen to keep an eye on how she’s feeling about going home.
She puts on a brave face, but I can tell how upset she is.
I still haven’t had a reply from Rich, but it’s barely been twelve hours, so I can’t be too annoyed about it.
I haven’t spoken to Mark since the drinking game last night. After Tig and Theo went to bed, I made my excuses, too. This morning, we drove to the airport in different cars and while we waited to board I’ve either had my nose in a book or been pretending to sleep.
But when I walk to the back of the plane to stretch my legs, he catches up with me in the narrow galley kitchen.
‘Wait up,’ he says, as I try to move past him.
I’m tired and I’m not in the mood to talk, but I’m stuck.
‘I was thinking,’ he begins, his hand brushing my elbow. ‘I know this trip was supposed to replace the hen and stag parties but I wanted to organise something more for Theo. Nothing hard core, just a trip to Leeds so we can have drinks with our old uni friends. Thought you’d want to know in case …’
‘In case Tig hears about it and wants something extra, too?’
He smiles wryly. ‘Exactly.’
‘To be honest, I’ve been thinking the same. I might organise a spa day to help take her mind off any last-minute stresses.’
He nods. ‘This wasn’t the most relaxing of trips.’
‘That’s a massive fucking understatement.’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘A rare swear word from you.’
‘Do you blame me? We had a near drowning, a mad dash to the emergency room. Getting caught in an electrical storm.’
‘Then, almost getting caught …’
I hold up my hand to stop him. ‘Me missing that Pen was having a breakdown right under my nose, some pointless conversation about shagging on sofas that you had very strong opinions about, and far, far too much drinking.’
He smiles. ‘Don’t forget a marriage proposal.’
I can’t help smiling back. ‘Sorry, how could I? For future reference, it’s customary to go down on one knee.’
‘Noted.’
‘I didn’t mean to upset you last night,’ he says after a beat. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘You didn’t upset me. You just … came on too strong. And I’ve got a lot on my mind. With Pen.’
We hit a pocket of turbulence and pitch sideways. He grabs my hips to stop me hitting the toilet door, and his right hand takes the weight of the impact. It thumps against the door and a wave of panic hits me.
‘Your hand, Mark. It’s your livelihood.’
He opens and closes his fist to show me he’s fine. ‘I’m not that fragile, I promise. I can take a bit of rough and tumble.’ He leans in close. ‘In the shed the other day, your epic arse bouncing against my cock did me way more damage.’
A bolt of arousal zips through me. ‘You seemed happy enough at the time.’
‘All I’m saying is, I can handle you, Nella.’
He smooths a lock of hair that’s escaped my ponytail. His nearness does what it always does – it makes me shiver.
‘I know what you’re capable of,’ he murmurs, his mouth close to my ear so I can hear him above the engines, ‘so it kills me to say this, but when the right guy comes along, let your hair down … properly.’
I feel a tug at my scrunchie and my ponytail falls loose.
His lips graze my temple as he slips past me to return to his seat.
And it’s only after a few moments, once I’ve caught my breath, that I realise he’s made off with my hair tie.
We land at Heathrow just before midday. My bag’s the last to come out. Theo, Tig and Pen have already gone through customs and told us to meet them by the M&S.
Yan and Mark have their bags and are waiting for me. Yan’s on the phone when I spot my bag coming through the hatch and onto the conveyor belt. Without me asking, Mark goes to intercept it so I don’t have to wait for it to do a whole loop.
‘Thanks,’ I say when he wheels it up to me.
‘You’re welcome.’
We start walking towards the exit.
‘So, I’ve got a confession,’ he begins. ‘I might have been a teeny bit mean to Theo. I should probably have warned you.’
I groan. ‘What did you do, now?’
He looks guilty as we go through the automatic door into the terminal. ‘Earlier, he told me I needed to apologise to you, so when I passed him on my way back to my seat, I leant down and said, “The set of lungs on that girl. Still, she’s definitely forgiven me now.”’
I thump his shoulder. ‘He thinks he heard something in the shed. You’ve got to stop taunting him.’
‘If I stop now, he’ll know he’s right. I’ve got to do the opposite – I’ve got to up my game.’
I laugh. ‘You are diabolical.’
I look around to find the others, and my smile fades.
Standing six feet away is Rich.
I freeze, heart pounding in my ears. ‘Mark, go on ahead.’
‘Is everything okay?’
‘Yes, everything’s fine.’
He follows my eye-line and then looks back at me. ‘I’ll catch you later.’ He lightly touches my elbow, and leaves.
‘How did you know I’d be here?’ I ask Rich.
He smiles sheepishly. ‘Your mum’s Facebook page has been giving the world updates. And I guessed which flight you might be on.’
‘What are you doing here, Rich?’
‘I spoke to Dad and he’s more than happy to see Pen – as soon as next week if it works for her.’
‘That’s very kind of him – and you. Thanks.’ I pause. ‘You could have told me that by email or over the phone.’
‘I wanted to see you. You look amazing, by the way.’ I don’t react to his compliment, and it slightly wrong-foots him. ‘I’m sorry if you feel ambushed,’ he continues. ‘I didn’t realise quite how many people you were travelling with. And all of them are staring.’
‘They’re very protective of me.’
‘I recognise your brother and sisters but not the two other guys.’
He wants me to reassure him they’re either gay, taken or relatives, but I hold my tongue.
He adds, ‘You seemed quite friendly with the tall one.’
‘You don’t get to say that to me.’
‘Can we go somewhere and talk?’
Before I can respond, Yan walks over. ‘Okay, Nell?’ He ignores Rich. ‘We’re about to order the Ubers.’
Rich looks at me hopefully.
‘Go ahead, Yan. I’ll make my own way back.’
Rich would prefer to go somewhere quieter, but I don’t want to leave the airport with him, so we end up sitting in the noisy coffee shop at one end of the terminal.
He gets our coffees and a lemon muffin for me, which I appreciate because I’m starving.
‘When I reached out to you, it was for Pen. Not for any other reason.’
We sit for a while, neither of us speaking.
‘Have you thought more about coming home?’ he asks tentatively.
‘The longer I’m away, the less I want to come back.’
He looks deflated. ‘What about if you come back on a trial basis? I’ll do anything, Nella. I mean it. I will move heaven and earth.’
‘I’m not sure that’s true.’
‘How can you say that?’
‘You called her Steve Mechanic on your phone. You could have deleted the messages, but you didn’t. You could have blocked her, but for whatever reason, you didn’t want to cut her off completely.’
‘I wasn’t thinking.’
‘That’s not true,’ I tell him gently. ‘You had to go out of your way to change her name in your contacts. You were definitely thinking, just not of me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I found out when I did. It’s been hard, but it would have been so much harder if we’d been engaged or married.’
‘I promise you, this was the first and only time. I was a fucking idiot. And I know that now.’
‘I’m sorry, Rich, but it’s over.’
He sags in his seat.
‘Thanks for the coffee and muffin.’
I get up and wheel my suitcase towards the tube, not stopping to look back.