Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
“M aking friends?” Teddy enquired as we crunched down a gravel path lit with candles in glass jars and strings of fairy lights above our heads.
“Oscar has the same affliction as I do.”
“In what way?”
Teddy touched his hand to the small of my back and ushered me through an archway in a privet hedge and out onto a large lawned area, where people were milling around and a string quartet was playing.
“He doesn’t like people or socialising. I was instinctively drawn to him.”
“Were you?” His voice had become a bit gravelly.
“Yes, and turns out that making conversation by insulting someone can actually work – who knew?”
“You insulted him?” Teddy spluttered, starting to laugh.
“Sort of. I suggested that his face and conversational ability needed some work, and that maybe you could help him.”
Teddy stopped, now snorting with laughter. “You really said that? To someone you’ve never met before?”
“Yes, I really said that.”
An answering smile tugged at my cheeks, burning, itching to break into a huge grin.
“Well, let’s see if we can hone your abilities on someone a little more ‘normal’ than Oscar Moretti, shall we?”
On the other side of the hedge were Giles and Betsy, sipping prosecco and chatting with Mrs Wainscott and her very large husband – the disgruntled owners of Bridgit, the snappy dachshund.
Excellent.
“Oh look. There’s Giles, and Betsy. We should start there, right?” Teddy said, steering me towards the little group. The expression on my boss’s face was a marvellous picture of horror, and he subtly began shaking his head. But Teddy was like a steam roller and ploughed on towards them, smiling and dragging me along with him. “This will be an easy first conversation.”
“Well, actually, Ted, not really?—”
“Oh, don’t be defeatist. This’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Hannah!” Betsy exclaimed, and the Wainscotts looked up, obliterating any hope of avoiding this splendid car crash of an encounter.
“Hannah, Ted, so nice to see you,” Giles said in a strangled voice.
“And you.” Teddy turned and beamed at Mrs Wainscott, who, I think, may have actually swooned a bit when he shook her hand. Interesting. When he grasped Mr Wainscott’s meaty paw, he carried on. “I’m Ted Fraser. I live next door to Giles and Hannah’s surgery.”
“Fraser? Jim Fraser’s son?”
“Yes. You know Hannah Havens, do you?”
Teddy ushered me forwards, forcing me from my attempt to hide behind his back and pretend I was anywhere else but here, the fiery pits of hell being entirely preferable right now.
“Yes, we do.” Mrs Wainscott narrowed her eyes and glanced at Giles, who was trying, and failing, not to look like a caged rabbit about to be dropped into a stew.
A slightly awkward silence ensued, and Teddy lightly brushed my fingers with his.
Oh shit. It’s my turn to speak isn’t it?
I felt my mouth begin to open, and hoped to hell that whatever was about to come out wasn’t going to be the final nail in the coffin of my dwindling clinical career.
Clearing my throat, I said, “How is Bridgit, Mrs Wainscott?”
“Fine, thank you for asking.” Her tone was terse and Mr Wainscott had puffed himself up slightly next to her.
“Is Bridgit your patient?” Teddy asked mildly, innocently opening that can of wriggly, acrid worms.
“Yes. Mr and Mrs Wainscott have a rather beautifully bred dachshund. Her father was a Crufts champion,” I replied cautiously.
Giles, Betsy, and Mr and Mrs Wainscott all gaped at me.
Oh, balls, what’ve I done now?
“I have no idea about dog breeding,” Teddy said, “but even I’ve heard of Crufts. You must be very proud of her?”
Mrs Wainscott nodded.
“We’re working very hard to keep her as healthy as possible, aren’t we, Mrs Wainscott?” Betsy said quietly.
The old lady turned towards me, a flash of regret and acknowledgement flaring in her warm brown eyes. “Yes.”
“She truly is a lovely dog, a real credit to you.”
I was being sincere – we’d had our run-ins but she wasn’t the first and would not be the last dog to try and take a chunk out of my hand on the consulting table. I hoped she could hear this in my voice. “It’s a pleasure to see you both in my consulting room.”
“Thank you, Hannah. That means the world to me.” Mrs Wainscott gave a little sniff, and tentatively touched my arm. “She’s been to see the stud dog, so I’ll be in next week for her pregnancy check. I’ll be sure to ask Jenny to book us in with you.”
The smile that lit up my face was genuine and was quickly returned.
“That’s very exciting. I look forward to seeing you both.”
Giles blew out a long breath and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. He raised his glass in a toast and everyone returned the gesture in complete confusion. “To Bridgit and her puppies.”
“To Bridgit and her puppies,” we all replied in unison.
“I hope you don’t mind, but there are a few other people I’d like Hannah to meet,” Teddy said, gently cupping my elbow as my sign to leave. “Excuse us, won’t you?”
There was a lot of nodding, and a few murmurs of “lovely couple” that I didn’t quite catch as I was manoeuvred away from the group.
“Was that your complaining client?” Teddy murmured out of the side of his mouth as we walked away.
“Yes, one of them.”
“You did great.”
“It could have gone either way. Giles nearly passed out from the tension,” I joked, and Teddy laughed.
“He should have a little more faith in you.”
We began to circle the lawned area, Teddy introducing me to various people, all charm and civility when talking to businessmen and women, some of whom were clients at our practice. And do you know what? With each new person I talked to, it became easier. My face began to relax and my brain no longer freaked out as much, each conversation relying less and less on Teddy to prompt me or support me. People smiled and laughed at my intentional jokes, no one recoiled in horror, and no one threatened to write my boss a strongly worded email of complaint. And not one person compared me to a spiny-coated small mammal – at least, not to my face. Could it be that I was actually getting good at this?
No, surely not.
Once we’d completed a full circuit of the party, we ended up in a darkened corner close to where the band was playing.
“Will you dance with me?”
“Ah, Teddy, I’m really not very good at that shit.”
“Just follow me. I’ll help you.”
“Advanced flirting technique?”
“Postgraduate level. Only for the most gifted of students.”
Teddy smiled and took my hand.
The sun had fully gone down now and a bright moon hung in the sky, a giant silvery bauble lighting the night, casting monochrome shadows across the grass and dappling my feet as I gazed self-consciously down at them. Teddy stepped in closer, tilting his head below mine to force me to meet his gaze.
“Come on. You can do it.”
“Ok,” I whispered.
This was a really bad idea and I knew it, but I didn’t seem able to stop myself moving towards him. The warmth of his body radiated through his tux, drawing me in like an industrial-strength magnet. As he gathered me to him, a slight pressure on my waist, his other fingers curling around mine, I knew, with total clarity, that I was absolutely bloody well done for.
“Everything ok?” he murmured into my ear, ruffling strands of my hair, so that they tickled my neck and goose pimples rose in a line on my skin.
“Mmm hmmm.”
I was barely coherent. All my senses were assaulted at once, overloaded with all the input he was throwing in my direction, but my feet seemed to just magically follow Teddy’s as he slow-danced me steadily in circles on the grass. I was eminently grateful that at least I had some motor function remaining, because I seemed to be experiencing significant wiring issues in the rest of my brain.
We started off with our bodies barely touching, but slowly the gap between us closed until my dress brushed the front of his jacket, and I could feel his cheek close to my hair, his breathing light and regular. With my nose this close to the crook of his neck, his scent was at its most intoxicating, citrus and spice, coupled with fresh male skin and pheromones. I wasn’t sure what the ingredients were, but it was as if he’d bottled sexual attraction and liberally sprayed it on himself.
The feel of his body under my hand suddenly seemed intrusively intimate and my mind was unable to think of anything but the hard, broad muscles of his shoulder and chest beneath his clothes. I couldn’t escape the occasional bump of our hips, but it was the firm hold he now had on my body that was elevating my blood pressure to cardiac instability levels.
“You did really well with the peopling, you know,” Teddy murmured, breaking the spell and allowing me to breathe again, banishing the impending girly faint that was threatening to engulf me.
“I managed not to insult or offend any of Chipping-on-the-Water’s key business owners, so Giles will definitely see that as a win.”
He huffed a laugh, causing warm air to tickle across my neck and send an electric shock down my spine. Leaning away from me he looked into my eyes.
“I think you’ve learnt all I am able to teach you, Hannah-san.”
“Is this the end of our student–teacher relationship then, Mr Miyagi.”
Teddy smiled and stared at my lips. “I really hope so.”
“You do? Was I that bad a student?”
“You were pretty awful.”
“Thanks! Don’t spare my feelings, will you?”
Teddy shifted slightly, both hands dropping to my waist, so that I instinctively reached up around his neck. Our bodies were now aligned and close, inescapably face to face.
“I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to work out your feelings, Hannah.”
“You do?”
“I do. It’s like a full-time scientific study for me.”
“And what conclusions have you drawn?”
A flash of uncertainty crossed his face, but then the usual charm and swagger returned and his gaze darkened.
“I think I will only know your true feelings by retracing our steps back to my eighteenth birthday party. Perhaps we should revisit that particularly profound moment in my life and see how it plays out a second time?”
“Can I give you some advice? Don’t call me a porn star – it won’t go well.”
With a soft laugh, he edged in closer. “Oh no, I’d never say something like that. Hot librarian perhaps?”
Our noses were almost touching and it felt like the world around us had faded to black; as if we were the only ones here dancing in this dark corner of a moonlit garden.
“I think hot librarian is better, but still not ideal.”
“No?”
I could practically taste him, we were that close together – the faint aroma of Pimm’s, the long-anticipated feel of his mouth just millimetres from mine. His unique flavour, one that had been seared onto my memory, was now just a hair’s breadth away. Tantalisingly close.
“No,” I confirmed
“Mmmmm.” The sound rumbled over my skin, my lips parting involuntarily. “How about the ravishing vet?”
“Now you’re talking…”
His grip on my body tightened and I was lost. I knew that at this moment he could do exactly what he wanted and I would be entirely complicit. I let out a little sigh, a strange gusty sound that made his pupils widen.
“Teddy?”
The voice was like a bucket of ice-cold water on my libido, and I instinctively jumped back, ripping out of Teddy’s grasp and turning away, the familiar feelings of acute embarrassment and self-loathing spiking within me.
“What are you doing loitering in this dark corner?” came the voice again.
“Hello, Mandy.”
It couldn’t have been anyone else really, could it? Teddy reached out and tried to take my hand, but I shrank away, doing my best to meld into the hedge behind us and disappear.
“Oh, I didn’t realise you had company. Is that Hannah Havens?”
My name was said with a mixture of surprise and revulsion, like she had just discovered a slug in her mouth.
“Hi,” I said quietly.
“Yes, Hannah and I came together. How are you? Having a nice time?” Teddy’s voice was smooth and charming, but standing this close to him I could sense a very faint undercurrent of tension in his posture.
But Mandy was oblivious. She batted her eyelashes and her ample cleavage threatened to spill out of a very low-cut dress as she stepped closer.
“I’m good, but disappointed that you haven’t called me yet.”
“Sorry, I’ve been very busy – you know how it is.”
“I’ll always make time for you,” she replied in a seductive tone that was really not necessary.
“Good to know.”
I remained rooted to the spot, feeling the uncomfortably familiar feeling of being a third wheel – not just a gooseberry but an entire gooseberry bush. I wondered when he was going to tell her to bog off, but he didn’t. He just smiled broadly at her and she seemed to melt into a pile of pink chiffon-coated gloop in front of him.
“I’m just going to find the loo,” I said, from my position in the bush, theatrically rolling my eyes.
“Ok, just wait. I’ll?—”
“Sounds like a great idea, Hannah,” Mandy answered, cutting Teddy off and not even bothering to glance in my direction.
“Catch you later, Ted.”
Bitterness laced every word. Hurt creeping back in that he would let this happen all over again; that I had let this happen all over again. Why hadn’t I learnt anything from his previous form? Of course he’d always bow down to the cool gang, and most definitely avoid any real association with Nerdy McNerdface, here.
“Hannah, wait?—”
“I’ll be fine. I’m sure I can find my own way. I’m a big girl.”
And with that I stomped off, allowing these old school chums to get reacquainted.
Because, once again, I was the humiliated teenager, the odd one out, leaving in a huff. A spooky re-enactment of Teddy’s eighteenth birthday party, just as he’d asked for.