Chapter 14 #4
‘Do you think so?’ Will asked, gazing longingly across at Kate, who was being pulled into Jonathan’s arms on the dance floor.
He had braced himself for this. Lorcan had warned him that Kate was bringing a man to the wedding, but nothing could have prepared him for the torture of seeing her with someone else.
‘Holiday romance,’ Freddie said dismissively. ‘They never do.’
* * *
‘Now would be a good time for that snog,’ Jonathan whispered, as they swayed on the dance floor. ‘Your bloke’s watching.’
‘Oh, you don’t have to do that.’
‘No problem.’ He put a hand on the back of her neck as his lips met hers. ‘All part of the service.’
He was a good kisser, and he certainly gave it his all, bending her back over his arm and kissing her on and on as they came to a stand-still, apparently so wrapped up in each other that they were oblivious of their surroundings. But all the time Kate could feel Will’s eyes burning into her back.
However, as they came off the dance floor, she saw that he wasn’t watching her any more at all. He was engrossed in conversation with Freddie and didn’t even seem to notice her as she passed.
Suddenly weary and depressed, Kate decided to go home.
The party was in full swing and she was sure she could slip away unnoticed.
She told Jonathan that she was leaving, then got her coat and left the hotel.
It had been freezing all day and now it was snowing.
She stood at the edge of the pavement trying to hail a cab, but with no success.
She had forgotten it was New Year’s Eve and that getting one would be nigh on impossible.
‘I hope you’re not leaving because of me,’ a deep voice said at her shoulder.
She spun around to find Will behind her, his breath a white cloud in the icy air.
‘If you are, you can relax,’ he said. ‘I’m leaving now, so you can go back in and enjoy the party.’
As if by magic, a car appeared at the kerb at that moment, and Kate recognised Dave, the driver who had met her at the airport.
‘Oh no, I wasn’t.’ Why did he make her feel so damn guilty? ‘I think I will go back in, though. There’s no chance of getting a cab anyway.’
‘Wait!’ As she turned to go, Will grabbed her wrist. ‘We need to talk.’
‘No, we don’t.’ She pulled her hand away. ‘I have to go. My— um… my boyfriend wouldn’t like me being out here with you.’
‘Jealous type, is he?’
‘Yes, as a matter of fact, he is.’
‘Ditch him!’ Will said, his eyes glinting.
‘What?’
‘Ditch him and come home with me.’
‘And why on earth would I do that?’
‘Because you don’t love him – you love me,’ he said.
Kate felt utterly defeated and exposed. She wasn’t fooling anyone – he knew damn well she hadn’t moved on.
‘And I love you,’ he said. He leaned almost imperceptibly closer, and for an awful, heart-stopping moment she thought he was going to kiss her.
Kate looked away, breaking the spell. ‘Don’t you have a concert to go to?’ She eyed the car hovering in the background.
Will glanced distractedly at it, then back to her. ‘Come with me,’ he said urgently, grabbing her hand.
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
‘Come on, everyone would love to see you, and we could talk properly.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ she said tightly.
‘I love you,’ he pleaded despairingly. ‘Why can’t you believe that?’
Kate sighed. ‘How long have we known each other, Will?’ she asked rhetorically. ‘And in all that time you’ve never looked twice at me – not in that way. Not until my mother and Rachel put the idea in your head.’
‘Haven’t I?’ he said.
‘No.’ Surely he wouldn’t have the gall to admit now that he remembered that night of the Trinity Ball, after all those years of pretending it had never happened.
‘Are you sure about that?’ he persisted. ‘That night of the Trinity Ball?’
‘Okay, maybe you did once,’ she said. ‘But you were out of your head – you didn’t know what you were doing.’
‘In vino veritas,’ he said. ‘They say you don’t do anything drunk that you wouldn’t do sober.’
‘Then how do you explain karaoke?’
Will laughed. ‘No one can explain karaoke.’
The snow was falling thicker and faster now, great chunks settling on Will’s hair and shoulders. It melted on Kate’s eyelashes and into her hair.
‘Hadn’t you better go?’ She nodded to the car.
Will glanced at his watch. ‘Come with me,’ he pleaded.
‘No.’ She felt frozen to her core, and it had nothing to do with the snow.
‘But I love you!’
‘Do you?’ She examined his face, longing to believe him. ‘I don’t know,’ she said defeatedly. ‘I guess I’d always be wondering if it was real. Maybe you would too.’
‘Christ, nothing has ever felt more real in my entire life! What do I have to do to convince you?’
Kate looked at him yearningly, almost willing him to say something that would.
‘I don’t think you can,’ she said sadly.
Will was on the verge of tears, she saw, or was it just the biting cold that made his eyes sparkle? He glanced at his car and waved to the driver.
Still he didn’t move. ‘I never got a chance to give you this,’ he said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a shiny red envelope. ‘It’s your Christmas present.’
Kate looked at it. ‘I didn’t get you anything,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think—’
‘Doesn’t matter. I got it ages ago. Take it.’ He thrust it at her.
Kate shook her head. ‘Maybe you should give it to someone else.’
‘It’s not for someone else, it’s for you. It wouldn’t suit anyone else.’
‘Thanks,’ Kate said, in a small voice, reluctantly taking it from him.
‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ Will asked.
‘Later,’ Kate said, putting it in her pocket. ‘It’s freezing.’ She shivered. ‘I’m going back inside.’
Just then, a miracle happened. A taxi with its light on turned into the street. Kate dashed to the edge of the pavement, waving frantically, and it stopped.
‘Kate!’ Will called, as she got in and slammed the door.
Heaving a sigh of relief as the taxi pulled away, Kate looked at the envelope in her hand, tempted to throw it away from her, as if it were a ticking bomb.
Vouchers, she thought, turning it over in her fingers – what else would fit inside an envelope?
Still, she couldn’t help wondering why, if it was vouchers, he felt it wouldn’t do for anyone else.
Maybe they were for some boutique that only stocked ‘outsize’ clothing – like anything above a size ten, she thought wryly. Curious despite herself, she opened it.
Inside, there was just a card with an address written inside it and a key taped underneath. She stared at it, wondering what it meant. Suddenly she had goosebumps all over, which had nothing to do with the cold.
‘Could we go to this address instead, please?’ she asked the taxi driver, showing him the card.
She could hardly sit still as they made their way slowly through the city-centre traffic. Eventually, they pulled up outside a darkened building.
‘That’s it there, love,’ the driver said, pointing. ‘Are you sure you have the right address?’
‘Yes,’ she said shakily. ‘I think so. Can you wait, please?’ she asked, getting out, her legs so wobbly she wasn’t sure they’d hold her up.
Her fingers were trembling as she turned the key in the lock.
The door swung open, and she stepped into a dark room, fumbling around for a light switch.
She found it – and felt as though she had walked into a dream.
She was standing in a restaurant she had never been in before, yet she recognised it.
It was her restaurant, exactly as she had always pictured it, down to the minutest detail – exactly as she had described it to Will that day in Tuscany.
She walked into the kitchen, examining everything, laughing in amazed delight at every little touch.
‘Hello?’ a voice called, and she went back into the dining room. The taxi driver had followed her. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all right.’
‘Oh yes, I’m fine, thanks,’ Kate assured him, eyes bright with tears. Spotting a staircase in a corner of the room, she said, ‘I just want to check something.’
She bounded up the stairs two at a time, pushed open the door at the top and stepped out onto the roof.
She turned on a light switch by the door to discover she was in the prettiest little roof garden, with tables and chairs set among planters of shrubs.
Big gas heaters were dotted around while fairy lights and coloured lanterns hung in the trees.
Kate stood, gazing in wonder, as the snow covered the tables like white linen.
‘This is something else, isn’t it?’
She hadn’t been aware that the taxi driver had followed her up.
‘So, it’s going to be a restaurant. Is it yours?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are you going to call it?’
Kate swallowed the lump in her throat. There was only one explanation for all this. ‘It’s the Taj Mahal,’ she said. She remembered standing at the Taj Mahal, admiring its breathtaking beauty, and someone beside her saying, ‘Just think, this was all built for love.’
‘Going to be an Indian restaurant, then, is it?’
‘Oh no.’ Kate laughed. ‘Sorry – a private joke.’
‘Well, maybe you’d better think of another name. Might be a bit misleading.’
Kate and the taxi driver went back downstairs, where she switched off the lights and locked the door.
‘So, home now?’ he asked, rubbing his hands as they got back into the cab.
‘No, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go to the O2.’
‘The Walking Wounded concert?’ He glanced at her in his mirror as he pulled out into the traffic. ‘Have you got a ticket?’
‘No.’
The driver sucked his breath in through his teeth. ‘I wouldn’t bother going there if you haven’t, love,’ he said, sagely. ‘They were like gold dust – sold out in about half an hour.’
‘Oh, it’s okay. I know the band.’