‘What is it with women and sweet?’
‘What is with men reacting so badly to it? It’s a compliment. Get over it. Now,’ I said, pointing at the wooden slatted floor, ‘how are we proceeding with this?’
Alex glanced over, then back at me. ‘OK, hold on.’ He wrapped his arms around me, just under my bum, lifted me quickly and began walking further up the pier. Automatically, I gripped his shoulders and began giggling. Wine really wasn’t my best friend right now.
‘I’m sorry. Wine makes me laugh.’
I could feel his chest rumbling and looked down to see him joining me in the gigglefest. He pulled a face. ‘I’m not sure what my excuse is.’
I turned my head and leaned back a little. We were already at least ten feet past where the plastic runner started.
‘You missed the thingy.’ I waved one hand at the floor. ‘I can do this bit now. You can put me down.’
I turned back to find Alex looking up at me. ‘Oh, you’re no fun.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘I am lots of fun, I’ll have you know.’
He waggled his eyebrows. ‘Well, that’s good to know.’
I wriggled. ‘If you don’t put me down, I’m going to call the police.’
He started laughing again and gripped me a little tighter. ‘And if you don’t stop wriggling, you’re going to end up showing more than you would have getting into the car by yourself.’
My eyes widened and I stopped wriggling, instead holding myself bolt upright and super still. Alex laughed even more. ‘You don’t have to stop breathing as well!’ He lowered me to the ground gently.
‘I am never wearing this dress again,’ I said, and then suddenly realised that Alex hadn’t let go.
‘Now, that really would be a shame.’
He watched me, as if waiting for a sign. Then, he lowered his head, his eyes on me as he did so, his lips softly brushed mine, tentatively, and—
‘Sorry, mate!’ the man said, as we both stumbled heavily. One of Alex’s arms tightened around me as the other reached out to a cast-iron support pillar, steadying us from the collision. The man did seem genuinely apologetic, if incredibly drunk. Alex put a hand on my arm as I smoothed my dress and straightened up.
‘You all right?’
‘Yep.’ I didn’t quite meet his eyes. The moment was gone, knocked out into the darkness of the inky black sea. ‘Come on, let’s see if I can win you a teddy bear.’
Alex frowned. ‘It’s going back to the old-fashioned thing, I know, but aren’t I supposed to win you one?’
‘Ha! You can try! I am, in the words of my nephews, awesome at this.’
21
An hour later I had eaten too much candyfloss, shared a churro I didn’t need any of, been deafened by too many beeps, whizzers and other electronic noises, and won the biggest Minion toy on the stall. Alex’s shirt pocket also held a small stuffed animal that neither of us could work out the exact provenance of.
‘How are you so good at that?’
‘Practise. And, of course, natural talent.’ I thought about doing a bow, remembered the limitations of my dress, and did a little curtsey instead.
‘Of course.’
‘What are you going to do with this?’
‘Me? You won it!’ Alex looked bemused.
‘Yes, but I said I’d win it for you.’
‘Right. You did.’
