Holy shit!I dart upright and face him. ‘I told you about Dubai? God, Gregory, I never meant to tell you like that; that’s really shitty of me. It’s been playing on my mind?—’
‘I got that.’
‘No. You don’t get it. I haven’t mentioned it because it’s only a secondment and I’ve decided not to go.’ Panic is clear in my shaky words. ‘If I said that last night, it was drink talking. I haven’t told my boss that I won’t go yet but I’ve already made the decision.’
‘Shh, calm down, baby. I… I’ve been thinking about it a lot today and I think maybe you’re right.’
‘What? No.’
He strokes my fallen hair back behind my ear. ‘So much has happened. It would give you time to think. Space. Like you’ve been saying you need.’
‘You…’ The words are crushing my chest. ‘You want me to go?’
‘No, Scarlett. I don’t want you to get trapped in a dark world, in my world that you don’t… You deserve better. You deserve knights and flowers, a man with a good heart. A man who can feel the way any man should around you, like he’s the luckiest man alive, and make you see that, give you the fairy tale.’
I hold my hand to his chest. ‘Gregory, yours is the only heart I’ll ever want. Please believe me. I know you think you can’t letme in but you can. I don’t ever want to leave. I don’twantthe fairy tale.’ A single, silent tear tickles my cheek as it worms down my skin like the sliver of doubt in my mind.Is he protecting me from him or him from himself?
‘Hey, shh. Okay.’ He wipes the tear away and we both jump as his phone starts ringing. He leans away from me to retrieve the phone from the opposite arm of the sofa.
‘It’s for you,’ he says, handing me the handset.
‘Me?’ I glance at the screen and see Jackson’s name. I rub a hand across my cheek and calm my breathing as Gregory takes my free hand in his. ‘Hello?’
‘It’s Sandy, sweets.’
‘Oh, hey, Sandy. You and Jackson share phones now, do you?’
Sandy giggles and it’s that sweet giggle that she reserves for when she’s really giddy. Just about the only thing that could improve my mood. ‘We’ll be sharing a lot more than that soon.’
‘Huh?’
‘I wanted to tell you in person but I don’t want anyone else to know before you.’
I plant my tea cup on the floor then sit bolt upright on the edge of the sofa. ‘What? Tell me what?’
I can just imagine her, eyes twinkling, brown cheeks flush, an arm wrapped around her ribs. ‘Geoffrey asked me to marry him and I said yes.’ She laughs, utterly, blissfully happy.
‘Oh my gosh, Sandy! I can’t believe it! That’s amazing! You make such a lovely couple. Jackson is a good guy and you… oh my gosh, he’s so lucky to have you.’ My eyes fill and for the first time in as long as I can remember, they’re wet with happiness. ‘Oh Sandy, you’re going to make me cry. I’m so happy for you. I really, really am.’
‘I’m so happy. Geoffrey is wonderful.’
‘And it’s so soon, so romantic; he’s completely swept you off your feet, hasn’t he?’
‘It’s a dream,’ she says, her smile obvious in her words.
I sit back into the corner of the sofa and Gregory resumes his hold around my shoulders. ‘Tell meeverything. How, when, where? I knew he was a closet romantic. Wait until I see him.’
‘Oh deary me, I’ll have to sit down.’ I hear her fumble around in the background. ‘We’re staying at The Ritz, can you believe it? I don’t know how he afforded this.’
I raise an eyebrow in Gregory’s direction. I suspect I know how and I love him even more for it too.
‘We walked around Hyde Park in the afternoon yesterday and then Geoffrey had booked a table in the restaurant. Can you believe we ate at The Ritz?’
I laugh, sharing in this wonderful woman’s happiness. ‘Go on, go on.’
‘Well, I had a smoked salmon terrine to?—’
‘Sandy! Stop teasing me! I don’t want to know what you ate.’
