“I’m not cold. My coat is in my luggage because I always overheat in airports. It’s just my head. My head gets cold. You lose most of your heat through your head. You’re a doctor. You should know that.”
“Um—” He pulled a face and pushed his glasses up his nose. “That’s a myth.”
“It is? That isn’t a thing?”
“Not exactly, although of course it’s important to bear in mind the effects that cooling the face and head can have on systemic cardiovascular reflex responses, particularly in elderly people.”
She loved it when he delivered random facts. “Elderly? I’m twenty-eight.”
“I know how old you are, Becks.”
Of course he did. He knew everything about her.
She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, wishing she was more comfortable in awkward social situations. This was one of those occasions where, given the choice, she would have shut herself away with just her laptop for company.
“I’m keeping my hood up anyway. In case my head is the exception. I might be suffering from premature aging. Or maybe my head gets colder because my hair is short.”
“It’s cute. You look good with short hair.”
He was trying to make her feel better. Trying to ease the embarrassment he knew she was feeling.
Since the wedding she’d avoided him as much as she could. The last thing she’d expected was to come face to face with him in a busy airport but given her current run of bad luck she probably should have anticipated it.
It was time to implement her extraction protocol.
She was great at melting away without anyone noticing, mostly because she wasn’t the sort of person people noticed inthe first place, but in this case melting anywhere wasn’t easy because Will was looking at her in a slightly strange way and it was unsettling because he always seemed to see so much more than most people.
“Honestly, I’m fine. I’ll need a car when I’m up there anyway. I was going to hire one at the airport so that I can be independent because my mother’s car has a habit of breaking down at inconvenient moments.”
“Is this about what happened at the wedding?” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and if it had been anyone else but Will, she would have slapped his hand away but he’d been hauling her out of ditches and shunting her up trees in the forest near where they lived since she was five years old.
She didn’t mind him touching her hair, but she did mind about the question.
She didn’t want to think about the wedding. She’d tried to block the whole thing from her mind. But now he’d reminded her and every painful detail came flooding back, including all the emotions she’d been trying to ignore.
“The wedding? No, of course not. It feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? I can barely remember a thing about it, apart from the scratchy dress Rosie made me wear. No, this is about what’s practical. Anyway, good to see you, Will. I hope you have a good journey home and a great Christmas. Maybe we’ll bump into each other at some point.” She was tempted to step away but then she would have lost her place in the queue, so she waited for him to do it.Leave. Please, just leave.
He didn’t leave.
“We’re going to be bumping into each other tomorrow. You do know I’m going to the party at your house?”
No, she hadn’t known that. If she’d known she would have looked harder for an excuse to stay in London.
This was promising to be the most excruciating Christmas on record.
“Jamie invited you?” Of course he had. Will was Jamie’s closest friend. They’d known each other since kindergarten. They’d gone to the same medical school, although once qualified they’d chosen different specialities and their paths had diverged. But if Jamie was having a celebration, Will was going to be there.
“Yes. He said he had something big to announce. I assume it’s an engagement?”
“I’m assuming the same.”
“I’m happy for him. I know things were rough there for a while.” He adjusted his glasses. “So you’re going to be a bridesmaid again.”
Her gaze met his briefly and she knew they were both thinking about the last time she was a bridesmaid.
Not her finest moment.
“Looks that way. Woohoo. Lucky me. I just hope he doesn’t expect me to dress as a fairy like Rosie did. I’m not fairy material.”
