Ben blushed, blinking at her silently and giving himself another neck rub. ‘I wouldn’t call it a proposal, exactly.’
Good, Sive thought.Neither would I.
‘I’m just, you know, throwing it out there.’
‘Throwing it out there – wow, this is so romantic! Well, I think it’s a brilliant idea. So we’re getting married! Yay!’ Sive squealed, clapping her hands. She didn’t even have to fake her grin. She was enjoying herself enormously. ‘It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? You seem almost as surprised as I am, and you’re the one who proposed.’
‘Well, I suppose I wasn’t expecting—’
‘We should start planning the wedding as soon as possible,’ Sive babbled, interrupting. ‘Before I get too big. Not that there’s any shame in being a pregnant bride,’ she added quickly. ‘But planning a wedding is a lot of effort, and I’ll probably be too tired to deal with it all when I’m further along. Plus there’s heartburn and swollen feet and all sorts of things to take into account.’ Ben was looking more panicked by the second.
‘Mind you, non-alcoholic champagne is probably less acidic than the real thing, I imagine. But anyway, I think we should do it sooner rather than later. Had you any ideas? Anywhere in mind for the reception?’
‘Um, no. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.’
‘No, you hadn’t thought this through at all, had you? Too excited at the thought of getting married, I suppose. We should start making some lists.’ She dug into her bag and pulled out a notebook and pen. ‘There’s so much to organise. Flowers and cake and invitations.’ She tapped the pen against her teeth. ‘I suppose I should start looking at dresses.’ She gasped, as if a thought had just occurred to her. ‘You didn’t even get me a ring!’
‘Well, I didn’t know if you’d want to…’
‘Right. Very sensible. Best not to go to the expense of springing for a ring when I might not even want to marry you.’ She paused for a beat. ‘Which I don’t, by the way,’ she said quietly, deciding he’d suffered enough and it was time to put him out of his misery.
‘Uh, what? You … don’t?’
‘No, of course not, you absolute chump!’ She laughed, giving his shoulder a gentle punch.
‘Really?’
‘Really, truly.’
Relief flooded his face. He was almost teary with it.
‘You are the last man on earth I could ever be prevailed upon to marry,’ she said loftily, even though she knew thePride and Prejudicequote would be lost on Ben.
He frowned. ‘Why did you say yes, then?’
‘Sorry. I was just teasing.’
He gave her a shaky smile, his shoulders dropping. His whole body relaxed in a pantomime of relief. ‘I must say, I don’t miss your weird sense of humour.’
‘Sorry. But honestly, you deserve it.’ She pursed her lips at him. ‘I mean, what were you thinking? Because call me psychic, but something tells me you don’t want to marry me either.’
‘Well, I didn’t expect you to say yes,’ he admitted. ‘But I wanted to give you the option.’
‘Well, thanks for that … I guess. What would you have done if I’d said yes for real? I mean, what about Anna?’
‘Anna?’ He frowned in confusion.
‘Um … your girlfriend.’
‘Inez.’ He shrugged. ‘I’d have broken up with her, obviously.’
‘Well, that’s nice to know.’ While she was annoyed with him for being so daft, she couldn’t help being touched that he’d have gone through with it. He’d stick by her and do the right thing,even if it was the last thing he really wanted. ‘Poor Inez, though. You didn’t think you should split up with your girlfriend before you propose to someone else?’
‘Well, I was pretty sure you’d say no, to be honest.’
‘Ooh, that was a very high-stakes gamble. I must have really put the wind up, saying yes.’
‘It’s not like that. I was just trying to do the right thing. Mum said—’
