Somehow, he managed to keep it together throughout their starters and main course. If Lila noticed that her mother was particularly smiley, she didn’t comment, and for once, he was grateful that her dad kept the conversation going with endless talk about golf. He put on his best ‘paying attention’ face, he laughed when the others laughed, he asked questions when he thought they were relevant. By the time the plates were cleared away after the main course, he felt like he had a fairly goodchance of acing the entire history of golf onA Question of Sport.
The dessert menus came out. ‘Nothing for me, thanks,’ Lila said, waving dismissively.
‘Nor me,’ said her mum, her gestures completely mirroring Lila’s. ‘And you shouldn’t either, Jack. Remember what the doctor said about your cholesterol.’
Bugger. Cammy had forgotten that he was with the family that never bloody ate dessert. It was a stupid idea in the first place, one that he clearly hadn’t thought through. This proposal planning stuff was way out of his league.
‘Shall we just get the bill and go?’ Lila asked. ‘I’m already feeling completely full. I might actually pop out to the 24-hour gym later and work this off.’
Work off a green salad? Sometimes her dedication to her body went too far.
Lila turned to the waiter again. ‘Can we just…’
Nooooooo. They couldn’t wrap this up now. He had a ring to deliver, a proposal to make.
‘Actually, I’d like a dessert,’ Cammy blurted. The other three rounded on him in surprise.
‘But you never eat dessert,’ Louise said.
Cammy tried to give her a loaded look, but she wasn’t grasping the significance. He should really have filled Jack and Louise in on the running order for the proposal before Lila got there.
Lila, meantime, was looking less than impressed. ‘Can’t you just get something at home? I’m, like, so tired, babe.’
Oh God, this was going to turn into an actual argument. Great. A fight, right before he asked her to marry him. This wasn’t helping the case for an acceptance.
‘I just fancy trying the new meringue dessert – Neil was raving about it when he popped into the shop this afternoon.’ He was a terrible liar. Terrible. She was sure to pick up on it. Or maybe not…
Lila sighed, then shrugged her acquiescence, but the pouting expression made it clear she wasn’t happy.
‘Can you ask Neil for the dish we discussed earlier please?’ he blurted before any more protest could be made, then he turned back to the others. ‘And would you guys like coffee?’
Jack and Louise agreed immediately, and Lila reluctantly followed, sighing ‘I suppose I could do with a shot of caffeine.’
The waiter nodded and went off to find his manager, looking more than a little flustered. Cammy had no way of knowing that this had something to do with the fact that Jude, twenty-one, working at Grilled to pay off his student loan, had suddenly realised that he had left the ring on an empty beer crate when he’d popped out for a cigarette earlier in the evening.
‘It won’t take long,’ Cammy tried to console Lila. This wasn’t going well. Flattery. That was what was needed here. ‘By the way, you look incredible tonight…’
She’d already turned to look at the other diners and wasn’t listening. ‘Did you say that was the actual French football team there?’ she asked.
‘It is.’
‘So which ones are the big stars. I mean, they’re not all famous, are they?’
Cammy’s knowledge of football was up there with his expertise on the schedule of the Dover to Calais ferry, so he shrugged. ‘No idea. Jack?’
Lila’s dad wasn’t sure either. If it had been the French golf team, he’d have been able to give them their history, statistics, and inside leg measurements.
Lila stood up and tossed her napkin on the table. ‘I’ll just ask them all then.’
Cammy watched, horrified, as she marched over, and leaned down to whisper in the ear of a dark-haired guy who could give Ronaldo a run for his millions in the looks department. And yes, the only reason he knew anything about Ronaldo was because he had a fashion line.
Whatever Lila said to him, the man was in full agreement – well, of course he was going to be – and immediately put his head towards hers and grinned as she held up her phone and took a selfie.
‘Oh, what’s she like,’ Louise chuckled. ‘That girl and her photos. She’s always been the same. Completely adorable.’ Her mother’s encouragement did, perhaps, give a clue as to why Lila had embraced the world of the selfie.
Her father said nothing, just sipped his champagne while checking his phone. Probably looking at golf scores from some tournament going on somewhere. If the guy was interested in anything that was going on around him, he hid it well.
The only good thing about Lila’s distraction over at Le Selfie Central, was that it bought Cammy some more time to mentally prepare for what was about to happen. He could do this, he told himself yet again. His internal dialogue was like a stuck record today.
