‘It’s understandable,’ she said, ‘it’s the end of an era for them, isn’t it? For us too.’
‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’
She looked at him, puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
He gave her a brief look before returning his attention to the river. ‘Things never go quite as we think they will, do they?’ he said. ‘I mean, this time last year, who’d have thought Orla would be dead and we’d be meeting a woman called Valentina? And more importantly, I never thought you’d kiss me the way you did when I saw you in London. So yeah, life has a way of throwing in curve balls just when you don’t expect them. Only time will tell if this really is the end of an era for us all.’
There it was, the elephant in the room finally revealed –Ta-daar!
‘It’s okay,’ Callum said, as she struggled to find the right response. ‘I figured it out for myself – you’ve since thought better of it. Big mistake, blah, blah. It’s fine. Don’t look so worried, these things happen.’
‘Oh Callum, I’m so sorry. I feel awful, I really do.’
‘Nah, don’t be sorry. But I have to say, I am a bit disappointed.’
‘Disappointed in my behaviour?’
‘No. That you didn’t want to follow it up with a second.’ He grinned. ‘Or a third.’
‘Really?’
‘Jenna, surely it can’t come as a surprise to you that I might have wanted us to be more than friends?’
‘But I thought—’
‘What? That I’d grown out of my childish crush on you?’
‘Well, yes. You’ve never made any attempt to kiss me again since then, have you?’
‘That’s because I didn’t want to ruin things. I am curious though as to why you kissed me, it did come completely out of the blue. We were standing there quite normally and suddenly you practically jumped me.’
‘I did not!’
He laughed. ‘You did. You totally did. Would it be so wrong on my part to know why? Or was this you getting your own back on me for kissing you all those years ago when I was an uncouth spotty teenager? As opposed to the fine specimen of manhood I am now.’
She laughed too, glad to be able to relax in his company once more; it was such a relief. She had dreaded seeing him again; in fact she had been so wired yesterday she’d actually tripped over at the sight of him.
‘And for the record,’ he said, ‘it was a great kiss. You’ve obviously had a lot more practical experience than me.’
She gave his foot a playful shove. ‘Behave yourself.’
‘So come on, tell your old friend Callum why you kissed him. Because frankly, I’m not going to let you off this boat until you do. Why else do you think I invited you to join me?’
‘Hah!’ she said. ‘I might have known. But if I tell you, will you promise you won’t be angry with me?’
‘Have I ever been angry with you?’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that time I beat you in a sailing race up to Wroxham and back.’
‘That was hurt pride, that’s different.’
‘And then another time when Rachel and I borrowed your boat and we didn’t tie it properly to the mooring posts, and when we came back from the pub it had drifted off down the river.’
‘Yep, got me there,’ he said with a smile, nudging the tiller to swing out of the way of an oncoming picnic boat. ‘I was pretty furious,’ he said, waving back at the young children in their life jackets on board the other craft. They were all waving madly at them. Jenna waved as well. ‘But mostly with Rachel,’ Callum added. ‘It was easier to be cross with her than you.’
Jenna hoped that might still be the case after she’d made her confession. She told him about Blake and how she’d seized the opportunity to make him believe she had a boyfriend. Once again she apologised. ‘It was a completely spur of the moment thing, maybe the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I just wanted Blake to accept I wasn’t interested in him.’
‘Did it work?’ asked Callum, keeping his gaze straight ahead.
