But my mind went completely blank and I couldn’t think of a single thing.
Sarah looked so crestfallen.
If I sat here and thought for long enough, I was sure I could come up with something else to say and wriggle out of what I’d offered to do.
But I couldn’t sit here and watch Sarah get more and more upset when there was something I could do to help.
Like Sarah, I knew exactly how it felt to be betrayed. The humiliation was horrendous. Right now, she probably felt like her whole world had come crashing down and she wanted to crawl into a dark room and stay there forever.
No. As difficult as it’d be for me, I had to help her.
‘I said, I’ll go to the wedding with you.’
13
SARAH
‘Wait, what did you just say?’ I blinked rapidly, repeating my question.
‘I said…’ Ben paused as if he wasn’t even sure himself whether he’d said what I thought he had.
‘I said, I’ll go to the wedding with you. If you want…’ His voice trailed off. ‘If you really can’t find anyone else to go with you.’
I opened and closed my mouth like a hungry goldfish.
My face creased, then contorted in a million different directions.
I’d heard what he said the first, second and third time, but it just didn’t make sense.
‘But why would you do that?’ I said, still overcome with confusion. ‘We hate each other!’
‘Correction,’ Ben said. ‘Youhateme.’
‘Exactly!’ I said before wincing at how terrible and rude that sounded. Especially considering he was offering to save my bacon. ‘Sorry… I mean, I’ve done nothing but scowl and bite your head off since we started working together, so why would you help me?’
‘Good question.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe I’m just a saint.’
‘No, seriously. I don’t get it.’ I raised a curious eyebrow.
‘Let’s just say that I hate what they did to you and I can see how much pain it’s caused. If I can help you get revenge to help balance the scales of justice, then I will. Plus, you said it’ll be in Spain, right? I love travelling and I love Spain, so that’s a bonus.’ He flashed a smile and my stomach flipped.
I had to admit it was a kind offer. More than kind. Generous, sweet, selfless and considerate. Which was why I was shocked that it’d come from someone like Ben.
But I doubted that he’d thought it through. The last thing I wanted was for him not to realise the implications of his offer and regret it later. I already felt like shit, so I didn’t need to add feeling bad abouthimfeeling bad to my list of worries.
‘Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but you do realise what this would mean, right?’ I asked.
‘That you’ll be so grateful for my generosity that you’ll offer to buy me coffee every day for the rest of your life?’ He smirked.
‘No…’ The corner of my mouth turned up into smile. ‘Although, maybe I should consider that seeing as you’d be really helping me out. What I meant was, if you do this, we’ll have to spend more time together. Like,alone. And you might even have to… hold my hand or put your arm around me occasionally to convince everyone that we’re dating.’
‘And doyourealise it’d mean you might actually have to stop giving me dirty looks and be nice to me?’ He tilted his head.
‘Oh, Lord!’ I groaned, then laughed.
‘To answer your question, yes. I think I can channel my inner Theo and manage some hand-holding.’
‘Your inner Theo?’ My brow furrowed.
