Hannah:ALIVE BUT ARE YOU WALKING.
Clara:THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Hannah:Blink twice if Rory Bennett ruined you.
I show Rory the message. He bursts out laughing. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” I sigh, “I mean…” I shrug. “It’s not entirely inaccurate.”
He looks pleased with himself.
“You realise what you’ve done, right?” I say.
“What?”
“You’ve just confirmed every fantasy half the women in this town have had.”
He tilts his head slightly. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I gesture vaguely toward him. “You’re Rory Bennett.”
“And?”
“And women have probably had posters of you on their walls.”
He snorts. “That’s definitely not true.”
“It absolutely is.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Rory, you play professional rugby and you look like…” I gesture again. “That.”
He raises an eyebrow. “That?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
He laughs quietly. “And somehow you’re the one feeling smug right now?”
“Oh I am absolutely feeling smug.”
“Good to know.”
I grin. “Because I’m fairly certain half the mums in Oakwood would like to swap places with me this morning.”
He studies me for a second then something shifts slightly in my chest. Because suddenly the thought hits me properly. All those women. All the attention. All the people who probably look at him the way I looked at him when he walked into the playground. My smile fades slightly.
“Actually,” I mumble.
He notices immediately. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Freya.”
I sigh softly. “It’s just…” I glance down at the phone in my hand. “They’re not exactly wrong.”
