‘My cab is here,’ I said with genuine relief.
Amelia nodded, and perhaps she too wanted to pull back from our cross words. She swept her eyes over me one last time. ‘You really do look beautiful, Lexi.’ Once more she shook her head. ‘I only wish I’d found that silver evening bag for you though.’
*
Before running down the stairs to the waiting cab, I swept my gaze around the bedroom one last time, checking I’d left it neat and tidy, because tonight my mother would be the one sleeping in this room, while I might possibly be… elsewhere. I shivered, the way I did every time I thought back to Nick’s comments about the overnight arrangements.
‘Some of the guests have made plans to stay at the hotel overnight,’ he said.
‘Are you one of them?’ I asked.
His eyes found mine before he answered. ‘I was, but I let the room go when you agreed to come with me.’
My raised eyebrows asked a question. There was a whole other conversation going on beneath the seemingly innocuous one about hotel rooms.
‘The hotel was fully booked, and I couldn’t get you a room of your own.’
What made you think I wanted one?my eyes asked, when my lips were incapable of forming the words.
He stepped closer and pulled me into his arms.
‘I had no hidden agenda when I asked you to come to this wedding with me, Lexi. I didn’t want you to think that I had any expectations. Keeping that hotel room made me feel uncomfortable… so I let it go.’
I lifted my arms and wound them around his neck. ‘That was either really respectful of you, or a cunning way of telling me you don’t fancy me.’ I was teasing him, although beneath the humour I was asking a very real question.
‘I think you know the answer to that one,’ he said, pulling me closer and letting the proximity of our bodies settle the debate. ‘Ifsomething happens between us, I want it to be because we’re both there in the moment, deciding it’s the right thing to do, not because there’s a hotel room upstairs waiting for us.’
I kissed him slowly, leaving the taste of me on his tongue as I asked, ‘Do you think you might live to regret this decision?’
He gave a very satisfying groan as he gently released me. ‘I already do.’
*
Nick was waiting for me by the lychgate of the charming country church where his friend was getting married. The cab swept into an adjacent gravelled forecourt, but Nick didn’t see it arrive because another tuxedo-wearing guest had just spotted him. Through the window I could see the two men shaking hands as I paid the driver and climbed out of the taxi.
I didn’t say a word. I didn’t call out his name, or raise an arm in greeting, but somehow Nick knew I was there. I saw him tense, bid farewell to the man he’d been talking to, and then slowly turn to face me. On legs that inexplicably felt like jelly, I began to make my way towards him as he began walking to meet me. His eyes stayed fixed on my face as I drew step by step closer to him.
His hand was held out and waiting for me when we finally met on the driveway.
‘You look…’ He shook his head as though in a daze. ‘I don’t have the words to tell you how beautiful you look,’ he said, sounding genuinely awed.
‘I think you just found the right ones,’ I said, smiling so broadly it made my cheeks ache.
*
It was a very British wedding, the kind where you keep expecting Hugh Grant to pop up suddenly. It was quaint and charming, but also surprisingly emotional. Nick had already told me the story of how his friend Will had met his bride in very unusual circumstances when they’d been involved in an accident that had left her in a wheelchair. So, when Bella had shakily got to her feet and walked slowly down the aisle towards him, a collective gasp had run through the church and there hadn’t been a dry eye in sight. But perhaps what I loved even more was when Nick had reached for my hand and held it warmly as the couple exchanged their vows.
The country house hotel where the reception was being held was impressive without being starchy. We were ushered into a large reception room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Through them, I watched Will scoop Bella from her chair as the photographer took a picture that I already knew would end up in a frame.
‘Here you go,’ Nick said, handing me one of the glasses of champagne he’d lifted from a tray. He followed the direction of my gaze and smiled.
‘I don’t even know them,’ I said, watching as the bride and groom exchanged a tender kiss, ‘but I’m so pleased they found their happy ending.’
Nick shook his head. ‘It’s not their happy ending,’ he corrected, ‘it’s their happy beginning. And it just goes to prove that whatever challenges life throws at you, love always finds a way.’ He grinned. ‘Was that a little too Hallmark?’
‘A bit,’ I admitted, ‘but I kind of liked it.’
It was a conversation I’d have liked to continue, but we were interrupted by one of Nick’s friends who he’d not seen in years, followed by another, and then another. Some people were better than others at containing their curiosity when Nick introduced me simply as ‘Lexi’. No label. No title. I sipped thoughtfully on my champagne and wondered if there evenwasone that would fit our situation. I wasn’t his girlfriend, and he wasn’t my partner. We weren’t lovers, but we were so much more than friends. We travelled a curious no man’s land as we teetered on the edge of falling for each other and saying goodbye. No wonder there was no name for what we had.