Page 177 of Falling for You

‘Oh, you know,’ I say, trying to keep my voice upbeat. ‘I’ve got a few offers.’

I can’t tell her that I have no plans and nothing on the horizon.

‘Have you been down to the country yet?’ She smiles. ‘Have you seen the house?’

I lean back in my chair. She’s talking about the house inThe Holiday. A little cottage nestled in between curving trees and strings of ivy, with a winding path and a wooden fence. She always used to tell me that was her dream house.

‘Not yet.’ I smile back at her.

‘I’ve looked it up,’ she says, the camera angle suddenly changing as she puts the phone down on a desk and all I can see is the bottom of her chin. ‘And it’s based on an area in the Cotswolds.’

‘Right.’

‘You have to go find it, Nate.’ She picks the phone back up and glimmers at me. ‘You can’t go to England and not seethe house.’

‘Maybe I’ll see it and buy it for us,’ I say.

Mom laughs. ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’

We sink into silence and I sigh, looking around at the thin white walls of the flat. Worlds away from the fat little cottage that we love talking about.

‘I better go, Mom,’ I say, trying to shift the heaviness in my chest. ‘I’m going out tonight.’

‘If you meet Keira Knightley, tell her I say hi.’

I laugh, rolling my eyes. ‘I will.’

‘And send Stevie my love.’

I pause, the laugh evaporating. ‘I will.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Annie

‘You look so great.’

I smile gratefully at Tanya. After the debacle of ‘finding American Boy’, Tanya and Penny put in a lot of time hyping me up to make up for trying to matchmake me with a gay man (which, let’s be honest, would probably be quite fun, but not what I’m looking for). Penny went to Mike’s house, even though we both tried to persuade her to come and just sit at the bar, but she did help us get ready first and vowed to be back later that night so she wouldn’t miss out on any gossip. I’m wearing my low-cut burgundy jumper with strings of glitter sewn in that I made earlier this year, along with my jeans and boots. Tanya is wearing a violet dress, tights and pumps.

The bus bumps over a pothole and we both bob up and down.

‘So,’ I say, grinning at Tanya as the bus gets closer to the pub. ‘What are we doing tonight?’

Tanya looks thoughtful. ‘Well, do you actually want to meet someone there?’

‘There won’t be anyone there,’ I say at once. This is not my first rodeo.

Tanya laughs. ‘Okay. Let’s do accents, then.’

I groan. Accents are by far my worst skill.

‘Oh God. I definitely won’t meet anyone if I do that. What do you want to do?’

Tanya pauses, thinking, and then claps her hands together.

‘Oh, Scottish! I’ve just finished watchingOutlander. I can pretend to be Claire.’

‘Can you actually do a Scottish accent?’