Page 24 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually (Actually #1)
“I’m sorry about that,” he said at last. “This damn flu’s taken me real bad, it has. And I’m sorry I can’t remember this fella’s name that your mother went to work for either, but it was definitely her, I’m certain of it. You really are the spit of her, dear. Be in no doubt of that.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you anyway, Bill—and you, Betty, you’ve been a great help, really you have.”
“Any time, dear,” Betty said. “You’ll let us know if you find her, won’t you? I’ll be wondering about it now—how you’ve got on and all.”
“Of course I will,” I said, smiling at them both. “Now we should really go. No, please, don’t get up, Betty—really, we’ll see ourselves out. Thank you both again.”
We left Bill and Betty sitting together in their front room, Bill still in his armchair and Betty perched on the arm, lovingly tucking his blanket back around him.
“Well, that’s that then,” I said as we let ourselves out into the cold afternoon air. I pulled my coat tightly around me as we began to walk back to the tube station.
“What do you mean?” Sean asked in astonishment, pausing from tapping the buttons on his BlackBerry. “I’m just working out when we’ll be able to get a flight to New York.”
I stopped abruptly and stared at him. “I can’t just drop everything and fly to New York!”
“Why not?” Sean asked, turning back to me.
“Because…I can’t afford it, for one thing.”
“I’ll pay.”
“No, I can’t let you do that. It wouldn’t be right.”
Sean raised his eyebrows. “Don’t be silly, Scarlett—I want to help.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“Why do I want to help you?”
“Yeah, what’s in all this for you?”
I knew I was being overly cynical and incredibly ungrateful. But Sean’s constant generosity of spirit and of wallet bothered me. Or had I just spent far too long living with David’s double-knotted purse strings?
Sean shrugged, tucking his phone away in the back pocket of his jeans. “Why does there have to be something in it for me? Can’t I just help out a friend?”
I folded my arms and looked quizzically at him. “So we’re friends now, are we? When did that happen?”
Sean grinned. “Maybe we did find each other a tad irritating at first—neither of us can deny that.” He paused, and his expression changed. “But now…”
“Now?” I repeated. I half expected one of Sean’s wisecracks but instead he just looked at me. He wasn’t grinning anymore.
“Now, Scarlett, I—”
My mobile phone rang now. “Sorry,” I said, hurriedly reaching into my bag. I looked at the name flashing on the screen. “I’d better take this. I’ll just be a minute, I promise.”
As I flipped open my phone cover, Sean closed his eyes and sighed.
“Maddie, hi.”
While I spoke briefly to Maddie about how everything was going in London (well, it was a brief phone call for us—only five minutes long), I watched Sean. He had wandered a little way away from me while I spoke—well, Maddie spoke mainly—and now seemed deep in thought.
“Sorry about that,” I said when I finally got Maddie off the phone. “That was my best friend. Anyway, before—you were saying?”
“It wasn’t important,” Sean said, smiling at me. “I was just going to say that your idiosyncrasies—shall we call them—don’t annoy me quite as much now as when I first met you.”
“Thanks,” I said, pulling a wry face. “I’ll take that as a compliment—I think.” But I desperately wanted to know what he was really going to say before Maddie phoned. I’d never seen Sean look at me quite like that before—and I think I liked it.
“Now, about New York—” Sean began.
“I’ve told you—I can’t just drop everything and fly over to the States. ”
“And I’ve told you , I’ll pay.”
“I know and that’s incredibly generous of you, Sean, but it’s not just that. That phone call is one of the reasons—actually, Maddie is. She’s getting married on Saturday, and tomorrow night is her hen night.”
“Oh, I see. Wait, isn’t Maddie your friend from Stratford who got you the house-sitting gig?”
I nodded. “Yes, she’s the one.”
“But I thought the idea was to get away from all your family and friends for a month?”
“It is, but the wedding is different. It’s been planned for ages. I can’t miss it. Anyway, I’m chief bridesmaid.”
“Oh right,” Sean said, trying to take all this in. “So this Maddie is having her hen party the night before the wedding?” he asked, looking surprised. “She’s asking for trouble, isn’t she?”
“Ah, you see there’s a bit more to it than that.” When wasn’t there with Maddie? “They’re getting married at Disneyland Paris. Both the hen and stag nights are being held on Friday night, and then the wedding is in Sleeping Beauty’s castle the next day.”
“I’m sorry,” Sean said, holding his hands up in front of him in a “time out” gesture. “Just hold on one moment. They’re getting married in Disneyland ? And I thought my family’s Star Wars wedding was bad enough! I didn’t even know you could get married there.”
“You can’t normally. But they both worked there a number of years ago; they met during one of the parades, when Felix was playing Aladdin, and Maddie, Princess Jasmine.
They were on top of the magic carpet together and they’ve been inseparable ever since.
The funny thing is, Maddie would never have got the job if her father hadn’t performed surgery on one of the major Disney shareholders—apparently he saved his life on the operating table—and he’s felt indebted to Maddie’s dad ever since.
The job, and now the wedding, is his way of repaying him. ”
Sean stood open-mouthed. Then he shook his head. “Just when I think you can’t tell me anything else that will surprise me, Scarlett, you manage to. That story is madness.”
“I know—but it’s true. Anyway, we’re all meeting in Paris tomorrow night for a joint stag and hen do—well, I think the first part is joint.
From what I know they’re opening up all the rides for us when the park closes to the public—it closes earlier in the winter, apparently—and then later on we’re splitting up into two parties at two different venues. ”
“It all sounds excellent fun. It’s certainly unusual.”
“It always is with Maddie—she’s like that.
” I paused as a thought began to form in my head.
Then, without thinking it through, I allowed the thought to spill right out into speech.
“Hey, why don’t you come?” I blurted out.
“I’m sure one more won’t make a difference.
I can clear it with Maddie first if you like, but she’s usually pretty laid back about these things. ”
Sean looked thrilled at my suggestion. “I’d love to—it will make up for me dragging you to my family wedding. Wait, we don’t have to dress as Disney characters, do we?”
“No, thank God. It’s just the usual wedding attire. Although being chief bridesmaid I do have a pretty amazing dress to wear.”
“I’m sure you’d look amazing whatever you wore.” Sean smiled at me. “I’d love to be your escort for the day.”
My stomach began the usual gymnastics routine it always started when Sean smiled at me now. But instead of completing the parallel bars with a perfect score like it usually did, it flopped and fell like a lead balloon when he mentioned the word “escort.”
“Oh,” I said flatly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot one thing—David.”
Sean’s face fell, almost as far as my stomach.
“Ah…yes, that could be tricky. I guess he’s probably expecting to be your escort to the wedding—and rightly so, of course.
No worries, Scarlett, I’ll just see you after the weekend.
It will give me time to sort those flights out, get some paperwork done, that kind of thing. ”
I could have kicked myself. How could I forget about David?
The annoying thing was I just knew Sean would enjoy Disneyland so much more than David.
David would moan about the rides setting off his motion sickness and the weather being too cold and how expensive everything was.
And if he came straight from work on Friday night like he was planning to, he’d probably turn up to ride the rollercoasters in a suit and tie.
“Come anyway,” I said on impulse. “I don’t think David is coming until Saturday anyway—scary rides aren’t really his thing—and…I believe he has an important meeting Friday and can’t get away in time to get a flight.”
“You’re sure?” Sean asked, his elated expression returning. “I mean I wouldn’t be imposing?”
“No—of course not.” I put my arm companionably through his. “It would be great to have you there, Sean.”
And for the first time, I genuinely meant it.