Page 74 of The Honeymoon Affair

‘I certainly have a proprietorial interest in you,’ I murmur.

He draws me close to him and smiles. ‘Our married life will be so perfect. I’ll write books and you can tell me what I’m doing wrong.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ I say.

And it does.

It’s about an hour later when the crowd starts to thin out. Charles is saying goodbye to various people while Celeste and I sit on the comfortable sofa and discuss my newly engaged state.

‘You had a thing for him from the start,’ she says. ‘I could tell.’

‘Maybe.’

‘When you came back to the room after not having sex with him . . .’

‘Hmm. I did think that was a deal-breaker.’

‘But then you did.’

‘I did. And it was wonderful.’

‘It’s funny how life works out. I wonder would you have noticed Charles Miller at all if you and Steve had been at the White Sands together.’

‘No! Because I would’ve been at my own wedding.’

‘But if you had . . .’ Celeste looks thoughtful. ‘Gosh, can you imagine – falling for someone else on your wedding day!’

‘Just as well it wasn’t my wedding day so,’ I say.

‘I suppose we’d better make a move.’ She glances around the now rapidly emptying room. There are a few people engaged in deep conversation, probably the ones who are always last to leave any party, but the majority have now gone. Celeste opens her phone app and searches for a taxi.

‘Half an hour.’ She sounds surprised. ‘Not bad if it actually shows up and we don’t have to emergency-call Dad.’

‘Fingers crossed.’

I look for Charles. He’s talking to Ariel. Hopefully smoothing things over with his agent-slash-now-very-much-ex.

Ariel

It’s ages before I get the chance to talk to Charles, and now that I’m in front of him, I don’t know what to say. I start off with ‘Have you lost your mind?’ and not surprisingly, it goes downhill from there, especially when he tells me that she’s his beta reader, the girl he met in the Caribbean.

‘Far be it from me to call out a blatant holiday romance,’ I say. ‘But for feck’s sake, Charles. You let her read your book. She said nice things. You were flattered. It’s understandable.’

‘All those things may be true,’ he says. ‘But what’s also true is that I love her and she makes me happy.’

‘Even if that’s the case, you seem to have forgotten—’

‘She’s exactly what I need.’ He interrupts me. ‘And I think I’m what she needs too.’

‘Maybe so,’ I say. ‘I’m quite sure her youth and adoration are both very appealing.’

‘She’s a grown-up,’ he says. ‘Don’t talk about her as though she’s a child.’

‘She’s half your feckin’ age!’ I retort.

‘She’s twenty years younger than me. That’s nothing these days.’

‘Oh for crying out loud, Charles. None of that is the issue, is it?’