by Annie Dyer
“So how did you know where you were?” Seph peered at him from behind glasses that he apparently now did need.
“There was a letter on the fireplace. And Uber. Thank fuck for Uber.” He picked up his mug of coffee and downed half of it. “You know, Ims, you could’ve been organising a search party right now, trying to find me.”
I glared at him and wondered how we were related. There was always the chance that he’d been brought up by a pack of wolves for the first couple of years, and then my parents committed a saintly act of adopting him.
“I’d have been drinking this coffee in peace.” I glanced at my phone. My head was a wee bit woozy this morning, the wine leaving me with a reminder. I was also reliving the first proposal I’d ever been involved in, my stomach twisting every time I thought of how I’d made a fool of myself.
Shay shook his head. “You’d have been so worried, you’d have everyone you’d ever known searching the streets of London for me.”
I glanced at our cousin who looked bemused, although this was exactly the same sort of stunt he’d have pulled a couple of years ago, before Georgia.
“I might have let Lainey know you were missing.” I picked my phone up, troubled by its silence.
“What good would that have done? Lainey’s in Severton.” Shay frowned. “She wouldn’t be much use.”
I shrugged. “She might’ve recommended a good therapist for whoever kidnapped you.”
Seph spluttered. “That’s like something Claire would say. Except with less care.” He stared at me. “Why do you keep checking your phone?”
I looked up, my fingers fumbling as I put it down. I made an effort to not be glued to it when I was out with people, wanting to live in the moment, rather than through a screen. Seph was always far too perceptive – Shay wouldn’t have noticed even if I’d been having a full-blown conversation on it.
“Waiting for a client to call.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“Which client?” Seph raised his brows, his extra-large coffee cup hiding everything but them and his eyes as he drained it.
“Noah Soames.” I was a poor liar for a lawyer.
Seph put the mug down. “Did you go to school with him?”
“I remember Noah. He was a decent scrum half.” Shay managed to take his attention off his exploits.
“How did you know that? You didn’t go to the same school.” I frowned at him.
Shay shrugged. “We ended up playing against each other a couple of times. Is he living in London now?”
“I wouldn’t…” I caught myself. If – and there was a big if here – we went through with my wine-filled plan, my family needed to think that there was more to our recent history than just a couple of work meetings. Therefore, I would know stuff about him. “Not all the time. He’s spending about half his time in Norfolk.”
Shay nodded. Seph peered at me.
“What’s he calling you about? The boundary dispute?” Seph’s eyes narrowed, a distinct lack of belief on his face. My cousin was unfortunately far more perceptive than my brother, who was now engrossed in staring at someone else's breakfast.
“Yes. I need to talk him through how we’re going to proceed.” This wasn’t actually a lie. I did need to talk Noah through what we were going to set out with the other party’s solicitor, which was what I was meant to talk to him about the night before.
I’d just proposed marriage instead.
Seph gestured to the waiter for another coffee, pushing his glasses back up his nose. It was a gesture he’d been using for years, even when the lenses were just clear glass.
“Wasn’t that what you were doing last night? Going through it?” He topped his glass up with the jug of water.
Shay’s attention flicked back to me. “Didn’t you have like a mad crush on Noah Soames?”
Seph grinned, and it wasn’t a grin I liked. “Maybe she still does, and that’s why she keeps checking her phone to see if he’s messaged her. Awww, little Immy’s in love…”
I resisted the urge to throw his glass of water at him. There was a choice here; I could either deny it, and have Seph keep on teasing, or lie and suggest something was going on, which would pave the way for another lie later, if it came to that.
I sipped my latte and looked between my brother and my cousin, wondering what the Goldilocks in hell I was doing by even considered marrying someone I hadn’t known for well over a decade to do him a favour.
Insane. All I could think of was that I was completely, and totally insane.
Shay shook his head. “No, Immy’s too independent to put up with a man. He’d cramp her style.”
Seph shook his head but didn’t say anything. Helpfully, the waiter arrived with breakfast, and his attention was taken with that. Food trumped everything with most of my family, which was at times extremely useful.
I was independent. To a level where it could put some people off. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to meet someone. Getting married to Noah would stop any chance of getting with someone more permanently, but then it would also stop the comments and the well-meant but disastrous attempts to fix me up.
I could live without sex – I’d done well enough so far the last few months. If Noah and I were married, there’d be a buffer for a few months at least where I wouldn’t have any pressure and could put together my plan.
“How are Georgia and Rose?” The best way to stop Seph from wondering too much about what I was up to, was to get him on his favourite topic of conversation. I knew how Georgia and Rose were, having only seen them both the day before, but Seph had a whole evening and morning to update us on.
His smile was ten foot wide. “Rose was a demon this morning. She wanted to have her friend for tea after school tonight, but there’s no way we can fit it in, so she decided to hold our house keys hostage until we’d negotiated an evening when Lily could come over.”
“Good negotiating skills.” I approved. Nothing like starting young with things like this, especially as I could see Seph becoming something of a protective barrier, trying to stop anyone from potentially getting within a whisper of the little girl he now thought of as his daughter. I foresaw having to help Rose sneak out of her home when she was older, or at least distract Seph enough so that she could make some mistakes.
His smile told me of how happy he was, the look in his eyes one that I hadn’t seen from him before.
“Georgia mentioned a colleague of Olivia’s she thought you might get along with.” He gave a quick glance at Shay, who just shook his head. My brother was not a romantic. The only thing he believed in was one-night stands.
“No. Not interested.” I attacked my plate of scrambled eggs and braced myself for Seph’s persuasion techniques. This was the second time I’d heard the same line in less than a week.
“Georgia says he’s really intelligent.”
Shay started to laugh. “I’m not sure she’s bothered about having an intelligent conversation.”
I didn’t bother to argue with Shay. I loved my brother dearly. He was amazing at his job, was fierce about his family, but whatever had triggered his trauma had been enough to turn him off any form of serious relationship. He didn’t date: he just hooked up. He didn’t disrespect the women he hooked up with, that was never the case, but he wasn’t interested ever in anything more.
“I’m not interested in being set up on a date.” I gave Seph my best smile. “If things don’t work out – then maybe.” I left it there.
Georgia herself chose that moment to turn up, her hair in a slightly dishevelled bun which suggested she’d prioritised things other than her appearance this morning.
“What’s he saying?” She pointed at the love of her life. “I hope he’s not trying to… shit, Joseph, what’ve you been running your mouth about?”
Seph looked pathetically innocent, in much the same way as whenever Max accused him of breaking the photocopier.
I sat back, watching the looks between the two of them.
; “Seph’s about to have another hole torn.” Shay leaned in. “I’m taking notes to remind myself why I don’t do relationships.”
Georgia glared at him, her hands on her hips. “Keep making excuses for no woman wanting to put up with you, Shay Green, and you might start believing yourself.”
My brother looked momentarily pale, and said nothing, which made Georgia narrow her eyes even more at him, while I reverted back to my conspiracy theories about what had changed Shay.
He’d mainly studied in England, apart from one year in the States, in California. The summer after he finished that was painful. Something had stolen the light from him, and the brother I’d had who’d been full of fun and laughter was a shadow.
He’d never said what happened, and we’d stopped asking. He kept us at arm’s length for most of the time, always there at family events, or when we needed him, except he wasn’t the same. Part of him was kept locked away, as if there was an organ inside him that needed to be hidden from the world in case it was damaged.
I did wonder whether he’d had his heart broken. Before California, Shay’d had a few steady-ish girlfriends; only for a few months – the longest was for just under a year and they’d split when he went to Cali. While he was there, we heard hardly anything from him; he was on a rotation that was intense and when he wasn’t working, he was partying. He talked about Thea a lot, another intern like him, but there was never any suggestion that they were anything more than colleagues.
“I mentioned to Imogen that you had that friend of Liv’s you thought she might get on with.” Seph gave Georgia the smile that never worked because she knew him too well. I’d just about moved to London when they were in the process of getting together, and the change she’d created in him had been immense. Gone was the man-boy who’d been forever looking for his home, and in his place was a man who knew his worth and knew who gave it to him.
“So you heard the first part of what I said, but not the second. Which was, ‘I don’t think Imogen is interested in any more set ups, so don’t say anything about him.’” She shook her head but was smiling.
“Yeah, didn’t hear that bit.” Seph fought back a grin.
I got the feeling he was imagining exactly how he could make it up to her. I shook my head. “You two really need to get over this honeymoon period.” I couldn’t help but smile at them. “Or get a room.”
“That’s what the stationery cupboard’s for.” Seph kept his eyes fixed on Georgia who was now blushing prettily.
“Just don’t tell Max that.” Georgia managed to look away from Seph.
I shrugged. “You’re not the only ones who’ve used that cupboard. I saw Max and Vic practically falling out of it last week.”
Seph groaned. “I didn’t need that visual. I’ve had enough visuals of those two over the years.”
My brother stood up, his phone ringing. “I’ve got to go. This will be an emergency.”
“I didn’t think you were on call?” Shay had been bragging about having a few days off.
He nodded, landing a twenty on the table to cover his breakfast. “I wasn’t. But they said they might be short, and we had the head’s up that a case could be transferred. It could be that.”
“Are you okay to operate?” I knew he’d had a heavy night.
Shay shook his head. “Today will be a meeting, then prep for it. If it’s what I think it is, we’ll be operating tomorrow morning, so I’ll sleep at the hospital tonight.”
“Hope it goes well.” That would be all we heard from him now, until the operation was done and the patient in recovery. I didn’t ask any more. I didn’t want to know more.
Shay gave a quick nod and left us, already on his phone and showing no sign of the person who a couple of nights ago, hadn’t actually known where he slept.
I spent the morning in the office I shared with Georgia. After she and Seph had gotten together, she’d requested to move into my workspace, knowing that living together and working together would be a lot for even a sane and well-balanced person to manage.
It worked well. Seph was more professional than anyone had anticipated, and I could tolerate the little romantic gestures he left about the place for Georgia. There were usually fresh flowers in our office from him, treats delivered occasionally, and when we both ended up working late with a deadline tighter than skin after a vampire facial, he sent take-out for both of us. I had no doubt that had it just been me, I’d have been ordering a burger myself, and not the gourmet starters and main course from a restaurant that wouldn’t usually lower itself to do delivery.
“Seph mentioned you were interested in Noah Soames.” Georgia managed to sound perfectly cool about it, even though I knew damn well she’d been dying to mention it all day.
“I used to have a crush on him when we were in school.” I kept it vague. This could all go horribly wrong; Noah could call me to say he and Carla were getting back together, so thanks but no thanks, but the worst that could happen was that my family and their partners would just feel sorry for me – which they already did. Being one of the few singletons in a family of loved up people was not an easy thing.
“That sounds like something out of a romance book.” She practically sighed. “Your old crush turns up out of the blue; some posh gentleman, come to whisk you off your feet…”
My phone rang before she could add anything more, Noah’s name flashing up on the screen like it was an omen of things to come.
“Sorry,” I said, putting down my pen. “I need to take this. It’s Noah.”
Georgia looked fit to burst, desperate to have more information and wax even more lyrical about romantic heroes. To avoid her listening in, which she was clearly going to do, I slipped out of the office, not making eye contact with Jodie on reception, and headed outside.
It was early autumn, and a coat wasn’t yet necessary. Every September I’d spent in England had been sunny and bright, and this was no exception. I found a bench facing the Thames, just a few steps from the offices, making general chit chat until I reached that privacy.
My heart was hammering in my chest, a swarm of bees had been released into my stomach at the sight of Noah’s name. We’d talked about getting married; it had been my idea. There had been alcohol involved but not enough that neither of us would remember it. Now I’d find out whether I was about to do the most stupid, impulsive thing in my life.
“Are you okay?” There was a tone to his voice that sounded anxious, one that I hadn’t heard before.
“Yes. No. It’s all a bit shit really.” I heard him sigh and the roar of a motorbike behind him through the phone.
“What’s happened?” There was a tug somewhere inside me that I decided to ignore.
“My grandfather – I saw him this morning.” There was a cough. “Do you have time to meet me? To talk about what, you know…”
Did I? I had a backlog of paperwork and bills I needed to get through, and a meeting at one I needed to be mentally prepared for.
“Yes.” I blurted out my answer. “Can you get to where I am? I’m near the river – near the Golden Hind.”
“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be there. I was walking in that direction anyway. Do you have time? I don’t want to stop you from anything urgent.”
His words were refreshing. The couple of men I’d dated had pretty much expected me to drop everything if they needed me, getting frustrated when I had to work late, or socialise with clients instead of going out with them. One had even asked me what I’d do when I had children, and did I realise that the needs of the breadwinner would have to be prioritised over my own career.
He didn’t last any longer than that evening.
“It’s fine. I need to speak to you about the boundary dispute anyway.” Which I did. Getting a response sent off to the opposite side’s solicitor needed to be done by the end of the day.
“Okay.” He was quiet for a moment, the backdrop of London noises the only sounds at both ends. “Imogen, does your offer still
stand? The wedding one?”
I heard my heart beat harder. I felt a wave of adrenaline course through every vein and cell in my body.
This was the craziest thing I’d ever do.
“Yes. It still stands.”
Noah looked taller when I saw him. Broader. He wore a light tan suit and a white shirt, the collar undone and no tie. My sixteen-year-old self was drawing love hearts in her notebook with our names intertwined. Luckily, my thirty-one-year-old self was a little less of a believer in fairy tales and more used to cutting a deal, so the panty-soaking specimen in front of me was placed in the ‘work project’ compartment, along with any good sense I had.
He ran his fingers through his hair and gave me a smile that would’ve removed any sense I’d had left, a dimple appearing and his eyes crinkling.
“Thank you. I know you’re busy and you could quite easily have told me to wait until later.” He sat down next to me, his thick thigh resting next to mine.
My body tensed, waiting for either a rejection or an acceptance that was going to change my life, and totally unsure of which I was going to prefer. The super-cautious side of me seemed to have taken a vacation, leaving her impulsive, slight crazy twin in charge.
“Are you okay? You sounded a bit worried on the phone.” Always find out what you’re dealing with first, then you can judge how far back you need to stand.
Noah nodded, his knees spread wide, his elbows resting them. His back was arched, and he was looking at the river. “Carla came round this morning.”
“What for?” My heckles went straight up.
“She had the crazy idea that we could still get married. That was a hard no, by the way.” He turned to look at me. “Then I went to see my grandfa. He doesn’t remember Carla, but he remembers I’m getting married.”
“Ah. He’s in London then.”
Noah nodded. “To see the dementia specialist. He’s staying at the house in Bayswater for a few days.”
“That’s good. You can spend some time with him.”
The air felt pregnant with expectation. We both knew what topic of conversation we had to move onto.