The Beach Reads Book Club: The most heartwarming and feel good summer holiday read of 2021! (The Kathryn Freeman Romcom Collection, Book 5)

by Kathryn Freeman

  He smiled and dropped a soft kiss on her lips. ‘I’d rather hoped you’ll spend the night with me.’

  The smooth tone, the hint of low husk, sent her pulse racing. ‘That’s an offer I hate to turn down.’ She nodded to the mountain of fur now lying on the floor, looking up at them. ‘But I have Chewie tonight.’

  ‘That’s okay. I think the big guy and I have come to an understanding.’

  It wasn’t what she meant but she was saved explaining because at that moment Gira appeared at the top of the stairs, looking fabulous in the red dress as she walked hesitantly down towards them.

  In a gentlemanly gesture that made Lottie’s heart squeeze, Matt bent to kiss her on the cheek as she reached the bottom step. ‘Hello, Gira.’ He stood back, eyes skimming over her. ‘You look lovely.’

  ‘It’s this or black trousers.’ She ran her hand down the dress. ‘I’m not sure if it’s too much.’

  ‘It’s perfect,’ Matt answered, giving Gira a reassuring smile. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Terrified.’

  He winced. ‘Oh dear. I’ll try not to make it too awful.’

  She groaned and put a hand over her mouth. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. You’re being so kind. I’m just… I’m scared of what I might find when we get there. If he’s with another woman, that’s one thing. Even if he’s not…’ – she twisted her hands – ‘he’s with people whose company he prefers to mine.’

  As Lottie put her arms around Gira and gave her a hug, Matt shook his head, his expression pained.

  ‘I don’t think you can come to that conclusion yet. Work can suck you in.’ He gave Gira a sad smile. ‘Ask my ex-wife.’

  In that moment Lottie realised she’d been so focused on helping Gira, she’d forgotten Matt had once been in Ryan’s shoes, the bad guy staying out late every night. Now she was making him relive it all, only from the woman’s side.

  No doubt he’d spend the evening beating himself up all over again.

  Crap.

  Stupidly, Matt realised he hadn’t prepared himself for this. Taking a woman out for a drink, he could handle, but going back through his failure again? Talking about that shameful, miserable part of his life out loud with people he wanted to make a fresh impression with? Unconsciously he glanced over at Lottie and she mouthed I’m sorry.

  ‘You used to work late every night?’ Gira looked surprised.

  His stomach knotted and he pushed a hand in his trouser pocket. ‘I did.’

  ‘Do you mind me asking, how did your wife deal with it?’

  Swallowing hard, he met Gira’s eyes. ‘She had an affair.’

  ‘Oh no.’ Gira’s brown eyes filled with sympathy. ‘I’m sorry. That’s, well, that’s not nice.’

  His gut twisted as he remembered the day he’d found boxers he didn’t own, under his bed. ‘Maybe I deserved it.’

  ‘No.’ Gira lifted her chin. ‘I don’t know your circumstances, but I do know that no matter how angry I feel at Ryan, I couldn’t contemplate seeing someone else just to spite him. I love him too much.’

  Maybe that was his answer. He hadn’t loved Patricia enough to haul himself out of his work spiral, and she hadn’t loved him enough to want to fight for him, like Gira was doing now.

  Drawing in a breath, he pushed the past aside and held out his arm. ‘Then let’s show your husband what he risks losing if he doesn’t change his ways.’

  With a determined look on her face, Gira slipped her arm through his. ‘Yes, thank you. I’m ready.’

  It was only when he opened the passenger car door for her that he considered what he was actually doing. Taking another man’s wife out. ‘How tall is he, by the way?’ he asked casually.

  Obviously it wasn’t as casual as he’d hoped because as Lottie climbed into the back seat, having settled Chewie in the boot, she started to laugh. ‘Are you worried he’ll beat you up?’

  ‘I can handle myself.’ He sent up a silent prayer that Gira’s husband wasn’t six foot eight and build like a tank.

  He felt like a taxi driver as he picked up first Heidi, then Audrey. Make that a school bus driver, because the non-stop chatter, the flow of laughter, interspersed by occasional giggles, was more like a school trip. He guessed they were trying to distract Gira, which seemed to be working from what he could see in his occasional glances in her direction.

  ‘You’ll all be sitting outside?’ he confirmed with Lottie as he parked the SUV in the wine-bar car park.

  ‘Yep. They won’t let Chewie in but we’ll be at one of the tables on the terrace, sending good luck vibes.’ Ready to console Gira, if needed. She didn’t add the words, but Matt knew that was why they’d come, and felt a burst of admiration for the little book club Lottie had set up all those months ago. These women hadn’t stopped at sharing their joy of books, they’d begun to share their lives. They looked out for each other.

  ‘Let us know if there’s any aggro with that husband of hers.’ Audrey waved her hefty bag in the air as they all climbed out. ‘It won’t be the first time I’ll have clocked someone with my handbag.’

  He caught Gira’s eye and she smiled. Then she took a deep breath and reached for his arm.

  Just as he was about to step forward, Lottie touched his other arm, stopping him. Then she whispered in his ear, ‘You’re a good man, Matthew Steele.’

  The words seeped through him as he led Gira inside. Two years ago, a year ago, he’d have said he definitely wasn’t a good man. Blinded by a desire to succeed financially, to stick two fingers up at bullies who’d belittled him, he’d made terrible, selfish mistakes. Maybe that was all behind him now, though. Maybe this fresh start, the new him, the real him, was at last taking shape.

  ‘He’s not with a woman.’

  Gira’s quiet words refocused him and he followed her gaze over to a table of five guys, all in suits, though their jackets were off, their top buttons undone. Ties loosened.

  ‘That looks like drinks after work,’ he replied, pulling out a bar stool for her. ‘Let’s sit here, in their eye-line.’ He gave Gira an encouraging smile. ‘I guarantee he’ll notice you in a few minutes.’

  He ordered her a glass of white wine, and himself a sparkling water, as he was driving. Around them the bar hummed with chatter. Next to him, Gira sipped quietly at her drink, her posture stiff. In an attempt to relax her, he tried making small talk.

  After ten painful minutes, he put down his water and bent to whisper in her ear. ‘We should look like we’re enjoying ourselves.’

  ‘Sorry. I’m not much of an actress, am I?’ She screwed up her face in apology. ‘And now I’ve insulted you.’

  ‘I’m not insulted.’ Christ, he was no good at this. Gira needed a confident, outgoing guy to take her out of her head. Instead she’d got lumbered with someone as reserved and awkward as she clearly felt. ‘How about I tell you a bar joke? Try and make you laugh?’

  ‘Do you know one?’

  He gave her a mock insulted look. ‘I know several.’ They were jokes he’d stored for moments when he’d felt out of his depth socially, times he’d needed to convince clients and work colleagues he was funny and easy-going, when he knew he wasn’t either. ‘A lizard walks into a bar pushing a baby in a stroller. What’s your kid’s name? asks the bartender. Tiny, answers the lizard, because he’s my newt.’

  ‘Oh dear, that’s awful.’

  Buoyed by the fact she was smiling, he tried another. ‘Okay. How about this one. An amnesiac walks into a bar, goes up to a beautiful blonde and says, So, do I come here often?’

  She let out a strangled-sounding laugh. ‘I think that’s worse.’

  Matt caught movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced up to see a guy walking towards them, eyes focused on Gira. ‘Luckily for you, I think your husband’s spotted you and is coming over.’

  Gira swung round, her expression hardening as the man came to a stop next to them.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded, hands in pockets. Then h
is gaze swung to Matt. ‘And who the hell is he?’

  Matt slipped off the stool so he was at his full height. Thankfully a few inches more than Ryan. ‘I’m Matt.’ He held out his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’

  Ryan clearly didn’t want to shake it, but politeness won over.

  ‘Matt’s a friend,’ Gira said. ‘He offered to take me for a drink, as you always seem to have better things to do.’

  Ryan’s jaw tensed. ‘I told you, I’m out with work.’ He nodded over to where the other guys were sitting.

  Matt shifted on his feet, feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be the cause of a row, he wanted Ryan to see how lonely Gira was. To understand how precarious his marriage was if he didn’t change his ways. Automatically he looked out of the window, his eyes seeking Lottie. She would know how to handle this.

  ‘You’re always out with work and I’m fed up with sitting on my own at home.’ Gira surprised Matt by standing and threading her hand through his arm. ‘If you want to talk, we’ll be sitting outside.’

  Taking her lead, Matt walked with Gira out to the terrace. The others all looked up.

  ‘Well?’ Audrey glanced from one to the other. ‘Do you need my handbag?’

  Gira smiled, but it was a small, tight effort. ‘I’m not sure.’

  Lottie looked over her shoulder. ‘You need to make a quick decision because he’s followed you out.’

  They all turned to see Ryan standing by the door. The anger had drained from his face and he looked lost. More than that, Matt realised with shock. He looked distraught.

  ‘What should I do?’ Gira stared at her husband, her expression betraying her mixed emotions: fear, anger, upset. Hope.

  ‘It looks like he wants to talk.’ Lottie gave Gira’s arm a squeeze. ‘That’s good, isn’t it?’

  To his surprise, Gira looked at Matt. ‘What do you think?’

  His instinct was to shrug his shoulders, to say he didn’t know, but he realised she was asking because he’d been in Ryan’s situation. ‘You should hear him out. Sometimes work is like a hamster wheel, it’s hard to get off. My bet is, he’s only now realising what he could lose.’

  As he watched Gira walk towards her husband, Matt wondered where he would be now if Patricia had done what Gira had and confronted him, instead of giving up on him and going behind his back.

  Then he looked at Lottie, her eyes welling with emotion as she watched Ryan fall to his knees in front of Gira, and realised he didn’t want his old life back. He wanted the one he was starting to carve out here, by the sea, with his sister, his dad. And the Electric Blonde who was rapidly stealing his heart.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lottie wiped her eyes as she watched Gira and Ryan hug. They would have some hard conversations ahead, but it was clear Ryan still loved his wife dearly.

  ‘I do love a happy ending.’ Heidi pulled a tissue out of her handbag and blew her nose.

  Audrey chuckled. ‘I suspect our Gira will be ending her sex drought tonight.’

  ‘Audrey!’ Heidi looked reprovingly at the older woman.

  ‘I think what Audrey meant is, it will be lovely to see a real smile back on Gira’s face next time we see her.’ Lottie’s gaze shifted to Matt, who was still watching Gira and Ryan. Was he wondering about his own marriage? Wishing he’d done something about his own late-night working so he and his wife could still be together?

  The thought caused a sharp wrench inside her chest. Did it make her a bad person that she was glad he hadn’t?

  At that moment his gaze shifted, those dark-chocolate eyes finding hers, and his mouth curved in a slow smile that sent tingles down her spine. Maybe he wasn’t thinking about his ex-wife at all.

  ‘Who’s for another drink?’ Audrey waved her empty glass. ‘It’s not every night this old dear gets to go to a bar. I need to make the most of it.’

  Ah. Lottie watched as disappointment flashed across Matt’s face. He’d been on a promise of sex, now he was faced with a night of making conversation with an increasingly intoxicated octogenarian. ‘Matt probably needs to get home. Unlike us, he’s got work tomorrow.’

  Just as Audrey’s face started to fall, Matt squared his shoulders and picked up her glass. ‘We’ve plenty of time. Another gin and tonic?’

  Audrey beamed. ‘Make sure to ask for the tonic in a separate bottle. Don’t want them drowning the gin.’

  To his credit, Matt’s smile looked genuine. ‘Understood. Heidi, same for you?’

  ‘Well, it is Friday night.’

  He turned to Lottie, but she waved him away. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  The moment they were out of earshot, she groaned. ‘God, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘What on earth for?’

  ‘Lumbering you with a Friday night out with half my book club. The older half, at that.’

  His eyes skimmed her face until they landed on hers. ‘But I’m also spending it with you.’

  Her heart gave a long, slow flip. ‘Wow, you can be quite the charmer when you want to be. What with bringing Gira flowers, settling her nerves, making a fuss of her. Then buying Audrey gin even though you know it’s going to loosen her tongue even more.’

  He smiled. ‘I like her. She’s … entertaining.’

  Lottie studied him, wondering if now was a good moment to discuss what she’d tentatively broached with Audrey the other day. She wasn’t sure her Big Idea would come to fruition, but she did know Audrey needed to do something besides watch Loose Women. ‘She’s in her element tonight. She’s so bored at home.’ Figuring it wouldn’t harm to sow the seed, she added, ‘I’m thinking of a way to get her out more, meeting people. It’s what she thrives on.’

  His eyes found hers and she saw something shift in them. Then he shocked her by bending to place a kiss on her temple, the gesture so tender, her knees buckled. ‘What was that for?’

  ‘You’re always thinking of other people, working out how you can help them.’ Admiration shone from his eyes. ‘It’s a lesson I’m trying to learn.’

  She wanted to argue that his concern for his family, the way he’d helped Gira tonight, were proof he’d already learnt, but the bartender was hovering in front of them. Leaving Matt to put in their orders, she glanced over to where Gira and Ryan were sitting, still talking. The way he held her hand, the way Gira leant towards him, Lottie knew the couple would be able to work through their differences.

  When they got back to the table Audrey immediately thrust out her hand. ‘Thank you, young man.’ After taking a swig she studied him over the top of her glass. ‘So, has Lottie talked to you about me working in your shop yet?’

  As Heidi inhaled sharply, Matt blinked and for a split second he looked like a trapped deer, all big, brown, terrified eyes. ‘Sorry?’

  Damn it. She’d not been wrong about the gin loosening Audrey’s tongue. ‘Err, actually I was going to mention it to him next week.’ She shot Matt a quick, apologetic look, but his gaze was on Audrey.

  ‘Oh.’ The old woman looked upset, her light dimmed in a way that tugged at Lottie’s heart. ‘Probably a foolish idea anyway.’

  ‘What was foolish?’ Matt asked, his hands toying with his glass of water – clearly his self-discipline didn’t allow for an additive-loaded Pepsi.

  ‘Old woman like me, working again.’ She gave her head an abrupt shake. ‘Heavens, I have enough trouble keeping up with those daft women on the TV.’

  ‘I’m sure I can put you to good use.’

  Matt’s quietly spoken words caused Lottie to glance over at him. When he caught her eye his mouth curved just enough for her to know he’d surprised himself.

  Immediately the light came back into Audrey’s eyes. ‘Well then, young man, you won’t be sorry. I promise you there’s plenty of life in this old dog yet.’ She patted her hair. ‘My Harold used to say I was a born saleswoman.’

  ‘Is that what you used to do?’ Lottie asked, both intrigued and thankful. Maybe this didn’t have LOTTIE’S BAD IDEA written all ov
er it, after all.

  ‘Harold was a butcher. He had his own shop.’ Audrey’s chest puffed out with pride. ‘I helped him out, when the kids were at school.’

  ‘Then you already have experience.’ Matt’s relief was clear. ‘You’ll be teaching me.’

  ‘I’m not sure, love. I spent most of my time round the back, making sausages.’

  Heidi immediately started to giggle and the combination of her mirth and Matt’s horrified expression was too much for Lottie. She started to giggle too. Audrey soon followed, her cackle loud enough to draw the attention of the tables either side of them.

  ‘Making sausages.’ Heidi took in a breath, clearly struggling to contain her glee. ‘Maybe we can do a double act. Cake and sausages.’ She wiped her eyes. ‘Oh, Audrey, you’re priceless.’

  ‘I’m still partial to a sausage.’ Audrey took a slurp of her gin. ‘None of those tiny little chipolatas, mind. They’re no good to anyone. I like a big, fat sausage. One I can get my chops round.’

  The twinkle in Audrey’s eyes was Lottie’s final undoing. She threw her head back and howled with laughter, which of course set Heidi and Audrey off again. Matt seemed utterly bemused. When his gaze slid to Lottie’s though, his face was relaxed, his eyes warm, and she knew that while he didn’t totally get their childish sense of humour, he enjoyed watching them.

  ‘I can’t offer sausages,’ he told Audrey when they finally quietened. ‘I can offer books. Perhaps books on sausages.’

  She waggled her eyebrows. ‘It’s your sausage I wouldn’t mind handling.’

  It set them all giggling again. Clearly it didn’t help that they’d all been drinking and Matt was sober.

  ‘Thank you,’ Matt replied, his eyes darting briefly to Lottie’s before focusing back on Audrey. ‘But I’m afraid my sausage is taken.’

  They all erupted again, only this time, when she reached to squeeze his hand, Matt brought hers to his lips, kissed her knuckles. And started to laugh along with them.

  Matt breathed a sigh of relief as he jumped back into his SUV, having made sure Audrey was safely in her house.