by Jenny Colgan
She clung on to him even tighter. ‘You know, I think you probably could. But, you know, let’s go home first.’
‘Where do you mean?’
‘Scotland,’ she said.
And then he kissed her for the first time, and she realised that actually, it didn’t matter in the slightest. Wherever they were, home would always feel like exactly wherever he was.
‘So, why…why are you here?’ she asked eventually, as he led her back across the road to the waiting Land-Rover, which already had six traffic wardens standing around it, looking at their watches for the second they ticked into penalty time.
He looked at her as if this was the stupidest question in the world. ‘Well…’ he said, opening the door to reveal a sleeping dog on the front seat. ‘Francis wanted a run.’
Francis opened half an eye. On seeing Katie, he leaped up immediately, delighted to see her.
‘I always said my dog liked you,’ Harry said, unwilling to take his hand away from hers to get around to the other side of the car.
Francis, after greeting Katie hysterically, then did a most peculiar thing. He jumped down from the front seat, circled around the car and jumped in the back, without prompting.
Harry shook his head in amazement. ‘Shall we go and pick some things up for you?’
‘Some proper coffee would be good. You must be knackered!’ said Katie. ‘Did you drive all night?’
‘No,’ said Harry, ‘this car can fly.’ He got in the car and took her hand. ‘I just didn’t want to invite myself to lie down on your bed.’
Katie shook her head, unable to believe how happy she felt. ‘In the future, can you just tell me stuff you want to do? It’ll make everything a lot less complicated.’
Harry looked at her, and grinned wickedly.
‘OK, maybe not everything’
Harry pulled out into the busy traffic. ‘Which way?’
‘Not this way!’
‘We’re going to be one of those couples that bicker a lot, aren’t we?’
‘Yes,’ said Katie. ‘I think so. Then we’ll make it up and it’ll be lovely.’
‘OK,’ he said, smiling. ‘By the way, much as I am dying to hold you for ever and never ever let you go, I’ve already had nine speeding tickets in the last seven hours, and I suspect you should probably take your hand away from under my seat belt.’
‘All right,’ said Katie. ‘Can I keep it on your leg?’
‘Yes please,’ said Harry. ‘By the way, is this a good time to tell you I’m actually the love child of the Laird and heir to ninety thousand a year?’
‘But you were keeping it quiet so you could find a woman who only loved you for yourself?’
‘Yes.’
There was a pause.
‘Well, are you?’
‘No,’ said Harry. ‘Iain is though.’
‘Oh shut up.’
And they turned around, and then the car crossed the bridge into North London, up the road where there were millions, then thousands, then hundreds, then, a long way beyond, just a scattering of cars, the end of the line of a great chain heading north, onwards and upwards for hundreds of miles, until they reached the sea, and the big clean sky.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Ali Gunn, Lynne Drew, Maxine Hitchcock, Fiona McIntosh, Amanda Ridout, Jane Harris, Martin Palmer, Lee Motley, Kelly Edgson-Wright and all at HarperCollins and Curtis Brown, plus Nick Marston, Tally Gardiner, Nick Sayers, Rachel Hore, Deborah Schneider.
Also: Mark Blakemore, PGA Professional (www.pgaprofessional.com); Wesley Moody; Sandra, Shappi, Susan, Karen, Katrina, Mueller, Roni, Dan, Mum & Dad, Robin, Dominic & Bron, Marina and Tom Holland for the Scrabble.
Special thanks to the EZcrew, who make me feel very lucky to be Jenny from the block – particularly Lisa, Chris, Maddie & Victoria for the 20–21st Feb.
About the Author
WHERE HAVE ALL THE BOYS GONE?
Jenny Colgan was born in 1972 in Ayrshire. After Edinburgh University, she worked for six years in the health service, moonlighting as a cartoonist and stand-up comic. She is the author of five previous bestselling novels: Amanda’s Wedding, Talking to Addison, Looking for Andrew McCarthy, Working Wonders and Do You Remember the First Time? Jenny Colgan lives in London. For more information, visit her website at www.jennycolgan.com.
Praise
Acclaim for Do You Remember the First Time?:
‘Funny stuff.’
Heat
‘Snappy and wickedly entertaining.’
You
‘Full of laughs and lipgloss – brilliant.’
Company
Working Wonders:
‘Funny, magical and moving, this is a rewarding read.’
Time Out
‘We laughed a lot.’
Heat
‘A delicious comedy. Will melt even the hardest of hearts.’
Red
‘Colgan’s witty book perfectly captures the frustrations and petty vexations of office life.’
She
‘Hugely entertaining and very funny.’
Cosmopolitan
‘A funny, clever page-turner.’
Closer
‘Fans of The Office will love this witty tale.’
Woman’s Own
‘A quirky tale of love, work and the meaning of life.’
Company
‘If you think David Brent causes mayhem in The Office wait till you see what town-planner Arthur and his team get up to in Jenny Colgan’s comic romp.’
In Style
Looking for Andrew McCarthy:
‘Colgan is on top form in this, her latest outrageous romp.’
Cosmopolitan
‘Jenny Colgan is one of the leaders of the pack and this, her third novel, will delight her legions of admirers. Fast-paced, funny, poignant and well-observed it reads as a pastiche of the movies she loved…If a time capsule were buried to capture the world at the turn of the 21st century, this would be a candidate for inclusion: her sense of time and place are that authentic’
Daily Mail
‘Looking for Andrew McCarthy will strike a chord with anyone who did their growing up in the 80s. Wonderful, warm and resonant for anyone who ever wondered what happened to teenage dreams.’
Hello
‘That’s Life meets This Life, with Once in a Lifetime thrown in, all talking heads, witty one-liners and angst-ridden relationships…Did I like this book? Well, d’uh! Do hedgehogs have quills? A pure belter of a novel.’
Glasgow Herald
‘Colgan’s enjoyable new bestseller investigates the notion that having it all can sometimes mean having precisely nothing at all.’
Marie Claire
‘Colgan’s Looking for Andrew McCarthy is sharp, well-observed and hilarious.’
New Statesman
‘Colgan’s got an ear for sarky dialogue and a humour that gives her more options…retro-irony, perfect for a conscientious objector’s beach holiday.’
ID
‘Jenny Colgan delivers the goods with her new novel…absolutely brilliant! What really sets Jenny apart from most of her contemporaries is this: she is very, very funny, so much so that this book had me laughing out loud.’
Express
‘There’s razor-sharp wit to this tale of romantic confusion.’
Cosmopolitan
Amanda’s Wedding:
‘Amanda’s Wedding is a scream.’
Elle
‘Four Weddings and a Funeral meets Friends.’
Tatler
‘Compulsively comical.’
Cosmopolitan
‘Funny and insightful.’
Mail on Sunday
Also by the Author
Amanda’s Wedding
Talking to Addison
Looking for Andrew McCarthy
Working Wonders
Do You Remember the First Time?
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The na
mes, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Copyright © Jenny Colgan 2005
Jenny Colgan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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EBook Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780007369621
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