‘I want you.’
Gina laughed.
Kam frowned. ‘It’s not funny. I mean it.’
‘Look,’ Gina sighed, ‘if you just want to spend the night with me …’
‘This isn’t about sex.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh –’ Kam frowned again ‘– if we never had sex, I’d still want you. Want to be with you.’
‘You can’t.’ Gina worked some saliva into her mouth. ‘I mean you just can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I’m not the sort of woman you want.’
‘And what sort of woman would that be if it isn’t you? I’ve never felt like this before. This is a first for me.’
‘It can’t be.’
‘Oh, you’re impossible. Come here.’ And, grabbing the ends of the dupatta again, he pulled her against him. And kissed her. Properly.
Eventually, ages
later, Gina, breathless and trembling, lifted her head and gazed at him. He meant it. He really, really meant it.
Oh, what the hell. You only live once …
She kissed him back.
‘Wow!’ A long time later she gazed at him dizzily. ‘Oh, wow … So what happens next?’
‘Um –’ Kam smiled at her ‘– I don’t suppose by any chance there’s a back way up to my room?’
Gina nodded. ‘A fire escape, yes. A very rickety outside iron staircase. And it means climbing in through your window.’
‘Like eloping in reverse. I like the sound of that. OK, tonight we’ll elope backwards.’
‘You’re crazy. Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to be seen dragging you through the pub.’
‘Are you ashamed of me?’
‘Are you kidding?’ Kam grinned. ‘I just don’t want to get caught up in a million pub conversations when I can’t wait to tumble you into my bed.’
‘
My
bed, if we’re being pedantic.’
‘My bed, your bed, anybody’s bloody bed. Just, please, Gina, can we go to bed? Together? Now?’
OMG, as Sophie and Bella would say.
Gina tried to smile. It came out all wobbly. ‘Yes, er, yes, please. And actually, it might be a good idea if we kept this … well, this to ourselves for a while, anyway. You know what the village gossips are like.’
‘Are you ashamed of me?’
‘Yeah right.’ Gina
laughed and kissed him. ‘Actually, I just like the idea of having a secret lover.’
‘Which means we now have two secrets. That’s pretty exciting. And I’ll do whatever you want. Although I’d be more than happy to tell the entire world right now. But it’s your call. Now, can we go?’ He brushed her hair gently away from her face. ‘Don’t make me wait any longer, please. Now?’
‘Oh God, yes, but …’
‘But what?’ Kam looked suddenly anxious.
‘But I’m all sweaty and disgusting after dancing.’
‘And I’m all sweaty and disgusting after working with the horses all day. We might have to have a shower.’
‘Oooh, yes, we might. What a good idea.’
Remembering at the last minute to lock the door behind them, Gina grabbed Kam’s hand, and together they ran, laughing like children, across the green in the sultry, steamy darkness.
‘Uncle Doug? What do you want
me to do with these?’ Erin held up the largest of a collection of lavishly decorated ceramic jugs. ‘They’re really pretty. Do you want them displayed on the shelves once they’re priced or would you rather have them put away in the storeroom so you can use them in the window when you next do the display?’
Doug, who was kneeling in the window of the Old Curiosity Shop making the final adjustments to his Indian Wedding Display, turned and squinted over his shoulder.
‘Once they’re priced, put them out on the shelves, please, love. Above the Poole pottery where it’ll all look nice and bright together. Thanks. I won’t be changing the window for a while, will I? OK, so what do you think of it?’
Erin cocked her head to one side and considered Uncle Doug’s handiwork.
She smiled delightedly. ‘Oh, it’s lovely. It looks really, really good from in here. I’ll have a look outside later when I’ve finished pricing up these jugs. But you’ve worked wonders with the Indian things you’ve got in there, and all that silk makes a lovely backdrop. And I love the random sparkly stuff too. Thank you so much.’
‘I’m glad you think it’s OK,
because I want it to be perfect for you, well, and Jay too, of course. It’s like putting out bunting for the Royal Wedding. I’ve nipped in and out to check the symmetry as I’ve been doing it,’ Doug said happily, kneeling further into the window and making a few tweaks. ‘It looked fine to me, too. You don’t think it’s too much, do you? And what about this “Happy Wedding Day Erin and Jay” banner? Not lopsided, is it?’
Erin laughed and shook her head. ‘Not from in here, no. It’s all fabulous. And seriously, the display is brilliant. I love all the colour and the scattered jewels and sequins, and all those little Indian gods and goddesses loaned from Jay’s cottage look fabulous in amongst the sari silks. And goodness knows where you found all the incense burners and candlesticks and lanterns, or that entire herd of brass elephants.’
‘They took a bit of digging out,’ Doug admitted, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he moved the elephants slightly forwards. ‘I knew I already had most of it in here somewhere, but Nalisha went to the temple in Wembley and bought me the rest. Wasn’t that generous of her?’
Erin nodded and reached for another jug.
Nalisha seemed to have settled into being Doug’s new best friend. Doug, it went without saying, was absolutely lapping it up.
In fact, Erin reckoned, anything that kept Nalisha away from Jay and the non-stop ‘do you remembers’ was a good thing.
And then there was the wedding …
Only ten days away, Erin thought giddily.
Well, OK there were still a few issues
to sort out – like what the heck they were going to do with the
mandap
– but mostly everything was going absolutely perfectly. She’d been crazy to think Jay would want to rekindle any sort of romance with Nalisha. She’d been mad to think he’d side with his parents. She’d been so silly over so many things.
And tonight, she and Jay were picking up her mum and dad from Heathrow.
Erin did a little skippety-skip of excitement. Her parents were already in the air. On their way from Sydney. Oh, she so longed to see them again. They’d have so much to talk about. And a girl really needed her mum on her wedding day, didn’t she? Skype had helped a lot, but there was nothing like the real thing, was there?
Of course, there was one rather irritating drawback.
Deena was arriving in Nook Green today, too. Well, in Maizey St Michael. And staying. In the Keskar’s allotted suite at the Swan. And Tavish wouldn’t be too far behind.
Jay had sworn he’d known nothing about Nalisha’s phone call to his mother, but had admitted, yes, it might be a good idea for her and Rose Boswell to meet before the wedding, and no, he honestly
wasn’t
missing his mum, but wasn’t it sweet of Nalisha to think he might be?
Oh, yeah, really sweet.
Of course Deena had said yes, she’d love to come down and meet Erin’s parents and it would be absolutely super to see Nalisha again – but there seemed little point in a flying visit, so why didn’t she spend a few days making sure her beauty salon was able to run without her and, as soon as Tavish could find a stand-in pharmacist, they’d be able to come down sooner than they’d planned.
It would be so exciting, Deena had said,
to be in on the very final stages of the wedding.
And, Erin thought now, as she blew dust away from the largest jug, it would be very small-minded of her not to welcome Jay’s parents for the final dizzily thrilling few days, especially as her own mum and dad would be here to share it.
And she and Sophie and Bella had been to Elle-Cee Bridalwear, and Linda and Carol had fitted them all for the last time, and the dresses had been pressed and swathed in their white cotton cocoons and zipped into their plastic covers, all ready for delivery on the day before the wedding.
And Deena’s two Top Girls were coming down on Saturday afternoon to do a trial run of everyone’s hair and make-up. Which would, Erin thought, be absolutely perfect as Saturday was her hen night.
And no one – absolutely no one – had made any mention at all of the mehendi or the
sagai
or the tilak, or any of it.
It was going to be a perfectly English fusion wedding.
Just as she and Jay had planned it all along.
Bliss.
‘Oh, holy shit!’ Erin hurled the jug away from her and leaped to her feet.
The jug shattered to smithereens against a bookcase. Dozens of porcelain pieces clattered to the floor like a brightly coloured mosaic jigsaw puzzle.
‘Jesus!’ Doug jumped, practically fell out of the window and landed heavily on the doormat. It rang. A lot.
‘Get-off-the-bell!’ Erin’s teeth chattered.
Doug stepped off the doormat. ‘What the hell’s going on?’
‘Spider,’ Erin croaked, cowering against the rocking chair. ‘Huge, huge spider … in that jug … Nooo, don’t go near it. Well, yes, go near it. Get it. Now.’
‘That’s probably
about forty quid’s worth of jug you’ve just demolished.’ Doug frowned. ‘And the spider’s probably gone with it. For heaven’s sake, Erin.’
‘Sod the jug,’ she said through clenched teeth. ‘I saw the spider run and I’m not moving until it’s out of here.’
‘OK, love, stay there. Where did it go?’
‘It landed by the bookcase. It ran underneath it, I think.’
‘Great. One spider, one shop crammed with junk, er, collectibles. Needle/haystack come to mind?’
‘Just-find-the-spider.’
‘OK. God – now what are you doing?’
‘Keeping out of the way.’ Erin clambered onto the rocking chair. She had one foot on the teddy bear and the other on the kaleidoscope. The box of marbles rattled ominously as the chair pitched forwards. Erin held her arms out to either side to balance herself. ‘Please hurry.’
‘Whatever,’ Doug groaned softly as he dropped to his knees by the bookcase, crunching bits of jug under him. ‘I’ll probably be cut to ribbons and I can’t see a bloody thing under here. It’s too dark. Can you fetch me the torch?’
‘No. Sorry. I’m not moving.’
‘Great.’ Doug resumed his search.
The doormat chirruped cheerfully.
‘Hello!’ A country-casuals couple stood in the doorway. ‘What a lovely little shop.’
‘Thank you,’ Erin muttered, teetering backwards and forwards on the chair, flapping her arms like a tightrope walker. ‘Were you looking for anything in particular or just browsing?’
‘Just browsing,’ the
man said in plummy tones, frowning slightly. ‘Er, are you all right up there?’
‘Fine,’ Erin said shortly. ‘Thanks. Just feel free to look round. Please.’
‘Oh, this is rather sweet, isn’t it?’ The woman, casting slightly bemused looks at Erin on her perch, and who also had a cut-glass accent, picked up a silver bonbon dish. ‘It would look absolutely fabulous on our escritoire, wouldn’t it, Henry?’
Henry nodded. ‘Perfect, darling. How much is it?’
‘No idea.’ The woman squinted up at Erin. ‘It doesn’t have a price on it.’
‘Oh, I think you’ll find – oops.’ The teddy bear slid sideways. Erin wobbled frantically.
‘Ah, got the little fucker.’ Doug backed out from beneath the bookcase and banged his head on a table. ‘Bollocks!’
Henry and his wife stared.
‘Um, Uncle Doug,’ Erin hissed, ‘we’ve got customers.’
‘Ah, right – sorry.’ Doug, his hands cupped round the spider, struggled to his feet and smiled. ‘Pardon my language, I didn’t see you there. I’ll be with you in just a tick.’
Erin leaned forwards. The chair trembled under the shift. So did Erin. ‘Uncle Doug, show me. No, not all of it – just show me. I don’t want you to pretend that you’ve caught it.’
Doug uncupped his hands slightly. Long brown hinged legs waved angrily.
‘OK, now I feel very sick. That’s fine. Now take it away. And tell it to stay away. OK?’
Henry and his wife continued to stare as Doug jumped over the doormat, hurried out of the shop and ran into the middle of the green, throwing his hands open wide.
‘Run away and play and don’t come
back today or any other day.’
‘Is he talking to us?’ Henry’s wife asked as Erin scrambled from her perch, spilling the kaleidoscope and the teddy bear and the box of marbles to the floor as she did so. ‘Is everyone in this village insane?’
‘Not everyone,’ Erin said cheerfully, her heart rate returning to normal now the spider threat had gone. ‘Now about the bonbon dish …’
‘We don’t want the bonbon dish,’ Henry said quickly. ‘Come along, Penelope. We’re leaving.’
‘Oh.’ Doug frowned at them as they passed in the doorway. ‘Are you going? The bonbon dish is Queen Anne, you know, and I can give you a really good price. No? OK then … sorry. Have a nice day.’
Erin chuckled. ‘Sorry about that. But thanks.’
Doug shook his head. ‘Forty quid for the jug and goodness knows how much we could have bagged for the dish. You owe me, Erin. I’ll have to dock your wages.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Erin started picking up the scattered marbles. ‘I’ll get the dustpan and brush and sweep up the mess.’
‘Leave it, love. Take the rest of the day off. I’ll be fine here. I know how much you’re looking forward to seeing Rose and Pete tonight. Go and get yourself ready.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely. I’ve got a couple of dealers coming in this afternoon. One is interested in that writing desk you got from Daisy Bank, and the other one is looking for a job lot of china. That’ll keep me out of mischief. And we might even get some ad hoc customers too if we’re lucky.’
‘As long as Henry and Penelope don’t plaster the fact that we’re madder than mad all over Facebook via their mobiles, yes, we might.’ Erin hugged Doug. ‘Thank you.’
‘And, er, Nalisha said she’d be
popping in later.’
Ah, now it made sense.
Erin laughed. ‘You’re old enough and daft enough to make your own mistakes in that area. I’m saying nothing. But I think you’ll end up getting hurt.’
‘Not me, love. Nalisha’s a stunning woman. I’m so proud to be seen with her. She turns heads wherever we go. She’s incredibly intelligent and excellent company. But I always know when to bow out of a relationship. Not,’ he added quickly, ‘that we’re having a relationship in that way, of course.’