Always, in December(85)
“Ah, I would but she won’t let me.” He put an arm round Laura, tugged her to his side.
Bia grinned at them. “You guys are just picture-perfect, aren’t you?”
“Aren’t we just?” Laura agreed, making Josie laugh.
“And how’s the Boathouse treating you?” asked Josie.
“God, it’s amazing,” Laura said. “It’s right on the lake, and we watched the sunrise over it this morning. You seriously can’t get any better, even if the sun slightly disappeared after that.”
Josie raised her eyebrows. “You were up at sunrise?”
John gave a mock grimace. “Laura made me.”
Laura shook back her hair, down and straight this evening. “Well, we put the rest of the morning to good use, didn’t we?” John flushed and Josie and Bia laughed when Laura winked at them. John’s parents came over at that moment, and Josie and Bia excused themselves.
Josie gave a little sigh and Bia cocked her head at her. “I can’t believe it’s already over,” Josie said.
“It’s not over yet though. And I’m taking notes—I’m pretty sure I’m going to have my wedding here one day.”
Josie laughed. “Now you just need to find the guy.”
Bia waved a hand in the air. “A minor detail.”
“What about Stuart?” Josie asked with a smirk.
“Nah, that was just a bit of fun.”
Josie jerked to a stop as Max entered the chamber. He looked impossibly handsome in the glow of the room—of course he bloody did. It was a slightly more informal vibe this evening, despite the splendor of their surroundings, so Max was wearing black jeans and a fitted grey jumper. Erin waved him to her side of the room before Josie could decide if she should go over to him or not.
She saw Bia giving her a look, and frowned. “What?” Bia took a sip of mead, raising her eyebrows over the rim. “What?” Josie insisted as they took their seats—separated from Max and Erin by an elderly couple, presumably on John’s side if the man’s tartan kilt was anything to go by.
“I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to go back there, given the way it ended last time,” Bia said.
“I’m not,” Josie said with a frown. “Nothing’s happened. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“You spent the whole morning with him today,” Bia pointed out.
“Yes, and with his girlfriend, Bia.” The bit in between, she decided, she just wasn’t going to mention. Because there wasn’t anything to mention. Not really.
His voice rang out in her mind. I do, you know. Think of you.
Josie shook it off, focused in on Bia. “And I was only with him because you weren’t around.”
Bia ignored the jibe. “You still have feelings for him.”
“I do not,” Josie said. But she knew that it came out a little too prim to sound convincing.
“Just be careful, OK?”
Josie sighed. “Bia, I’m always careful.” But there was a little part of her that thought that, if that were true, she would have been able to enter into a fling with Max the way Bia had gone about it with Stuart.
Bia managed to distract her for most of the dinner, so that she barely paid attention to what Max was doing. The mead was slightly stronger than she’d planned for, so her head started swirling pleasantly before she realized it, and she felt her voice getting louder, gesturing more emphatically when she and Bia discussed Big Ideas. As such, Josie was a little shocked when Laura and John started making the rounds to say goodbye to everyone.
Josie and Bia stood as they approached their section of the table. There were tears in Laura’s eyes as she hugged them both. “Don’t ask me why,” she said. “I’m just all emotional this weekend.” Because John was giving her a look, Laura prodded him in the ribs. “It’s normal, you jerk,” she said with affection.
Max and Erin were part of the little cluster that had come up round the other side of the table to say goodbye, and John turned to hug Erin, who gave him a friendly pat as they drew away. “I can’t believe you’re a proper grown-up now,” she said with a sigh.
John snorted. “You’ll get there soon, I’ve no doubt.” Josie tried very hard not to look at Max. Would it be on the cards, she wondered? Would Max and Erin end up getting married, Josie no more than a story in Max’s past? She pressed her lips together. Let it go, Josie.
The entire dinner party followed Laura and John outside to wave them off, but because they were walking to the Boathouse first to get their luggage, and because Laura wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, it was rather less dramatic than the send-offs you saw in those romantic films.
“Thank God,” Bia said, as they gave a last wave. “I’ve been needing a wee for about ten minutes.” She dashed off, and Josie headed back into the chamber. She paused just inside the entryway. Max was sitting there, the candlelight bouncing in his hair. Erin was distracted, chatting away to someone on her other side, and Max looked up and caught her eye. And smiled at her in a way that should be reserved for his damn girlfriend.
Maybe it was the mead, maybe it was something Bia had said, or maybe it was the whole bloody weekend, the way he’d been acting like they had some kind of connection, that they were something to each other, but in that moment, she decided that she’d had enough. She turned on her heel and stormed away, practically barging into someone coming in the other direction. Screw him, she thought. Screw all the damn happy couples here.