Page 93 of One Last Thing
‘Mathieu,’ I call out, approaching him.
He turns his head to look at me and, even in the dimly lit street, I watch his eyes fill with sadness and regret from here.
32
MEGAN
‘I’ve been thinking about the house,’ I tell Nico as we wait by the sand for both my mum to reappear and the fireworks display to begin. ‘I like the idea of coming out here more often to write. I’m going to try writing a kid’s book again. Maybe start a new one or work on the one I wrote before. Either way, I’m going to do it.’
‘That’s great, Megan,’ he says warmly.
‘I think Dad would like that.’
‘I think so, too.’ He checks that no one familiar is in our immediate vicinity and then takes my hand in his, interlocking our fingers. ‘Is that the only reason you’ll come back? To write a book?’
‘Theremaybe another reason,’ I admit.
‘Yes?’
‘Yeah. The wine here is really good.’
He laughs, shaking his head.
‘And I have to defend my raft champion title,’ I add loftily.
‘Bien sûr,’ he says, his eyes twinkling at me.
‘And I suppose it might be nice to see you again.’
‘Nice?’ he repeats, unimpressed. ‘That’s it. It might benice.’
‘More than nice. It would be very nice.’
‘Yes, I can tell you are a writer. So good with words.’
‘It would be great,’ I correct, as he glances around us once more before wrapping one hand around my waist, drawingme closer to him, flutters exploding in my stomach, my brain scrabbling to make sense, as I add on quietly, ‘Wonderful. Amazing. Perfect.’
‘Better,’ he murmurs, using his other hand to tilt my chin up towards him, his nose nudging against mine before he kisses me.
Music blares out from speakers somewhere and the crowd cheers, and although I pause for a moment at the interruption, smiling against his mouth, I don’t pull back from his hold, wanting to be in this bubble with him a little while longer. He kisses me again, his lips brushing against mine gently as my hands press flat against his chest.
I want to give this a chance.
That’s what I’m thinking as I feel the thud of his heartbeat beneath my fingers. Whatever this is between me and Nico, I don’t want to walk away from it. It could be a silly fantasy that the two of us are determined to see out, hoping to live that dream of finding the one that got away and rekindling what was lost, life pulling us back together against all odds. It’s been a whirlwind and it’s come about during a strange time when emotions are bound to run high, a light romantic escape when facing up to the unfairness of life and the pain of loss. When reality comes creeping back in, we might not be the people we think we are to one another. This might not work out. But I want to jump into it anyway.
Why not?
When the fireworks begin, lighting the sky with sparkling colour, we reluctantly pull apart. Mum will be looking for us and although she probably has a sense of what’s going on, I’d rather she didn’t see me all over him. Also, I cannot stress this enough, no matter how much I fancy Nico, no matter how absurdly sexy he is, I refuse to kiss anyonebeneath a fireworks display. Whenever I see that in a movie, it makes me instinctively say, ‘Oh, come on’, because there’s quite literally nothing more annoying. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is and I will not betray my own principles on this matter, even for a guy with a sultry French accent and a body like Nico’s.
‘Where’s Mum?’ I ask, after double-checking the crowd sitting on the beach.
Nico cranes his neck to look for her over shoulders and through the gaps of others standing like we are at the edge. ‘I can’t see her.’
‘She needs to be here,’ I say, frowning as I search the sea of heads. ‘We’re meant to watch it together, right?’
‘He just said you both had to be here,’ Nico clarifies. ‘As long as she’s here somewhere, it’s okay.’
‘Yeah, but I want to watch it together,’ I admit, looking up to admire the spectacular display that seems even better than I remember it, fireworks of every form filling the sky, their colours reflected in the sea below, all to an upbeat playlist that makes you smile up in wonder no matter how hard you fight it.
