Page 41 of Always, in December

‘Is that so? Well, I’d be delighted to meet her . . .’ Max let Bradley’s words wash over him for a moment. Girlfriend. The word thumped its way around his mind. It wouldn’t be.

But then Oliver turned and beckoned to a woman, and Max’s gaze shot over to her. And it was her.

Josie.

Josie, looking fucking stunning in skin-tight black jeans and heels to make her long legs look even longer, and a high-necked green, white and black top. She stood out more because she wasn’t wearing a dress, and was now walking over to them as if she owned the room, smiling brightly at Oliver. She’d grown out her fringe, which suited her, and her hair was pulled up in some kind of elegant knot, studs glinting in her ears.

He saw the moment she clocked him. Her gaze darted from Oliver and around their little group, travelling over Chloe, Liam and Erin until it landed on him last. He saw her stride falter slightly, before she whipped her gaze away from him so fast he didn’t have time to properly register the expression there. Those gorgeous eyes, ones that put the colour ‘brown’ to shame, stayed focused on Oliver as she came up to join them. Max found he was gripping his glass too tightly and flexed his fingers deliberately, trying to relieve some of the tension that had sprung through his entire body.

‘This is Josie,’ Oliver said proudly, gesturing towards Bradley. Josie’s eyes were fixed on Bradley alone as she held out a hand, smiling, Max thought, a little tightly, her jaw locked into place.

‘So nice to meet you.’

Bradley smiled. ‘Is that another English accent I hear?’ He didn’t give her the chance to answer. ‘Charmed. She’s a keeper,’ he said to Oliver, even though he didn’t know the first fucking thing about her. She hooked an arm through Oliver’s and he wrapped his around her waist. Max couldn’t look away, though she was refusing to look back at him, like she was deliberately trying not to. He wanted to clear his throat, to make her look at him, but what the fuck was he supposed to say when she did? She shouldn’t even be here, in this city, and especially not with this prick. He’d cheated on her, for Christ’s sake.

‘Well,’ Bradley said, clapping his hands together. ‘It seems I’m surrounded by Brits! Max here is from England too, Ollie, he’s been working on my little apartment project, so I’m sure you’ll find lots in common.’ Max tried and failed to pull his gaze away from Josie, aware that she must be able to feel it on her, that that was probably why she wouldn’t return it. She had barely any makeup on, but she seemed to glow more in the dim lighting than either Erin or his sister. He took a deliberate sip of his drink. Lots in common, indeed.

Chloe cocked one eyebrow up, in a way that he’d taught her to do when they were twelve, and folded her arms. Max spared her a quick glance, checking for any warning signals that she was about to pipe up. She’d clearly taken offence at the fact no one had properly introduced her yet. Liam seemed to realise this at the same moment and said quickly, ‘Can I also introduce you to Chloe, Mr Vane?’ Oliver and Bradley both turned to look at Chloe as Liam indicated her, but Max saw Josie’s gaze pass over Chloe to Erin before she quickly looked back at Oliver. Look at me, he pleaded silently with her. ‘She’s Max’s sister,’ Liam continued, ‘and English too.’ Bradley spared her a perfunctory smile, and Chloe nodded politely, with a fleeting glance at Max as if to acknowledge that yes, he was indeed the dick Max had claimed.

But Max barely paid attention to any of that, because at the sound of his name, Josie had finally turned that gaze on him, as if she knew she couldn’t avoid it any longer. And he’d given her every right to want to avoid it, hadn’t he? His throat tightened as her lips twisted to form a smile that seemed painted on.

She cocked her head in that way he remembered. ‘Hello, Max.’

Chapter Fifteen

Max cleared his throat, feeling like a complete and total idiot. ‘Hi.’ Jesus, what the fuck was wrong with him? Hi? Hi?

Josie nodded, then pulled her gaze away from him again, that fixed smile of hers slightly faltering as she flicked a quick glance up at Oliver, then around the room. Bradley looked from Max to Josie and back again, a mildly interested expression on his face. ‘Oh, so you two know each other, do you? England really is delightfully small, isn’t it?’ He turned to Oliver, lowering his voice and leaning in, absentmindedly handing his empty champagne glass to a passing waiter. ‘Ollie, I’ll catch up with you in a bit, yes? I’ve just got to go and say hello.’ Oliver nodded, his arm still around Josie, while Bradley waved a hand in the direction of two middle-aged men who had just appeared on the second floor. As soon as Bradley left, Oliver turned to stare at Max in a way that stopped ever so short of a glare, and his arm tightened enough on Josie that it seemed to force her closer against her side. So, he had placed Max, then. At the same time, Tim stepped in to take Bradley’s place, manoeuvring it so that he was next to Liam and immediately starting up a stream of instructions to him. Liam nodded along, grimacing at Chloe apologetically.

His sister didn’t notice, though. She and Erin were both watching Max, Josie and Oliver, clearly trying to work out the connection. Erin frowned. ‘So, you two know each other then?’ For some reason, Erin’s Scottish lilt seemed particularly pronounced right now, when usually he hardly even noticed it.

Josie’s bottom teeth came out to graze her lip in the way he’d seen her do when in London, when she was trying to think of what to say or trying to get out of a situation. She caught him looking and for a moment their gazes met. Her teeth retreated immediately, like she’d just figured out what she was doing. ‘Yes,’ Josie said, clearing her throat. ‘We met at Christmas, in London.’

Oliver didn’t seem to react to this, only skimmed his gaze over Chloe and Erin, like he was trying to work out their side of the puzzle. So, Josie must have come clean to him then, must have admitted that they weren’t, in fact, long lost friends. He wondered what, exactly, she’d told him, how she’d made it sound.

Chloe’s eyes widened a fraction and Max tried not to grit his teeth. She’d clearly cottoned on. He shot her a look, and in response she took a big gulp of her wine, then immediately fixed her gaze on Josie, eyes assessing her as they did a quick scan up and down her body.

Erin’s frown lingered. ‘At Christmas?’

Fuck. Max cleared his throat again. He’d make it sore soon if he didn’t stop. ‘Yeah.’ He tried to smile at Erin like it was all no big deal. ‘When I missed my flight, do you remember I told you about that?’

Oliver, who only came up to the bottom of Josie’s chin, nodded vigorously at that, and gave a somewhat unconvincing grin. ‘Right, I remember you now.’ Max tried not to narrow his eyes at the prick. Pretending he’d only just figured it out – it was a boring trick. ‘Didn’t you come to the Christmas party?’ Josie gave Oliver’s back a little stroke, like she was soothing him. A movement that would probably have gone unnoticed, if Max hadn’t been staring so hard. Josie and Oliver’s eyes met for a second and when she gave him a small smile, he nodded back – some shared communication that no one else was privy to.

Oliver had got a job in New York, Max remembered. So was Josie just here visiting? He felt Erin’s eyes on the side of his face and took a sip of his drink, looking very deliberately at it rather than at anyone in the circle.

Oliver turned his attention to Chloe and Erin, and Max thought that, when he spoke, his tone was overly jovial. ‘What about you two then?’

‘I’m Max’s sister,’ Chloe said easily. Josie’s gaze flashed to her, and when Chloe grinned, Josie smiled in that same tight way. He’d made them speak to each other, hadn’t he? Chloe had been all worried about Max going off the deep end, had been paranoid, thinking that being alone at Christmas would be triggering for him, so had been a little obsessive about pestering him to make sure he was ok. Did Josie remember speaking to her, he wondered? Not that he’d told her the ins and outs of it, had more just put her on the phone to make light of it all to Chloe, demonstrate the fact that he’d managed to find a pretty girl to hang out with while he was stranded.

‘You both live here then?’ Oliver flicked his gaze between Chloe and Max, seeming particularly interested in trying to connect the dots. Josie took a sip of her drink – white wine – but when he met her gaze over the rim of her glass, she looked away. Was she wondering that too? Wondering why he was here?

‘Not really,’ Max said. His voice came out a little husky and he wet his lips. ‘I wasn’t supposed to be, anyway – was just coming out here for Christmas initially.’ He directed that last part at Josie. He wanted her to know that he hadn’t been lying to her – about that, at least. ‘But I got offered a short-term contract with Liam here at his architect firm, so I decided to stay on for a bit.’ He gestured to Liam, who was only just returning to the conversation now that Tim was leaving. Liam nodded, glancing between them all as he tried to catch up.

‘And I’m just visiting,’ Chloe piped up. She glanced around. ‘So do you reckon there are any snacks coming out?’ No one answered her, though Josie looked around too, as if grateful to have an excuse to divert her attention elsewhere. Max ran a hand through his hair. Jesus.

‘I’m visiting too,’ Erin said firmly, inserting herself into the conversation. Max saw Oliver’s eyes linger on her for a second, and he felt his free hand clench into a fist. Not because Erin was his or anything like that – she was beautiful, and other people were entitled to appreciate that – but because Oliver was with Josie, so he shouldn’t even be sparing anyone else a second glance.

‘You’re from Scotland?’ Josie asked, focused exclusively on Erin and shifting her weight, making her earrings sparkle in the change of light.