Page 27 of Strawberry Kisses

“He was very apologetic, and we were only twenty minutes late.” He smiled at Aoife fondly. “You were thirty.”

“Only because we had to keep circling the village green to wait for everyone to leave the pub to go into the church. They left all the drinks on the wall, came out the church, and went back to the pub to get them.”

John reached for her hand over the table and squeezed it. “That was a good day.”

“It was.”

The conversation moved on to the party and jokes about other family members that were coming and wondering who’d do what. It was warm and cosy in an unfamiliar way, but I liked it. It was almost something I wished I could be a part of more often. Maybe, after all of this, Patrick’s family wouldn’t hate me enough to ban me from coming back. Somehow I doubted that would be the case though. I’d just have to enjoy it while it lasted.

“Is your family as mad as ours?” Cara asked.

I winced internally because that was one question I didn’t really know how to answer without making her uncomfortable, but it was one I couldn’t really avoid either. “I, um, I wouldn’t know. It’s just me and my mum. We don’t speak to the rest of my family, and my dad fucked off before I was born.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, waving my hand and giving her a smile. I didn’t want her to feel bad because it wasn’t as if she’d known. I didn’t exactly advertise how shitty my relatives were. “This is nice though. I’ve never really done the big family dinner before.”

“I’m glad we did this before we bring the rest of the family in. Even with just Imogen, Orla, and their families, we get up to seventeen.”

“Christmas must be fun for you.”

“Yeah, if you want chaos, then you and Patrick should come. If you can drag him away from work.” She smiled warmly at me. “Bring your mum too. Mum won’t mind. She’s a more the merrier kind of person. I think we had thirty for Christmas once. I’m still not sure how Mum cooked all the food.”

I felt oddly touched by the gesture, and I didn’t know what to say. There was a lump in my throat, and all I could do was force out the word, “Thanks.” I couldn’t believe how welcoming Patrick’s family had been even in the couple of hours we’d been here. I’d never experienced anything like it, and it tugged at my heartstrings, making me feel open and vulnerable. They trusted me with their son and brother, and I felt like a fraud. Would they still like me if they knew this was fake? If I was “just a friend”? Or were they just being nice because I was important to Patrick, and they clearly adored him?

“Did you hear that, Patrick?” Cara said teasingly. “You’re coming for Christmas now.”

“Oh really? What if I have to work?”

“Then I’ll tell Mum to throw a second Christmas on the twenty-seventh, and we’ll do it then.”

“Sorry,” I said weakly, turning to Patrick and giving him a half-smile. I had no idea what to do. Would Patrick be mad at me for getting involved? Then again, I’d never worried about that before. What was it about this whole situation that had me thrown so off balance? It was like I was glued to a spinning pole and couldn’t work out how to slow down. “I didn’t mean to take sides.”

“It’s fine.” He casually interlaced his fingers with mine, the smile he wore melting my fears away. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

He tilted his head slightly, and suddenly his lips met mine in a gentle kiss. It was almost uncertain, and for a fraction of a second, my body stilled as it tried to process what the fuck was going on. Except I couldn’t process anything. I could barely even breathe because Patrick was kissing me.

Patrick was kissing me.

His lips were warm and soft and more perfect than anything I’d ever felt. I wanted to live in this moment forever or encase it in my memory so I’d never forget it.

My mouth pressed back against his. Time slowed to a crawl.

And then the kiss was over and nothing in the world would ever be the same again.

I stared at him as we broke apart. My heart was racing, my mouth opening and then closing again as no words came out. I couldn’t believe he’d kissed me. Especially here, in front of his entire family.

And now I had to pretend my entire universe hadn’t just exploded into a billion new star systems and that this was a totally normal and absolutely non-special thing because Patrick and I kissed all the time. I mean, we were dating, why wouldn’t we suck face at every possible opportunity?

Except that sounded weird and gross because that was exactly the opposite of what had just happened.

Sure, I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to make out with Patrick. And if that happened to come with a side of groping, grinding, and getting naked, I would be starkers before you could say go. But that kiss was different; it was tender and affectionate. The sort of kiss you might give someone you loved…

Which made my head spin even more because that made no flipping sense.

“Are you okay?” Patrick asked. I realised I’d been staring off into space, and both Cara and Mary were watching me.

My face heated, and I grinned wickedly. “Yeah, just thinking about how much I like kissing you.”

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