Page 91 of Best Summer Ever

‘What’s going on?’ I shouted towards the dancing duo.

‘We’re engaged!’ Penny called back ecstatically and the roof was raised again. ‘Nick has asked me to marry him!’

‘So,’ I said, when I finally had a moment to talk to Nick on his own, ‘you created a diversion then.’

‘Sure did.’ He grinned. ‘I had the entire evening planned out. We were going to listen to the music here and then I was going to walk Penny down to the beach, our path lit by the moonlight and then propose with the waves gently lapping the shore.’

‘That sounds very romantic,’ I said, biting my lip.

‘Oh, it would have been,’ he nodded, ‘but our best friend needed help getting out of a scrape and as I had the ring in my pocket and really didn’t think I could manage to wait a second longer anyway, I thought, why not?’

‘You’re mad,’ I said, throwing my arms around him. ‘God, I’m so happy for you!’

I wished I’d been there when he went down on one knee, but appreciated the extra minutes his timing had afforded me.

‘Me too,’ he sniffed; his eyes full of happy tears. ‘And proposing in the pub got us a free toastandmeant I didn’t succumb to throwing up because I was really starting to get pent up about asking her.’

‘Hey,’ Penny, who was very tipsy by now, said to me as she wobbled over. ‘Unhand my fiancé.’

I let him go and squeezed her instead.

‘You guys,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘You’re engaged!’

‘We know!’ they shouted together and then everyone around us cheered again.

Much later, Josh and I took the walk along the beach that Nick had planned for him and Penny. I hadn’t been drinking because I was going to drive back to Wynbrook, but the emotions Josh’s soulful playing had evoked, coupled with my friends’ exciting announcement and my sudden change in fortune, made me feel as though I’d had at least three strong cocktails.

‘So,’ said Josh, as we strolled along the shore, just out of reach of the lapping sea, ‘did you forget that George and I were going to be playing tonight?’

‘No,’ I said, perhaps a little too loudly. ‘It didn’tcompletelyslip my mind. I just forgot for a little while because I was distracted.’

‘By what?’

‘Seed and bulb catalogues,’ I confessed happily.

‘Seed and bulb catalogues!’ Josh said disbelievingly as he picked me up and spun me around.

I shrieked in protest as he made out he was going to drop me in the sea.

‘They’re my guilty pleasure,’ I laughed, throwing my head back and taking in the constellations, when he stepped back from the tide.

Josh kissed my neck then put me down.

‘You don’t sound guilty though,’ he pouted.

‘I know.’ I shrugged. ‘I’m not really. Sitting and looking through them with Dad was surreal but wonderful.’

‘I’m so pleased the pair of you are finally on friendlier terms after everything.’

‘Me too,’ I sighed and because I wanted everyone to feel as content as I did, added, ‘Is there any hope for you and your dad, do you think?’

‘Absolutely none.’

There was nothing I could say to that and we carried on walking. After a few steps had passed, I asked, ‘Would you have been upset if I had forgotten about tonight and hadn’t shown up?’

Josh stopped and I turned to face him.

‘Given that we’re supposed to be casual,’ he said, ‘just a fun summer fling, Ishouldn’thave been particularly upset if you didn’t make it, but…’

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