Page 13 of It's Now or Never

That envelope was the only link I had with Alex now. Despite him saying he’d call me, I thought it was probably unlikely. Other than our mutual friends, Tom and Angie, we had absolutely nothing in common. The truth was I probably wouldn’t see him again and that realisation as I mooched along the high street looking in the shop windows filled me inexplicably with a pang of sadness.

Crikey, what was wrong with me? I clearly still had too much wine sloshing around my veins to be making me so maudlin this morning. This was obviously why I wasn’t cut out for this one-night stand malarkey. I was over-thinking the whole thing, giving it much more importance than it merited.

I stopped outside an employment agency and looked up at the myriad of jobs adorning the windows. At least I shouldn’thave too much difficulty in finding some temporary work when I left Browns. Shame it wasn’t open today or else I would have gone in and signed up, but I resolved to do that first thing tomorrow.

No, the best thing to do was completely forget about Alex. It had been great, but it had been of the moment and now the moment was over. Thinking about it, I don’t suppose there’d even been an art exhibition he’d had to rush off to this morning – he was an accomplished one-night-stander and this was probably just his standard excuse for extracting himself from any awkward situations.

Ha ha, yes! If I was going to love more, with casual abandon, without losing my heart to every man who came along, I really would have to learn the rules of the one-night stand game.

I turned to go home, but something stopped me in my tracks. What was the point when I’d only end up slouching on the sofa watching a box set, while eating too much chocolate and drinking more wine which my body certainly didn’t need. Much better to stay outside and walk off the excesses of the previous day.

I walked through the high street with a renewed sense of purpose, up into the Old Town and through the alleyways that were home to a selection of independent shops and galleries. I rarely came up here, I had no reason to, but there was no reason to say I couldn’t. It was perfectly normal behaviour for a Sunday morning. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. It was what other people did with their weekends; strolled in the sunshine around the bespoke boutiques and jewellers, looking into the windows of the craft and gift stores, stopping off for a cup of tea or coffee in one of the many welcoming cafés.

My heart picked up a pace as I found Bell Alley and I walked along the cobbles on one side of the thoroughfare, my gazescanning the signs hanging above the shop frontages. When I saw Woodland Studios I felt a sense of relief. It was definitely a gallery and there were definitely people inside milling around and yes, I just managed to see from the corner of my eye that it looked to all intents and purposes like an art exhibition. Hooray! Alex hadn’t been lying to me after all. I could go home now with my dignity and honour intact. I wasn’t sure why it had felt so important to verify that information, but it had and now my curiosity had been sated I felt a whole lot better.

‘Excuse me.’ I was standing directly opposite the gallery when a large man in a straw hat with a camera around his neck stopped me. My eyes widened as I tried to circumnavigate his considerable girth, taking tiny little steps one way and then the other to try and hurry him along the path so that we were out of direct sight of Alex’s shop, but the American gentleman in the hat wasn’t picking up on my non-too-subtle hints.

‘Yes,’ I said impatiently.

‘Sorry to trouble you, miss, but I wondered if you could tell me where I might be able to buy some candy. I hear there’s a shop around here somewhere, but I’ve not happened upon it yet.’

My gaze did an involuntary sweep down to his rotund tummy and I had to bite on my tongue to stop myself from suggesting that perhaps he’d already had one too many candies. Instead I smiled sweetly, and pointed him down the hill.

‘Go down to the bottom of this alley and then turn right onto Peacock Mews. The sweet shop is in the far corner.’

‘Well, thank you, ma’am,’ he said, tipping his hat towards me in gratitude. ‘You really are a perfect English rose, aren’t you?’

‘Thank you,’ I said, blushing, using his considerable size to hide behind as I shuffled round his body and attempted to make my getaway before I heard a very familiar voice.

‘Jen!’

I froze on the spot. Oh God no, please no. Not now. Let me fade into the background unnoticed.

‘Jen, is that you?’

I considered for a moment asking the American if I could hide beneath his jacket and go and buy candies with him, but it was too late. I’d already been spotted. I peered out from behind the man to find Alex looking at me, a bemused smile on his face.

‘Hey, I thought it was you. What are you doing here?’

I watched as the man sauntered off, a smile on his face and I wondered if it wasn’t too late to run after him.

‘Oh, me, I was, um, just walking home.’ Humiliatingly I was still wearing my wedding outfit from yesterday which was looking as tired and past its best as I was feeling.

‘But don’t you live…’ Alex screwed up his face, his brow furrowing. He pointed in the opposite direction to the way I was walking.

‘Yes, but I thought I’d take the scenic route,’ I said, laughing, trying not to sound like a mad woman. ‘I needed a bit of exercise after yesterday.’

‘Look, Jen,’ he said, laying his hand on my arm and looking as though he might have got the assessment of my character very wrong. ‘I’m sorry for not inviting you along to the exhibition, it just didn’t occur to me. You’re welcome to come in for a glass of wine now though if you’d like to.’

‘Ah, thanks, but no. I’m late as it is,’ I said, glancing at my watch. ‘Another pressing engagement beckons. I’ll just be on way.’

‘Great,’ said Alex, looking worried. ‘Good to see you again. And so soon too.’

‘Yep. Bye!’

I hurried off, my cheeks stinging an unbecoming beetroot colour, I felt sure. So now Alex would think I was a properweirdo, stalking him after only seeing him a couple of hours earlier. What an idiot. I sighed, determined not to look back at the shop or the events of the last twenty-four hours. None of it mattered any more. It would be fine. I would just have to spend the rest of my life avoiding Alex Fellows.

7

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