Page 72 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“You thought what, Scarlett? That I fancied her?” Sean raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know anyone at this wedding; she was the only person that wanted to talk to me for more than a couple of minutes.”
“You knew me.”
“Yeah, but you were with David, and I could hardly play gooseberry all evening, could I?”
“Oh, Sean, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”
“I’d rather have been with you.”
We looked into each other’s eyes and at that moment all I wanted to do was put my arms around him again. I almost forgot David was still waiting in the water.
“Ahem,” David said. He had pulled himself out of the fountain and was standing just a few feet away from us.
“Sean’s just going inside,” I insisted. “Aren’t you, Sean?”
Sean nodded. “I think I’d best call it a night,” he said, backing away. “I’ll see you in the morning, Scarlett. Shall I book us a taxi to go into Paris?”
“Sure, that’ll be fine. See you tomorrow.”
I watched Sean walk away, and then I turned to David.
“What does he mean, book you a taxi to go into Paris? You’re not spending tomorrow with him, Scarlett. Have you forgotten what day it will be?”
“Er…”
“February the 14th. Valentine’s Day.”
Oh God, I had forgotten.
“The thing is, David—it’s complicated.”
“You’re telling me, Scarlett.” David ran his hands through his own wet hair, but he didn’t look anywhere near as sexy doing it as Sean had done a few minutes earlier. “I thought we agreed we were going to spend the day together before we flew home tomorrow night? And now you want to spend it withhim. Who, ten minutes ago, do I need to remind you, was found by me with his hands all over you?”
“No, Sean isn’t the complication.” Well, he was part of it, but I wasn’t going to tell David that. “There’s something else.”
“You mean to tell me there’s more going on than you running off to London for a month’s holiday away from me? A month that I now fear I was very much mistaken in allowing you to have? More than you spending all your time with another man—who you’ve not only tried to make out is nothing more than ‘just a friend,’ but who you now announce you would rather spend Valentine’s Day with than me? There’smoreto it than that, Scarlett?”
“Yes, David, there is.”
“Well let’s hear it then, because I’m sure this will be very illuminating.”
“Why don’t we go back to our room? You can get dried off, and then we can talk as much as you like.”
David looked down at the puddle around his feet.
Hedoesn’t look anywhere near as good wet as Sean did…
I shook my head—I had to stop these comparisons, they were almost as bad as my movie ones.
“No, Scarlett,” David said, staring angrily at me. “I think I want to hear everything right now, before you have time to think upmoreexcuses for your behavior. You at least owe me that.”
“Yes, you’re right,” I said, and I told David as quickly as I could about what had been going on with my mother, how Sean and I had been chasing leads all over the place, and why I now really needed to go with him into Paris tomorrow. By the time I had finished, he was starting to look very cold.
“David, let’s go inside and finish talking about this. You’ll catch pneumonia if you continue to stand out here soaking wet.”
“Just answer me three questions,” David said, appearing not to hear me. “Do you love me, Scarlett?”
“Yes, of course I do. What sort—”
