Page 89 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
I paced about the room in a dramatic fashion.
“Nothing’s wrong—for you, but it is for me. I’m engaged, Sean—I’m supposed to be getting married at the beginning of April, for goodness’ sake.”
Sean pulled himself up so he sat cross-legged on the carpet in front of me. He looked composed again now. “You must know what I think about that.”
“I can probably guess, but you don’t know the whole story.”
“Perhaps not, Scarlett, because there’s always something more going on than meets the eye where you’re concerned. But maybe you could listen to me for one moment, let me state the facts as I see them.”
I nodded. I had little choice.
“OK then.” Sean took a deep breath. “One—even before you met me, you were more than happy to leave your fiancé behind for a month and charge off to London to house-sit a stranger’s home. Just to prove some silly notion you’ve got about movies and real life. This, I would suggest, would seem unusual to most people.”
I listened silently, trying to look anywhere except at Sean.
“Two—all the women I’ve ever met that are getting married never stop talking about it, especially in the run-up to the big day. You hardly ever mention your wedding or have anything to organize for it. How does that work?”
I opened my mouth to point out that was the whole point of having a wedding planner, but Sean continued with his interrogation.
“And three—for some reason I can’t understand, you appear to be marrying someone who you have absolutely nothing in common with, who doesn’t seem to excite you that much, and most importantly, doesn’t even make you that happy.” Sean folded his arms. “There, how does that all sound to you? It hardly adds up to the romance of the century.”
“DoIget to respond now?” I asked indignantly.
Sean nodded and leaned back against the end of the bed to await my defense.
I sat down on the chair by the desk. It didn’t feel right to go on standing while Sean remained on the floor. But I still didn’t trust myself to get down to his level again.
“First, Sean, I thought you understood why I came to London for a month and why the cinema is so important to me.”
“No, Scarlett, I don’t really understand,” Sean said with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’ve never really explained why youwantto prove this to your family, only that you’re trying to do it.”
He was right, of course—as always. I’d hidden my real thoughts and feelings from the start. “If you want the full version, Sean, it’s a long story.”
“Well, I’m not going anywhere—are you?”
I still felt too high up on the chair, so I knelt down opposite Sean on the carpet. But this time, I kept a safe distance between us.
I told him all about how my life was usually. My boring days in the office with Dad, David’s and my DIY disaster zone of a home, and how the only way I could find any romance and excitement in my life was through other people’s fictional lives at the movies. I then explained that David’s parents were not only paying for our wedding but, with the assistance of the wedding planner, doing most of the organizing too. Which at the time of our engagement I’d happily agreed to, so long as I got to choose my own dress for the big day. Then I told him my feeling that there had always been something missing from my life, and how this, and the chance to do something different for a month, hadmade me jump at the opportunity of getting away from everything and everybody for a while.
“So?” I asked when I’d finished recounting my tale of despair. “Now do you understand why?”
Sean thought for a moment. “It ties up a few loose ends, yes.”
Loose ends? I’d just about told him my entire life story!
“But what it doesn’t explain, Scarlett, is just why you’re marrying David.”
“Because I love him, of course.”
Sean tipped his head quizzically to one side. “Oh really?”
“Yes, really,” I said defensively.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well, it’s true,” I said, folding my arms and turning my head away like a sulky teenager. “I do love him.”
“I’ll accept youthinkyou love him.” Sean narrowed his eyes. “But there’s something else, isn’t there?”
