Page 60 of The Vintage Dress Shop in Primrose Hill
‘Over an hour,’ Cress clarified as Charles squeezed Sophy’s hand, then freed her.
‘You go in. I’ll follow in a minute,’ he said, sounding and looking far more ruffled than Sophy had ever thought possible.
‘I’m waiting, Sophy.’ She’d also never heard or seen her stepsister looking so stern. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Cress had started tapping a foot impatiently or looking pointedly at her watch.
She did neither but linked arms with Sophy at the earliest opportunity and all but frogmarched her back into the pub.
‘It’s only kissing,’ Sophy said again.
‘I’m not even going to talk to you, Soph, until I have a large drink in my hands.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Five minutes later, when Cress had a large glass of wine, even though generally she only allowed herself one cocktail in a can on a Sunday evening and that was it for her alcohol consumption, Sophy waited for her to begin the interrogation.
But then Charles ventured back into the pub. He’d been able to restore himself back to his former neat-as-a-bandbox status except his hair was going in all directions because Sophy had been running her fingers through it. She dimly remembered at one pointtuggingon it.
‘You haven’t been listening to a single word I’ve been saying, have you?’
With some difficulty, Sophy tore her eyes away from Charles, who was also doing a pretty bad job of pretending not to look at Sophy as he talked to Freddy at the bar.
‘Sorry. What?’
Cress sighed. ‘I said that you’ve clearly found your passion in life.’
‘You know I didn’t mean it like that,’ Sophy said and then she giggled and Cress couldn’t be too cross with her because she giggled too. ‘I do really like kissing him though.’
‘But you’re going to Australia,’ Cress reminded her, not that she needed any reminding.
‘I know I am,’ she said, hoping that her uninterested tone would mean they changed the subject because, for this evening, she just wanted to live in the here and now. And hopefully, get a few more kissesin with Charles while they were waiting for her Uber.
‘It’s just if you’re starting a new relationship…’
‘It’s not a new relationship,’ Sophy said. ‘It’s so far from that. It’s just a thing. A kissing thing solely, because Iamgoing to Australia.’
‘It’s not just, you know, youkissingCharles, who’s a major upgrade by the way.’ Cress paused as they both giggled again. ‘Is he even the same species as Egan? They’re like matter and antimatter.’
‘There was a time though when I thought that Egan was really good-looking. Textbook good-looking.’ Sophy tried to defend not just her ex-boyfriend but her own taste.
‘Maybe, when you were younger but not now,’ Cress said, though Colin had been a music nerd in a Beatles t-shirt at the age of fifteen and he was still a music nerd with the same Beatles t-shirt in his weekly t-shirt rotation. ‘Anyway, it’s not just you kissing incredibly handsome and well-dressed men. You seem really happy at work.’
‘It is just a temporary job.’ She looked around, not for Charles this time but to check who might be in earshot, then she lowered her voice. ‘Which is why I can put up with Phoebe in the short term. And yes, it is a lot more fulfilling and interesting than I thought it would be…’
‘Plus you’re not contributing to landfill any more…’
Sophy raised her gin and tonic in a toast that she was actually part of the solution rather than part of the problem ‘…But it’s a means to an end and that end is my ticket to Adelaide and some spending money.’ She frowned. ‘I really need to check the ticket prices again, see if there’s any special offers, but I need to use Mike’s big computer for that and, well, you know the rest.’
Cress nodded. ‘Dad stands over you, making really annoying panicky huffing noises every time you make contact with the keyboard.Plus, you get a lecture every time you accept all cookies without reading the small print first.’
‘So annoying.’
‘Beyond annoying.’
‘I actually want to murder him a little bit,’ Sophy admitted. ‘But anyway, that’s why I haven’t ironed out the particulars yet. And Johnnostillhasn’t sorted out his papers… Is he around? I should have it out with him.’
‘He left while you were busy snogging Charles,’ Cress said slyly. Then her expression grew hopeful. ‘So, if Johnno doesn’t sort out his papers, then you won’t be able to go?’
‘Oh, I’m going to Australia. Fact. Even if I have to go round to Johnno’s place myself and hunt through every drawer, every cupboard… Oh no, please don’t.’ Her stepsister’s eyes had suddenly become glassy as if she were about to start shedding tears. ‘Cress, it’s ages away. Four months.’
