Page 56 of Six Days

I didn’t want to give it to her. I didn’t even want her to take it out of the carrier bag. There was only so much disappointment a person should have to go through in one evening.

Hannah snatched the carrier bag from me while I was still dithering. She plucked out the book and flicked straight to the page covered with the distinctive strokes of a message written with a Sharpie. She frowned, in exactly the same way the publicist had done on glimpsing what Finn had written.

‘“To Geena”?’ Hannah exclaimed in disgust. ‘Is the man blind? You printed your name clearly enough for anyone to see. What? What is it?’ Her head jerked up at the sound of my laughter. ‘Why are you laughing? I don’t get it. What’s so funny?’

I took the book from her hands. The words were difficult to read because there were tears in my eyes, but they were happy ones.

‘“To Geena”,’ I read out loud. ‘“Thank you for coming tonight. I really hope you’ll call me.”’

Below the message, where everyone else’s book had Finn’s signature, mine had his phone number.

18

LONDON

Eighteen months earlier

‘Do you think, years from now when we look back on this, we’ll call this our first date or our fourth?’

For a moment I wasn’t sure if the sip of wine I’d just taken was going to be lost in a startled coughing fit. Somehow, I managed to swallow it down without anyone having to save me from choking. Even so, I needed to clear my throat several times before I managed to say, ‘Pardon?’ There was, after all, so much to address in Finn’s question.

First was the fact that he was referring to tonight as an actual date, rather than a casual evening shared by two acquaintances (which was the only way I’d allowed myself to think of it all day). And second, it was his careless – almost throwaway – assumption that we’d be together years from now to debate the number of times we’d been out together. That one seemed the safest to challenge.

‘How did you manage to get tofourdates?’ I asked, setting down my glass and smiling at him across the restaurant tabletop. ‘At best this can only be our second.’

‘Well, there was the night of the engagement party at the bar, then the McDonald’s takeaway at the side of the road, and then our fish and chip supper on the beach.’

A flush warmed my cheeks as Finn’s eyes held mine while the memory of the night before he left for Sydney filled my head. That he remembered each of our past encounters as vividly as I did was something I’d be spending a lot of time thinking about later; for now, I was happy just to bask in the happy glow that it gave me.

‘I think you’re confusing random occasions when our paths have crossed with dating per se.’

Finn’s lips twitched in amusement. ‘I’m not dating anyone called Percy – and I’m really hoping you’re not either.’

My laughter was loud enough to turn nearby heads our way, but it was silenced as though a switch had been abruptly flicked when Finn reached across the table for my hand. ‘And I’m not confused. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to see anything more clearly than I see this.’

His words affected me more potently than the strongest alcohol. They were like pure adrenaline, already travelling halfway to my heart before I could stop them. But this time, when the voice in my head screamed out ‘Too fast!’, I knew I had to listen.

Perhaps Finn saw it on my face, for he steered the conversation back on to neutral territory so quickly, I’d later question if I’d actually imagined that brief moment of intensity.

*

The decision to call Finn, after discovering his phone number in my copy of his book, had never been up for debate. But Hannah had still given it her best shot.

‘He’s a bit up himself, isn’t he, to simply assume you’re currently single? Or that you’ve been sitting around for the last two and a half years measuring every guy you meet against him and finding them all wanting.’

‘Exactly like I have done, you mean?’ I asked wryly, my eyes unable to shift from Finn’s handwritten message.

‘Finn Douglas doesn’t know a damn thing about what’s going on in your life right now. It’s not like the two of you kept in touch or made any ridiculous promises to wait for each other. Thank God,’ she added fervently.

‘I know all of that. And I also know that everything you’re saying is coming from a place of love—’

‘Why do I sense a “but” is on its way?’

I smiled at my old friend, who wanted to save me from something I wanted no protection from. She was trying to stop me from walking into a fire, but I could already feel the warm flames beckoning me.

She sighed deeply, knowing me so well I didn’t even have to argue my corner. ‘Just promise me you’ll take your time before calling him. Don’t bethatkeen. Wait a week – or maybe even two.’

But from the look on her face, Hannah already knew I’d be dialling Finn’s number much sooner than that.

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