Love Your Neighbour: A laugh-out-loud love from the author of One Day in December. Kat French

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СКАЧАТЬ looked at the floor and half shrugged, half laughed. He must think she was a total flake. First she’d cried on his shoulder, and now he’d caught her running around the street in her nightwear like a desperate alcoholic.

      ‘Listen … I could run you out to the supermarket if you like?’

      She cast an apprehensive glance towards the hearse. ‘In that?’

      ‘It’s just a car, Emily.’ He laughed, opening the passenger door in invitation.

      ‘Your chariot awaits.’ He performed a low bow.

      Emily knew full well in the back of her mind it wasn’t just a car, and this wasn’t just a mercy mission to the supermarket. But faced with the lonely alternative of an empty house, an empty wine glass and an empty bed, she willingly climbed into the passenger seat. Dan got in and clunked his door shut, and Emily noticed that he wasn’t in oil-splattered jeans tonight. Jeans, yes, but clean, and there was a woody, warm hint of masculine shower gel about him.

      ‘Were you going out?’

      ‘Nowhere special.’ Dan grinned. Gabe was a big boy; he’d be fine on his own in the pub for a while. This was a far more interesting option.

      Emily fell silent as Dan turned out of the village towards the supermarket.

      ‘So, Emily from the chapel. What makes you desperate enough to cry over wine?’

      Emily sighed and twizzled her rings around on her fingers as she debated how to answer. Because I’m thirty in a few hours?

       Because I just felt like throwing myself an almighty pity party?

       Because I can’t get pregnant?

       Because my marriage is dead in the water?

      ‘Can we just not talk about it?’ she eventually managed.

      ‘Not talk about the serious stuff?’ Dan grinned. ‘You’re talking my language, lady.’ He turned INXS up loud on the stereo and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘I can go in for you, if you like.’ He cast a pointed look at her pyjamas as he manoeuvred the hearse into a parking space. Emily grimaced. She really didn’t want to cruise the aisles of Sainsbury’s in pale pink fluffy trousers with love hearts on them, but then she didn’t especially want to be on her own in the hearse either.

      ‘What will I do?’

      ‘Stay here and creep out the locals.’ Dan jumped out and jogged across the car park without giving Emily a moment to protest. She sat for a few seconds and tried to be rational. It was just a car. An estate car, maybe, with lots of room in the back for shopping. She screwed up her courage and glanced over her shoulder, half expecting to see a coffin, even though she’d double-checked it was empty before she got in.

       Still empty.

      When she looked forward again she spotted Kev, the chapel’s part-time Elvis impersonator, heading out of the supermarket, stuffing biscuits into his face. Did the man not know anything about tempting fate? He’d be keeling over on the toilet next if he wasn’t careful. She ducked as he passed her window so he wouldn’t spot her fraternising with the enemy and mention it to Marla.

      Or, God forbid, to Tom.

      She breathed a sigh of relief when Dan slid back into the driving seat and passed her a bag clinking with bottles. ‘Red, white and sparkling. My treat.’

      Emily laughed. ‘Now you’re talking my language.’

      Dan winked and gunned the engine. ‘Do you want me to take you home?’

      His directness caught her off guard and the smile slipped from her face. He might have kept his tone deliberately light, but the subtext behind his question was clear. ‘I don’t know.’ She looked down at her lap. ‘No.’

      He nodded and turned out of the car park in the opposite direction to the village.

      They drove out into the countryside for a little while before Dan finally eased the hearse up a battered dirt track and came to rest in a sheltered copse. Beyond the trees Emily had a clear view of the full moon as it glittered over the placid waters of the River Severn.

      ‘This place is beautiful,’ she said softly, and wound down her window to drink in the night sounds and smells.

      Dan nodded, his eyes on her profile instead of the view. ‘Beautiful.’

      Emily fidgeted in her seat and the carrier bag tumbled over with a clink that reminded her of her need for wine.

      ‘I don’t suppose you happen to carry wine glasses in this thing, do you?’ she asked, glancing hopefully around the surprisingly plush interior of the hearse.

      ‘Sorry, Princess.’ Dan shook his head. ‘Although, hang on …’ He stretched an arm back between the two seats, and fished around for a few seconds before coming up with a battered red KitKat mug.

      ‘I was working in the back this morning. Left this in there.’ Dan wiped the mug clean on the edge of his dark T-shirt.

      Emily unscrewed the cap from the red wine and sloshed the mug half-full, then saluted him with it before taking a good long swig. It was a little cold, but she welcomed it all the same.

      ‘Better?’

      ‘A bit.’ She had another glug. ‘A lot.’ She grinned.

      Dan laughed and refilled her mug.

      Emily sighed heavily. ‘It’s my birthday tomorrow.’

      ‘No way! Let me guess …’ He turned her chin slightly towards him to study her face. ‘Twenty-four?’

      ‘I wish.’ Emily looked at her watch and groaned. ‘I’ve got exactly two hours left of my twenties.’

      Dan whistled under his breath. ‘Well, here’s to you, Mrs Robinson.’

      ‘Don’t. You make me feel even older.’ She sipped her wine and idly wondered exactly how much younger than her he was. Couldn’t be much. A year. Two, maybe?

      ‘So … Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do before you hit the big 3-0?’

      Emily shook her head, unwilling to allow herself to even think about the obvious baby-related answer to his question.

      ‘Skydive, maybe?’ he suggested. ‘Bungee jump?’

      Emily wrinkled her nose with distaste at his daredevil suggestions. She preferred to get her kicks on terra firma; even domestic flights had her swigging Rescue Remedy in the airport loos.

      ‘How about wild sex in the back of a hearse?’ he added.

      A charged silence crackled between them as his question hung in the air.

      Emily had known where this was headed from the moment she’d got into the hearse back in the village. She hadn’t planned it, but СКАЧАТЬ