Meet Me at the Honeymoon Suite: HarperImpulse Contemporary Fiction. Charlotte Phillips
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Название: Meet Me at the Honeymoon Suite: HarperImpulse Contemporary Fiction
Автор: Charlotte Phillips
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежный юмор
isbn: 9780008119393
isbn:
Luke shrugged, as if a total about-face was no biggie at all.
‘It’s just… right,’ he said slowly, as if it was hard to properly capture with words.
She stared over his shoulder at the empty doorway and swallowed hard to try and clear the constriction in her throat.
The implication of that was clear of course, and she’d known it for years before she even met Luke Pemberton: Amy Wilson was obviously just wrong.
Things didn’t work out because he’d been filling in time with her while he awaited a better offer. The real question here was, why was she even surprised? Being the also-ran was the story of every facet of her life involving the regard of other people. Past relationships, home life, work colleagues, in all situations she had been the warm-up act. She’d laughably thought that her relationship with Luke had bucked that trend a little. It hadn’t felt like she’d fallen short because he’d made it clear that their break-up wasn’t down to her. Nothing personal, babe. Settling down just wasn’t on his agenda. Commitment wasn’t a part of his psyche. Except it turned out now that with the right girl, it was.
She was the wrong girl. Again. And you’d think she’d bloody well be used to it by now.
‘Forget it,’ she said. Now she’d had the chance to collect her thoughts there was no way she was going to let him know she was remotely bothered. ‘We’ve all moved on, Luke. I’ve got this amazing new management job…’ she waved her hand to take in the lounge, now buzzing with guests ‘…the last thing I’m interested in is a relationship with anyone.’
He looked relieved.
‘I’m glad, babe. Because it was – you know – fun. No hard feelings, right?’
Fun? She’d wasted a year of her life sitting in minging pubs out of misplaced loyalty. Fun wasn’t the word she’d have chosen.
‘Absolutely,’ she said. She kept her voice coldly neutral. ‘It never happened.’
To make it clear she was so not bothered, she came at him in full-force work mode.
‘Right, my aim here is to interfere with your weekend as little as possible while at the same time making the whole thing run like clockwork. I’m on call 24-7, so if I’m not in the immediate vicinity then Reception can page me. Nothing is too much trouble.’
He nodded his approval and she congratulated herself on her professionalism, pleased that her tried and tested life formula, perfected over time, now held firm even in the face of this new confirmation of her inadequacy: the three no’s, as she’d come to think of them: no emotion, no personal involvement, no distractions. This was a job and bruised feelings did not belong in it. She would treat Luke exactly like any other client.
‘One more thing, Ames,’ he said, giving her a winning smile as she made to walk away. ‘If you could just keep schtum about our…thing…when you talk to Sabrina, you’d be doing me a massive favour.’ He lowered his voice conspiratorially. ‘Avoid the hassle, you know how it is. Cheers, babe.’ He gave her a wink and a thumbs-up sign and sloped off to join the party.
She stared after him. So that’s what it had been between them. Fourteen months of her life that she wouldn’t get back and all along it had been a thing.
There’s nothing like a wedding – a celebratory gathering of people you supposedly know really well – to remind you that you may have been neglecting your place on the social radar.
He might be Luke’s best man, but Owen had no clue who at least half of these people were. Then again, the Luke he knew from childhood who’d crashed on his sofa for a couple of weeks some months ago, seemed to have morphed into some kind of pseudo-celebrity since his band had been offered a deal, with a rock star wardrobe and a gang of hangers-on to boot. Owen made dutiful conversation with whoever approached the bar while he swept the room in vain for someone he knew, a member of Luke’s family perhaps. The room buzzed around him with a party atmosphere.
It was supposed to be an honour, wasn’t it? Your childhood friend getting in touch out of the blue to ask you to step up to the plate as his wing man for the most important day of his life. The thought that not necessarily meant to be the life and soul of this party, but at least to be engaged in it nagged at him. Instead he needed to make a conscious effort to keep his mind from wondering how things were going right now at his newest bar in Chelsea, despite the knowledge that he’d delegated all managerial duties for the weekend across his entire business. It could operate perfectly well without him for a couple of days.
Knowing that didn’t make it any easier to switch off.
Unable to avoid overhearing Luke’s blaring voice from feet away he picked up that the cute events manager also knew Luke from way back, not that Owen had ever encountered her before. He was sure he would have remembered. And from the look on her face the Luke she’d known was AWOL too. As he watched she glanced over at the bar.
The waiting staff had turned up but Amy was needed. Urgently by the look of the bartender, who was unable to fill champagne flutes faster than they were being snapped up by guests in full-on party mode. There was a measure of relief in being slammed back into work. She shoved the hideous sensation of not-good-enough to one side and gritted her teeth hard. The job. That was what was important right now. She was acting Events Manager here. The M-word was in her job title without the qualifying word ‘assistant’ for the first time in history. Yet another let down from her past could not be allowed to affect that.
As she’d honed her working ability, if not her whole lifestyle, by separating all emotion from practical arrangements, focusing on work was the most natural thing to do in this situation.
She manoeuvred her way through the throng of wedding guests and headed straight for the bar to check on the drinks.
‘So you know Luke?’
She glanced sideways. Owen Lloyd was standing next to her, one elbow leaning against the bar, that same shrewd smile still on his face.
‘He’s just someone I used to know from my home town,’ she said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. The dismissive way Luke had described her really stuck in her craw. Not that she had any feelings for him now. Months of throwing herself into work and a fresh start move to London had put things into perspective. She was over him.
She still had the right to feel affronted.
So what had happened between them had been a bit of fun. A time-filler. Her mind now insisted on trotting out a succession of scenarios that bore this out. He’d kept up a full-on social life with his mates while dating her, never really including her in that social circle at all. She’d met his parents only once, by accident in the street. There had been no meet-the-parents Sunday roast for her. They’d never holidayed together nor even planned so much as a mini-break. The examples rolled through her mind on a loop. Her bruised feelings were her own stupid fault for reading things into the situation that simply weren’t there. His insensitivity however, was undeniable.
‘We dated for a while back in the day,’ she clarified, noticing that Owen was СКАЧАТЬ