One Hundred Proposals (27 page)

Megan Wood says:
I love that you told Suzie you love her with Chinese lanterns, that’s so sweet, so romantic. Just kiss her and see if she kisses you back, I bet she does.

Victoria Stone says:
This is driving me mad, grow some balls and tell her already.

Erin McEwan says:
If she really is your best friend then even if she doesn’t feel the same she’ll still be your friend.

Kirsty MacLennan says:
I agree with Megan, snog her face off, you’ll get a definitive reaction then.

*

Jasper was tiny and everybody seemed to be wearing shorts and flip flops, despite the icy weather and the fact that there was snow still on the ground.

I had arrived here the night before and finally spoke to Harry after three days of phone silence. The proposals had arrived daily – after the Chinese lanterns, I’d had a barber shop quartet sing to me in front of a train full of passengers and rose petals spelling out the words on my bed, which was a bit creepy thinking of someone being in my room doing that. But despite the proposals and the effort in arranging them, they were missing one thing. Harry. I missed him like crazy and my heart just wasn’t in this proposal malarkey any more. Maybe it was the fact that the proposals were empty, made even more so by the fact that he was in New York while I was alone. He didn’t even want to be with me anymore.

I had today to explore Jasper and tomorrow I was heading towards Lake Louise via the Athabasca Glacier.

I’d decided to rent a car from the car rental place opposite the hotel because I had heard about this fantastic waterfall in nearby Maligne Canyon. I’d asked for something little and cheap as I was paying for it. I didn’t know if renting a car to satisfy my own whims would be covered by Silver Linings and Sunlounger. After checking the map several times, I set off.

I had never driven in a foreign country before, so I was a little nervous about driving on the other side of the road, but five minutes after leaving the little town the roads were deserted. The roads wound higher and higher as they went up into the mountains, so much so that at one stage I felt my ears pop. Fresh snow had fallen and lay quite deep in places, though they seemed to be a lot more prepared for it in Canada. In England a little snow fall quite often caused the whole country to grind to a halt. New little flurries of snow had started to fall now, but nothing that would cause me any problems.

I could see the town I had left behind far below me and other towns in clusters spread out across the snowy landscape. The road ahead of me remained completely empty, though behind me I caught the odd glimpse of a big red SUV following at some distance. It was oddly comforting to have it there as I headed off into the barren wilderness.

As I straightened out onto a long stretch of road, I noticed the complete lack of barriers that would prevent me from falling to my death and this caused me to drive even slower. It wasn’t a sheer drop but the hillside was very steep. But slowly, as I drove along the road without any incident, I started to become more confident.

The beauty of Canada is just something I don’t think I will ever tire of looking at; the rugged, jagged cliff faces, jutting out mere metres from where I sat and the lakes and mountains that could be seen for miles in every direction.

Life was good. I turned the radio up and sung along to some dodgy country song.

The air was colder up here, I could feel the chill and I fumbled around to find the heating controls and whacked up the heat.

As I returned my attention to the road, something ran out in front of me, some kind of deer. Without thinking I braked and swerved to avoid it.

To my horror the car bumped over the side of the road, tilted and launched itself down the steep cliff.

Chapter Fifteen

I steered, pumped the breaks and screamed as the car toppled over the edge. But at the last second before gravity took hold and tossed me to a painful death, it stopped and then hung, one wheel on the verge, teetering on the brink.

I’d forgotten how to breathe. I couldn’t move, one inch to either side could be fatal. The car rocked gently, trying to decide between my salvation and my death. I had to get out, waiting for help was not an option. I undid my seatbelt and carefully released it but even that tiny movement caused the car to groan and lean forwards even more. My stomach rolled with fear and panic and I blinked away tears.

Suddenly my driver door was flung open, there was someone there – a man – but I was too scared to move to look.

The car was already rocking with this new movement and I wanted to scream out to him to be careful, to move slowly, but all words were stuck in my throat.

The man was not cautious though. There was nothing gentle or slow about his movements. He reached into the car and in one swift, violent gesture yanked me out into his arms. I flung my arms around my rescuer, he staggered back and as we hit the floor I realised with sickening clarity that it was Harry.

‘Harry?’

‘Hi.’

‘Harry, oh God.’

Sobs tore from my throat. Relief, adrenaline, joy and terror surged through me and I wrapped my hands round his neck and kissed him. I didn’t understand why he was here, but right then I didn’t need to. I felt tears soak my cheeks as he pulled me tight against him, kissing me back. His hands were around my face, in my hair. The kiss became more urgent, needful and a noise escaped from his throat that sounded like a moan. But I couldn’t stop.

‘Are you guys ok?’ came a voice from above and I snatched my mouth from Harry’s in shock.

Two policemen were standing on the road, they had obviously stopped after they had seen my car teetering on the edge.

I looked back at Harry. I couldn’t believe I had just been kissing him.

‘I’m so sorry… I just…’ I was still crying and shaking. He held my face gently, kissed my forehead, wiped the tears from my eyes and kissed me on the mouth – a short, sweet kiss. Not a proper kiss, not how I had been kissing him before, with my tongue in his mouth. God, had my tongue really been in his mouth? How embarrassing.

‘Are you ok?’

I nodded

‘Are you hurt?’

I shook my head.

He arched an eyebrow at me. ‘Can you speak?’

‘Not right now.’

He smiled slightly.

I wanted to get off him, it seemed inappropriate to be lying on top of him after what I had just subjected him to, but my fingers were wrapped tightly in his shirt, and I couldn’t work out how to loosen them. Although he didn’t seem that bothered by it.

‘We’ll be right up,’ Harry called to the officers, then he returned his gentle gaze to me. ‘As reluctant as I am to move from this position, I think we need to get up now.’

I couldn’t stop shaking and I was starting to feel numb all over. I couldn’t actually move and he seemed to realise that. Harry sat up, shifting me carefully onto his lap and then stood up, with me still in his arms so he was carrying me like a baby.

‘One moment,’ he said to the men as he approached them.

I heard them talking as we walked past. ‘I’ve helped a lot of women in my time – I’ve never been kissed like that before,’ said one.

‘Me neither.’

I blushed and looked away so Harry wouldn’t see me.

Harry walked back towards his red SUV which had been abandoned in the middle of the road. He sat me in the driver’s seat and wrapped his coat tightly round me. He turned the heating on full blast, kissed me on the forehead and left me alone in the car.

I watched him talk to the men. I wondered what he was telling them about what had happened. There were a lot of hand gestures but the police were laughing now – Harry was working his charm as always. My little car didn’t seem to be going anywhere, which made my overreaction even more embarrassing.

I watched as they attached a rope from my car to the police car and, with a little bit of coercion and help from Harry and the other officer, they pulled my car back onto the road. And after a few more laughs, Harry grabbed my things from the car and came back to me.

‘How you doing?’ he said, motioning for me to scoot over so he could get in.

‘I’m feeling a bit silly.’

‘What? Why? It was an accident. Nothing to feel silly about.’

‘I thought I was going to die.’

‘I thought you were going to die too, scared me half to death when I saw you go over the edge. I literally have never been so terrified before in my entire life.’

I looked at him as he started the car.

Is that why he’d kissed me back, because he’d been scared as well? We should really speak about the kiss. It lay unspoken between us.

‘What happened anyway? One minute you were driving along, the next you just went over the cliff. Did you fall asleep at the wheel or something?’

‘It was a deer, I just swerved and the next thing I know I’m going over the edge.’

‘Pesky deer.’

He was smiling hugely to himself, as if the whole thing was hilarious. He waved his thanks at the police and turned the car around to head back to the town where my hotel was.

‘What about my car?’

‘The police are going to drive it back, they’re heading that way anyway.’

‘What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in New York.’

‘I wanted to catch you up. I was going to surprise you.’

‘You did that all right, I was very surprised to see you.’

He laughed. ‘I could tell.’

Oh no, the kiss. How was I going to explain that?

I was still shaking and I buried myself deep in his coat, relishing his wonderful scent that washed over my senses. There was a small tear in his sleeve and I desperately tried to focus my attention on that instead of the forthcoming explanation.

*

Soft voices pulled me from my sleep. I opened one eye and realised I was lying on Harry’s chest, his arm clamped tightly round my shoulders. After we’d returned to the hotel, to Harry’s room which he had quite obviously slept in the night before, Harry had called the car rental place to discuss insurance – and informed Silver Linings and Sunlounger too in case they needed to know. I must have fallen asleep shortly after that, and now he was here by my side, holding me tight. None of it made any sense; that he was here when he should have been still in New York. And even more confusing was that Chloe was clearly here with him too.

‘So she kissed you?’ Chloe said. I couldn’t see her from where I was lying and I kept very still to listen to the conversation.

‘Yeah I know,’ said Harry. ‘Don’t look at me like that, it didn’t mean anything, she was terrified.’

‘I’ve been terrified quite a few times in my life, I’ve never kissed anyone like that because of it.’

‘She was just pleased to see me.’

‘I’d say.’

Chloe seemed really annoyed by this latest development. I was clearly stepping on toes. She liked him, that much was clear.

‘It didn’t mean anything,’ Harry repeated.

I sat up and looked at Chloe and back down at Harry. ‘I’m sorry,’ I muttered, moving to get off the bed but Harry stopped me.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to my room.’

‘Oh no you’re not. Not a chance,’ Harry said, vehemently. ‘Chloe will sleep in your room tonight.’

This was obviously news to Chloe as she glared at Harry but he just glared back at her.

‘Please, I don’t want to get in the middle of something. I’m sorry, I really am.’ I moved to leave again, but Harry physically stopped me.

Chloe stood up and stalked out the room.

I stared at Harry and I knew the topic of the kiss just wasn’t going to go away.

‘Please don’t,’ I whispered. ‘Just don’t. I’m sorry I kissed you, I was scared and ridiculously pleased to see you. Please don’t read anything into it. Let’s enjoy this trip. We’re going to travel the world and have an amazing time and I’d like to do that without this awkward cloud hanging over our heads.’

He stared at me and I wished for the thousandth time that I could read his thoughts, it would make everything so much simpler.

‘So… we’re just going to forget it ever happened and never speak of it again?’

‘Yes.’

I willed him to drop it. If he wanted to know why I had kissed him, if he pushed me for an answer, I feared everything would come out and where would that leave our friendship then? If we couldn’t be together then I still wanted him as a friend, I needed him as a friend. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the last few months without him by my side and I wanted to be there for him too – to see him happy, settling down, maybe having kids. I didn’t want to ruin that with a declaration of my undying love.

‘You kissed me.’

Oh crap, he really wasn’t going to let this go.

‘As a friend. We’re friends. We hug and stuff all the time, it didn’t mean anything.’

‘Right.’ He seemed angry. ‘That’s all that was then, a friend kiss? Because it felt like a hell of a lot more than that to me.’

‘I was scared, relieved. Please don’t push this. It will ruin everything between us.’

He stared at me for a moment, clearly wanting to dig deeper, but he didn’t. ‘We better get some sleep. We have an early start tomorrow.’

I nodded and lay down with my head on his chest again. He didn’t push me off but he didn’t hold me either. After a few minutes of me lying there awkwardly, feeling unwanted, I rolled off him. A few moments after that, he rolled over to face away from me.

SECRET BLOG

I’m so confused. After rescuing Suzie from a near fatal car accident, we kissed – well she kissed me and I damned well kissed her back. It was incredible, it was everything I hoped it would be and more. There was real feeling in that kiss. In that moment I knew that she felt the same for me too.

But afterwards she brushed it off, said it didn’t mean anything. She said it would ruin everything between us if I pushed it.

I was so disappointed. Chloe was furious that she would toy with me like that. She’s gone back to New York and wanted me to come with her. But I’ve stayed. I need to talk to Suzie about this.