‘That’s OK. And you don’t have to keep apologising.’
‘I’m sort of getting used to it.’
Zoe found herself smiling too. ‘You can stop.’
‘Fine. But you were right about one other thing too.’
‘What other thing?’
‘I think maybe I have been a bit of a coward.’
‘Ah, about that...’ she said, her smile fading as she briefly winced. ‘Now I have a feeling it’s my turn to apologise. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it. I was out of order.’
Dan waved a hand. ‘Don’t be. I don’t think you were. And I think I needed to hear it.’
‘Really? I mean, I’m hardly one to be lecturing about failings.’
‘Doesn’t matter. You did and it’s fine because I now have plans to change that.’
Zoe looked at him quizzically. ‘How?’
‘There’s something I’d like to ask you.’
For some reason her heart began to thud. ‘Fire away.’
‘I have a wedding a week on Saturday.’
‘That’s nice.’
‘And I was wondering, would you like to come?’
As the invitation sank in the first thing to hit her was disappointment, although why she should be disappointed she had no idea. The second thing was surprise because by inviting her to a wedding where presumably he’d be introducing her to friends he was showing her he was ready to take what they were doing to a whole new level. The third thing that she felt was a delicious warmth precisely because he seemed to want to take what they were doing to a whole new level.
And then she panicked.
She didn’t like weddings. Or any social occasion much for that matter, but weddings especially because there were always so many people and so much small talk and so much potential to screw up. If social occasions were like crossing the Atlantic in a dinghy weddings were minefields, and this one would be no different, even with the reassuring presence of Dan at her side.
‘A wedding,’ she said, trying not to let the panic show in her voice.
‘Yes. Next Saturday. If you’re free.’
She was as it happened, but it would be so easy to say she wasn’t. To say thanks but no thanks, and spend the whole of next Saturday holed up at home with her phone switched off.
For a moment she was tempted to do exactly that, but only for a moment because for one thing it would be an outright lie, and, quite apart from not wanting a repeat of the mess that had ensued the last time she’d tried it, lying outright didn’t sit well with her. For another, with Dan standing so close and watching her so intently she’d never be able to do it convincingly. He’d see through her in a second, and then she’d be in an even worse position.
But how was she going to get out of it? she wondered and racked her brains for a suitable excuse.
‘Isn’t it a bit late to let them know?’ she said, hoping that perhaps this aspect of wedding planning might have escaped him.
‘It’s a family wedding—it’ll be fine.’
‘A family wedding?’ Was that worse or better?
‘On my mother’s side. My second cousin. He’s marrying an actress.’
‘Big or small?’
A flicker of amusement momentarily eased the serious expression on his face. ‘The bride or the wedding?’