Love Letters

Love Letters (Part 51)

The guy from earlier keeps looking at me every few seconds, I feel like wandering over to him and telling him to keep his eyes to himself but I can’t. He’s not looking at me in a perverse way, and he looks more nervous than I feel. He’s tall, clean shaven and judging by the looks I was getting from one of the bridesmaids, a total chick magnet.

I keep my eyes to myself but I know the bridesmaid is watching me as she gorges on cake, I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of that cake was pelted in my direction.

He’s holding a baby in his arms, an adorable little girl. I wonder if she’s his, they share the same good looks but she’s got a different nose, probably her mother’s.

Suddenly the baby gives a small squeal and bursts into tears; he tries tickling the child, stands up and walks around to no avail. She doesn’t stop crying.

I watch for a while until she becomes near hysterical and find myself interrupting as he tries to silence her.

I offer to take her off him and he’s more than willing, I take her to the garden and hope the fresh air will work as well as I hope.

He follows me and watches as I try calming her and soon enough, she quietens down.

‘She was probably too hot inside,’ I tell him as I smile at the child.

She smiles back and then gives a small giggle when I blow a raspberry on her cheek. She looks at him as if asking for approval before turning back to me and touching my face carefully.

‘She’s beautiful, is she yours?’ I ask and wonder where her mother is.

He shakes his head, ‘nope, she’s my niece actually.’

‘Oh, I see. No wonder you’re so clueless,’ I laugh and he joins in.

‘She’s… nappy… sleep…’ he mumbles and I wonder what he just said. I nod and pretend I understood and turn my attention back to the baby.

‘I’ve got no idea what I just said,’ he admits and I stifle a laugh.

‘What’s her name?’

‘Lilia, but we call her Lily. She’s named after my mum actually,’

‘A pretty name for a pretty baby,’ I coo as I tickle her chin.

‘What’s your name?’ He asks awkwardly, I didn’t even think you could ask someone’s name and be awkward about it.

‘Jem, not a very interesting name,’

‘I beg to differ,’

I’ve got no idea how to reply to that so I ask him his name instead.

‘I’m T-’

Someone calls from inside, bellowing his name from somewhere in the house, ‘Cole! Your sister’s here to take Lily home!’

He looks from the garden door to me and says, ‘Cole, my name is Cole.’

I tell him it’s nice to meet him and he tells me the honour is all his, charming.

He reaches for Lily and we find that she’s asleep in my arms, her own arms wrapped around my neck.

He comes uncomfortably close to me and even seems sorry for it, he’s close enough to smell my perfume. He doesn’t make eye contact with me and focuses on Lily instead. His hands brush mine and I pray that he doesn’t notice that I’m getting all flustered. I’m attracted to him, I already knew that, but I didn’t want him to know too.

As soon as he’s got Lily back in his arms, she wakes up and stares sadly at me.

‘Pity she has to go, I was just getting attached,’ I say, as I wave goodbye.

He smiles politely and whispers, ‘you’re not the only one.’

I look up sharply but his gaze has been averted and he’s looking at Lily again and gently nuzzling her forehead.

‘C’mon then, let’s get you back to your mum before she gets hysterical.’

I laugh and follow him back into the house where Mitch bounds down the stairs, gasping for breath.

‘That bridesmaid, she’s psychotic. Let’s get out of here!’ He grabs my arm and yanks me out towards the exit. I almost don’t want to go; the party was just getting interesting.

Cole glances back at the two of us and his gaze drops down to Mitch’s hand on my arm.

‘Where’s Sam? Doesn’t he need a ride too?’ I ask, stalling for time, acting like those precious few seconds would even matter.

Mitch claps his hand to his forehead, ‘you look for him inside, and I’ll be waiting outside!’

I nod and walk into the living room in search of Sam. He’s nowhere in sight but the groom steps away from the mass of people dancing in the middle of the room.

‘Jem, wait up!’ He calls before bounding towards me, he takes the last few steps tentatively as though I were a deer he was afraid of scaring away.

‘Got time for a dance?’ he asks, pointing his thumb towards the middle of the room.

‘Mitch wants to leave actually,’ I shrug and smile at the same time to show Ethan that there are no hard feelings, ‘some other time.’

'Before I go,' I say slowly, before pulling out a small package from my bag, I hand it over to him, 'it's your stupid football scarf. The one you left behind all those years ago, when you moved away.' I lean in and give him a hug, 'I'll see you soon.'

‘I thought I lost that, but thank you. Can’t you stay, Jem?’

‘I…’ I’m sure he’s just asking to be polite. Someone pats me on the back and I turn to see Benny, he asks me if I’ve seen someone called Brenda. She stole his tie.

‘Ben, tell Jem to stay over, just for the one night.’

‘I can’t, my ride goes home tonight.’ I say to Ethan, my head facing Benny.

‘I’ll drop you off tomorrow, I’m heading down to mums anyway,’ Benny says before leaving to find Brenda.

‘That’s great!’ Ethan says a little too enthusiastically, ‘we’ve got so much to catch up on and I’ll introduce you to my friends… and Ally too!’

‘Some of us have already been introduced actually,’ a voice calls from behind me and I know its Cole.

My heart starts fluttering before I can stop it, I almost feel stupid for having such a strong reaction to his voice.

We barely know each other.