Emma

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕

Stephanie was having a great time. She hadn't forgotten how to drive hooray! Hunter had pronounced her reversing-round-a-corner maneuver faultless and she was even remembering not to cross her arms over each other's heinous crime when turning the steering wheel. Plus, the sun still blazing down and from his jacket pocket Hunter has produced a bag of strawberry sherbets, the irresistible kind that made the inside of your mouth shrivel up but not enough to stop you having another one.

"Did Emma tell you?" Stephanie was touched by his thoughtfulness.

"Tell me what?"

"That strawberry sherbets are my all time favorite sweets."

"No," Hunter shook his head. "I bought them because they're my favorite all-time favorite sweets."

"Really?" Stephanie was delighted.

"Well, joint favorites. I'm mad about those liquorice Catherine wheels."

"And liquorice comfits. When I was a little girl I used to wet the red ones and use them as lipstick," Stephanie happily reminisced. "I thought I looked so great. God, even at seven I was a tart."

"Don't put yourself down. And check your mirror before you signal," added Hunter as they reached a junction.

"So what happened to your friend after he broke his leg?" Stephanie was dying to hear the rest of the story- going on vacation with Hunter was evidently a perilous business.

"Ethan? He hung up his skis and took up tobogganing instead. Then three minutes  later we all went out to this nightclub and guess what happened?"

"He broke his other leg?"

"Wrong. Far too predictable," Hunter scoffed. "In fact he bumped into this girl literally on his way to the toilet. She'd broken her leg as well as their crutches got into a complete tangle. So of course Ethan being Ethan, he bought her a drink. They spent an hour comparing fractures and boasting about how they'd got them, and the next thing we knew, they'd gone."

"Gone where?"

"Hobbled back to her chalet together. God knows what they managed to get up to, but we hardly saw Ethan for the rest of the week. He reckons it's the best vacation he's ever had."

Stephanie giggled. "That's so sweet. Oh, speaking of sweets..."

She opened her mouth to show that the strawberry sherbet was gone, and waited for Hunter to unwrap another one.

"It's like feeding a baby bird." He popped into her mouth."

"Now take the next left and we'll do a few three-point turns."

Mirror, signal, maneuver. Stephanie turned left into the cup-de-sac and pulled up brilliantly at the side of the road.

"By the way, I hope you didn't pick up any girls out there." She gave her a stern look.

Hunter grinned. "Of course I didn't."

Standard male answer.

"But you could just be saying that," Stephanie argued. "How would we know?"

"It's the truth. That's not why I go away on vacation. I'm not interested in getting up to no good with other girls."

Stephanie relented. That was the thing about Hunter, you could actually believe him. He wasn't a cheating dickhead like some men she could think of.

Most men, in fact.

"Well, glad to hear it. Right." She took a couple of noisy deep breaths and wiggled her hands like an Olympic athlete going for gold. "Three point turn. Silence please, ladies and gentlemen, as Stephanie Campbell of the United States of America heroically attempts the near possible in a very narrow cul-de-sac."