Strictly Love (30 page)

Chapter Forty

 

‘I'm sorry, I tried to leave them behind, but they refused to stay,’ said Rob, arriving at Katie's house the day before New Year's Eve for one last run-through. Mark, Gemma and Beth followed him into the lounge.

‘Gemma's insisting on watching us practise,’ he said apologetically.

‘And I wanted to come and see George,’ said Beth shyly.

‘And I'm just here for the ride,’ said Mark. ‘I hope you don't mind the invasion.’

‘Not at all,’ said Katie. ‘You can all have a laugh at our expense. I'll call the boys down.’

Luckily Katie's lounge was large enough to accommodate everyone, and they all squeezed on the sofa and laughed their way through Katie and Rob's routine. Though that was mainly because Rob was goofing about and getting it wrong, pretending to step on Katie's feet, spinning her in the wrong direction and generally cocking things up.

Katie had a feeling she knew why he was doing it. There had been a moment earlier in the week when she had felt as certain as she could be that he'd been about to kiss her, and then he'd pulled back. She'd spent every day since wondering why. Was it his misplaced sense of chivalry, or was it simply that he didn't fancy her anymore?

Because now she knew, without a doubt, that she did fancy
him. He made her laugh, he bolstered her ego, and dancing with him was sublime. The effort of not being with him was beginning to get to her. Any minute now she was going to spontaneously combust, her feelings spilling out for the world to see.

‘Are you going to come and cheer us on?’ asked Katie as they repaired to the kitchen for a cup of tea, leaving the kids watching repeats of
Strictly Come Dancing.
‘Sorry about the mess, by the way.’

Katie's kitchen was rather less shiny these days, but, she felt, somewhat more homely.

‘Mess?’ said Mark. ‘What mess? Don't forget I live with Rob. And I'd love to come and see you.’

‘Shame Emily's still away,’ said Katie. ‘I was going to ask her too.’

Mark looked a little awkward.

‘That would be all right, wouldn't it?’ said Katie.

‘I'd love to see her,’ Mark answered. ‘I'm just not sure that she'd love to see me.’

‘Why?’ Katie asked. ‘I haven't spoken to her since before the hearing, but look what she did for you.’

‘And then she saw me putting my arm around Sam to have my photo taken,’ said Mark. ‘I'm worried she might have got the wrong idea.’

‘Right,’ said Katie. ‘Hmm. Well, next time I see her, I'll put her straight.’

George and Beth wandered in for snacks and Katie administered biscuits and drinks. As they left she was amused to hear Beth say, ‘Having a gay dad isn't
that
weird. Did you know Mr Paterson's wife is a lesbian? And at least you don't have to live with your dad's boyfriend.’

Katie nearly spat out her tea. The things kids said. George seemed much happier these days. Perhaps he was at last coming to terms with things.

She sat happily in her kitchen. Maybe something would happen
with Rob. Maybe it wouldn't. But it was certainly fun being in a situation where it was a possibility.

Emily got off the train at Thurfield and looked around her. It was good to be back, nearly a year to the day since she'd come home from Wales after the previous Christmas. And what a year it had been. Thurfield had never seemed more welcoming. Her cottage never more cosy. She was brimming over with energy and enthusiasm for her new job. Her new boss, whom she'd spoken to a couple of days after Christmas, had been as enthusiastic as she was to take on her dad's firm.

‘I love being David against Goliath,’ he'd said. ‘These companies get away with murder.’

The other bonus was that John was joining her in the company. It turned out he was as disillusioned as she was with Mire & Innit, and was keen to get started in his new role.

The only blot on the landscape was Mark. Emily knew that one day she'd come to terms with it, but it hurt like hell right now.

She let herself in and picked up her mail. There were dozens of messages on the answerphone, including one from Katie telling her that she and Rob were taking part in a dancing competition tonight, and would Emily like to come? Tonight − 8 p.m.? Hell, it was already half past seven. But it would be good to see Katie, and she felt obliged to cheer her on. Katie was her best friend, and Emily knew she had been unforgivably silent over the Christmas period.

She picked through her mail and then picked up a brown jiffy bag that looked like it had been hand-delivered. She opened it and a DVD of
Green Wing
fell out.

There was a note from Mark inside.

Dear Emily,
I was given the second series for Christmas. I need someone to watch it with? I'd really like it if that someone was you.

Love Mark
PS I think you may have got the wrong idea about Sam and me. We're not back together.

 

Underneath he'd written:

Dance like no one's looking
Love like you've never been hurt
Work like you don't have to
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

 

I think I'd like to try the last one, wouldn't you?

The phone rang, but Emily ignored it as she held the letter and read and reread it. Mark wasn't with Sam. Mark wasn't with Sam. Hallelujah! Emily danced round the room in delight. Mark wasn't with Sam, and he wanted to see her again. Life didn't get better than this.

It was only then that she realised Katie was leaving a message for her.

‘We're all here, so I hope you can make it,’ she was saying. ‘Mark's coming. Oh, and by the way, just so you know, he isn't going back to Sam.’

Emily picked up the phone. ‘You try stopping me, girl,’ she said.

Rob felt ridiculously nervous as he and Katie took to the dance floor. The couples before them all seemed to have danced better, been better, looked better than he and Katie did. Well, Katie looked gorgeous in a shimmery turquoise dress, but he was feeling a bit of a prat in his DJ and red cummerbund.

The music started gently, and he softly led Katie by the hand. When they reached the centre of the room, he pulled her towards him, she stroked his head, and then pulled back. His heart was
pounding as he felt himself getting lost in the sensuality of the music. Katie glided her way around the dance floor, sliding against and then away from him. She pressed her body against his and lifted her leg up for him to spin her around. He pulled her back to him and then they faced each other while dancing side by side, low and dirty to the sexiest of all dances. Every moment by her side, the thrum of the music, the closeness of her to him, the whiff of her perfume, increased his feelings. He could deny it no longer and then suddenly, when he spun her round and she fell back in his arms, he looked into her eyes and knew she felt the same way.

‘I feel like I'm in that scene from
Dirty Dancing
,’ he said.

‘Me too,’ said Katie. ‘How dirty can we go?’

‘Very,’ said Rob with a grin, and then pulled her to him and snaked his body against hers. It felt so right, so comfortable.

‘We should be together,’ he said.

‘I know,’ Katie replied.

‘You do?’

‘I thought you'd never ask,’ said Katie.

‘I was waiting for you to be ready,’ Rob told her.

‘Oh, I'm ready,’ Katie assured him, as they executed the last spin of the dance and they ended by collapsing together onto the floor.

The crowd erupted in cheers and claps, and as Rob lifted Katie to her feet, he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately.

‘There,’ he said, ‘I've been wanting to do that for ages.’

Mark was sitting cheering with the rest, watching Rob and Katie make the dance floor their own. They moved in such perfect sinuous, sensual rhythm, he felt almost voyeuristic watching them. If ever a couple were meant to be together, it was Katie and Rob.

He wondered if he would ever feel that way about anyone again.

Katie and Rob returned to their table, flushed and happy with their success. They had scored maximum points for execution and delivery, and had just lost a couple of marks for timing lapses. They had stormed into the lead, and the couples that followed them were going to be hard-pushed to match them.

‘Well done, you two,’ said Mark. ‘I really admire you both. I wish I could dance like that.’

‘You could always try dancing like no one's looking.’

Mark looked up in shock. Emily was standing before him.

‘Emily,’ said Mark. He was stunned. For weeks he'd thought of nothing but Emily, and here she was standing before him in all her heart-stopping gorgeousness.

‘Talking to yourself is a really bad habit, you know,’ said Emily.

‘I must have picked it up from you,’ said Mark. The noise and chaos of the dance competition had faded into the background. All that mattered was that Emily was here.

‘We'll just go and powder our noses or something,’ said Rob, but Mark barely noticed when he and Katie discreetly slid away.

‘I thought you didn't care,’ said Mark.

‘I thought you didn't,’ Emily replied. She looked embarrassed. ‘I just assumed – I thought you'd got back together with Sam.’

‘No, not now,’ said Mark. ‘Never, after you. Nothing compares, and all that.’

‘Doesn't it?’

‘Now and for always,’ said Mark. ‘There's only ever going to be you. There was only ever you.’

‘I got your note,’ said Emily.

‘So what do you think?’ Mark asked.

‘I think it's time,’ she said, ‘that we lived like it's heaven on earth, don't you?’

And she kissed him. The sounds of the room faded away as he held her in his arms, right where she belonged.

Suddenly he was aware of a loud roar and a huge commotion.

‘I hate to break you two lovebirds up,’ said Rob, tapping Mark on the shoulder, ‘but Katie and I appear to have won a gold medal.’

‘That's fantastic!’ Emily hugged Katie and kissed Rob. Mark gave Rob a manly handshake and pecked Katie on the cheek.

‘Congratulations to Katie and Rob,’ the compere was saying, ‘and now we'd like everyone on the floor for the dance-off.’ The first strains of ‘The Time of My Life’ started playing. Rob was straight onto the floor with Katie. He motioned to Mark and Emily to follow them.

‘I'm still a crap dancer,’ said Mark, ‘but do you fancy it?’ ‘Me too,’ said Emily, ‘but I don't think anyone's looking, do you?’

I am immensely lucky to have had help from a number of people when writing
Strictly Love
and would like to thank the following for their stonking support.