The One That Got Away (6 page)

We make our way back to the men and as soon
as we get there Melissa smiles at Nathan. “Come on Nathan, show me
your moves. You don’t mind do you Bella?” She winks at me as she
pulls Nathan onto the dance floor and Nathan laughs and grins at me
as he follows her. I look at Ben and he smiles at me. “What do you
say Bella, let me show you my dance moves.”

Taking my hand he leads me onto the dance
floor and takes me in his arms. I can see Nathan and Melissa
dancing near us laughing and joking around. I feel strange being in
Ben’s arms and can’t quite look at him.

I can feel
his arm around me holding me tightly against him and can smell his
aftershave, a pleasant mix of spices and fragrance. My head is
against his shoulder and there is silence between us.

We move in time to the music and I am aware
of every move that he makes. It is as though my body is on red
alert and my legs feel weak and the blood is rushing in my head. It
feels so wrong to be experiencing these feelings but so right to be
in his arms. He moves his hands and it is as though I have received
an electric shock. My body is betraying me as I arch closer to his,
almost not breathing in case I break the spell.

The song finishes and we pull apart. His eyes
pull me in and compel me to look into them. They have darkened and
his breathing is heavier. I run my tongue over my bottom lip and
his jaw tightens.

Before we know it Nathan and Melissa race
over to us and break us apart laughing.

Nathan grabs hold of me and whisks me away
and I see Ben tenderly leading Melissa away from the dance floor.
Nathan pulls me to him and I use his muscular frame to hide my face
and the subsequent confusion that I now feel. What on earth was
that? I have never wanted anyone as much as I did then. The
feelings that I had tried to bury came racing back with a vengeance
and I feel that I have betrayed Nathan. Suddenly I want to collapse
in a sobbing heap and be anywhere but here. I shake myself and try
to pull myself together.

The song
finishes and Nathan pulls me back towards the Bar. Luckily there
are some of our friends there and they soon distract me from what
just happened.

After a while
I excuse myself and head off to the ladies to gather my thoughts. I
sit down on a chair in the ladies and lean my head back against the
back of it and allow myself to think about what just
happened.

How on earth does Ben bring out those
feelings in me? My thoughts turn to Nathan and even though I love
him with all my heart I have never had such intense feelings
towards him as I appear to have for Ben. Suddenly I wish that he
hadn’t come back into my life. I was happy with Nathan, happier
than I had ever been, why did he have to come along and change
everything?

The door opens and I look up as Melissa
enters the room. Seeing me sitting there she races over concern
etched on her face. “Bella, are you ok? You’re not feeling ill are
you?”

I smile weakly at her. “I’m fine thanks
Melissa; I just came over a bit faint that’s all. I hope that I’m
not coming down with something.”

I feel bad as I lie to her, trying
desperately to think of an excuse. She fusses around me grabbing me
a drink of water from a nearby cooler. “Do you want me to get
Nathan?” she says looking at me with concern. I shake my head and
stand up. “Thanks, but there is really no need. I feel much better
now; I probably just needed to sit down quietly for a bit.”

She grabs hold of my arm. “Come on, I’ll come
back with you just in case you feel faint again.”

Gosh if only
she knew the reason for my supposed illness, she wouldn’t be so
understanding then.

We get back inside and find Nathan and Ben
talking together by the bar. I notice with a sinking feeling that
Nathan is now well and truly plastered. He gets really loud and
annoying when he is drunk and I feel embarrassed that Ben is
witness to it. Melissa marches up to them and says loudly. “Guys,
Bella isn’t feeling well. Maybe she needs to get home.”

As they both
look at me with concern I blush with embarrassment “It's ok I’m
fine don’t worry about me.” Nathan looks at me and grabs hold of
me. “Bella, beautiful Bella, I must take you home at once and look
after you. Nothing will be too much trouble for me. I will tend to
you all night if I have to.”

I feel so embarrassed and Melissa laughs
loudly. “Nathan, you are in no position to look after anyone. If I
know best it will be Bella looking after you.”

He sways around on the spot and laughs.
“Melissa, my football loving friend, how right you are.” He then
sits down heavily on a nearby seat, looking very much the worse for
wear.

Ben looks at us both and his jaw
tightens.

“
Come on, we
will take you both home. It shouldn’t be up to Bella to look after
Nathan when she is feeling unwell.”

He turns to
Melissa. “Sorry darling, you don’t mind leaving early do
you?”

She looks at him and says silkily, “Honey, an
earlier night with you is no hardship.”

I look away, feelings of jealousy rising
within me and I feel so cross with Nathan. This is now turning out
to be my worst nightmare.

We follow them out and grab our coats and
head off outside.

Ben leads us over to his car which is a large
Range Rover. Nathan and I sit in the back and before long Nathan is
asleep. I direct Ben to Nathan’s flat and they help me get him from
the car upstairs into the flat. As they help me shift him I feel
mortified and can’t look them in the eye.

Ben gets Nathan into bed and looks at me with
a pitying expression. “Will you be ok Bella? I mean you weren’t
feeling so good yourself. Can we get you anything?”

I look at them both standing there looking
concerned and feel deeply ashamed. What I want most is for them to
go but I feel that I should at least offer them a drink for their
trouble. “Thank you, both of you.” I say weakly. “Please stay for a
coffee, it’s the least I can do after all of your help.”

Melissa slips her hand into Ben’s. “Thanks
Bella but we had better get off and leave you to it. You must be
tired and we don’t want to put you out.” I nod feeling extremely
embarrassed.

Ben looks at me with a stern expression. “Do
you want us to take you home? I mean Nathan is out cold in there
and it doesn’t seem fair to leave you to deal with him. He can
sleep it off and you can rest at home.”

I shake my head. “No, I’ll be fine. Thank you
both. I am sorry to have spoilt your evening.”

Melissa comes and hugs me. “Don’t be silly.
We have had a great time. Listen, I have really enjoyed meeting
you. Now I know that this will seem a bit strange but Ben and I
have got a weekend away booked in two weeks time to a lodge in the
New Forest. Why don’t you both come with us? It will be great to go
as a foursome and you can keep me company whilst Ben does his
endless work that follows him everywhere.”

I stand there
feeling shocked, not quite believing what I have just heard. I look
at Ben and he smiles indulgently at Melissa. “Yes, come with us.
Melissa is right; I do sort of neglect her and leave her to
entertain herself. Come with us, we will have fun.”

Not knowing
what to say I smile weakly. “You don’t want us spoiling your
romantic weekend, thank you for the invite though; it was really
kind of you.” “Nonsense,” says Melissa with determination, “We
won’t take no for an answer. We will pick you up at 7.30pm on the
Friday evening. I would welcome the company, sorry I meant to say,
we would welcome the company.” She laughs and they move to the
front door.

Ben looks at me intently. “Take care Bella,
try to have a rest tomorrow, you need it. See you next week.” He
steps forward and kisses me on the cheek and then they leave. As
soon as the door closes I lock it behind them and tears run down my
face at the feeling of emptiness that I now feel.

Chapter 7

The next morning Nathan is full of
remorse.

“
Bella baby,
I am so sorry. I ruined our evening. Will you ever forgive
me?”

I look at him and despite still feeling very
cross with him, I can’t stay mad at him as he has this little boy
lost look about him that makes me just want to reassure him.

“
I can’t stay
mad at you.” I say hugging him. “Although next time don’t start
drinking in the afternoon. I wanted you in full working order last
night and you let me down.” I tease him, running my fingers down
his bare chest. He grabs hold of them and pulls me on to his knee.
“Well my darling, I had better make it up to you then hadn’t I?” As
he kisses me I push him away. “Enough of all that we are due at my
mother’s for lunch. You missed your chance and you don’t get
another one.”

He pretends to sulk and then laughs and jumps
up to get dressed. It amazes me how quickly he recovers after a
drunken night out. It never seems to affect him in the morning,
which is sickening really as I wanted him to suffer for the rest of
the day after the events of last night.

As we drive to my mothers I tell him of our
invitation to the New Forest.

He looks excited and totally up for it.
“Great, it sounds like fun. I like Ben and Melissa, they are good
company.” I sit quietly and wish that I could share his enthusiasm.
It unnerves me that I have such extreme reactions to Ben and the
thought of spending a weekend with him in close proximity is quite
disturbing.

We have a nice lunch at my mum and dad’s. I
tell mum

about Phoebe’s offer and she raises her eyes
up in disbelief. “Surely you are not going to entrust your wedding
preparations to scatty Phoebe. Are you mad?”

I laugh and Nathan looks surprised. “When was
this decided?” he says grinning.

“
Yesterday,”
I say fixing him with a hard stare, “I would have told you but you
were otherwise occupied.” He grins at me sheepishly. “Well I think
it’s a great idea. Phoebe may surprise you all.” Mum doesn’t look
so sure though. “Anyway Bella, I have got you heaps of bridal
magazines to take away with you and there is a wedding fair at the
Grange next Sunday that I think we should attend.” Nathan raises
his eyes and I try not to laugh. “Ok Mum, if it makes you happy
we’ll go,” I say thinking that I really should start doing
something towards the wedding.

After lots more discussion about everything
to do with weddings we say our goodbyes and Nathan drives me to my
flat. “I’m sorry about last night Bella,” he says as we pull into
the parking bay. “I wanted it to be so special and now we are back
to work and I won’t see you again until Friday evening. I feel that
we wasted the time that we do have.” He looks so upset that I
instantly forgive him.

“
Don’t worry;
you can make it up to me on Friday. Let’s just grab a takeaway and
spend the night in. We can look forward to it all week.”

Nathan nods
and kisses me and it is quite some time before we come up for air.
As I watch him drive off I can’t wait for Friday to come
around.

When I get inside Phoebe is waiting for me.
“Bella, at last. I have so much to tell you since yesterday.”
Laughing I follow her to the settee and she points to various
magazines littering the floor.

“
Well I spoke
to Boris and he is going to have a word with his Uncle about Harden
Hall. I have also looked at websites for flowers and invitations
and am in the process of compiling a checklist. First things first
though I need to know if you want a Church wedding or one at the
Venue.”

I laugh at my friend who has already totally
gone to town at this. “Hang on a minute Phoebs; let me get in at
least. Anyway tell me first about your evening. Did Boris lose any
weight?” Phoebe grins at me and says, “Well if he didn’t it will be
a miracle. He called me when he got home and said he aches in
places he never knew existed.” We both laugh and then she says,
“What about your evening, how did it go?” I pull a face and say,
“best not to talk about it. Just say it wasn’t the best one and
Nathan had better turn tee total before the next one.” Phoebe
laughs loudly which doesn’t surprise me; Nathan can do no wrong in
her eyes. I decide to have a relaxing bath and an early night as I
am exhausted mentally and physically after the busy weekend.

Chapter 8

The next week is fairly quiet. I don’t see
Ben at all and as Nathan is still working away I just throw myself
into my job.

My evenings are spent at home listening to
Phoebe’s constant ideas about the wedding. I am looking forward to
a quiet weekend with Nathan and don’t even dread the thought of the
wedding fair with my mother.

I am glad to see Nathan and we spend a lovely
evening at his flat on Friday. I have to work on Saturday which is
fine as he has football. I wonder if Melissa will be there. I don’t
know why but I don’t like the thought of her watching and spending
time with them both.

Soon Sunday comes around and Nathan and I
find ourselves walking into the wedding fair at The Grange. My
mother is already here and seeing us coming she gestures madly to
us to join her at one of the tables. “Bella, Nathan, there you are.
Come over and meet Barry.”

Nathan looks at me and raises his eyes up. I
laugh at him as he has tried every trick in the book to get out of
today. It’s not really his scene but as we haven’t seen much of
each other recently I suggested that he come with me and then we
could get a drink and a bite to eat on the way home.

My mum is looking at a table filled with
gorgeous flower arrangements and introduces Barry to us. “Bella,
Barry has the most fantastic ideas for flowers here and is very
reasonable with his pricing.” Barry is standing there clasping his
hands together looking very animated and I daren’t look at Nathan
in case he sets me off laughing. Bouquets by Barry, is emblazoned
on the literature that he is giving out and as I look at his
photographs I can see that he obviously hasn’t updated his look for
several years. To say that he is traditional is an understatement.
It appears that he loves a carnation, which is incidentally my
least favourite flower. Mum looks happy though, it probably reminds
her of her wedding.