‘Well, thanks.'
‘Don't mention it.' He smiled briefly, as if she were some just-met girl who meant nothing to him. ‘All part of the service.'
Lily nodded. She sat up and reached into the punnet of raspberries. ‘You won't tell anyone, though? You do promise?'
It lacerated him to think she still needed to be reassured. ‘I've already promised. You know you can trust me.'
‘I thought I could trust other people.' Her expression was rueful. ‘Turns out I couldn't. I suppose I'm- Ow!'
Dan's gaze had been fixed on her eyes. If he'd been paying more attention, he would have seen the wasp perched on the raspberry she was putting into her mouth. By the time he batted it away, it was too late. Lily had been stung on her bottom lip.
‘Bastard wasp!' She clapped her hand over her mouth and let out a squeak of pain. ‘That hurts.'
‘Here, let me look.' Dan knew she wasn't allergic to wasp stings; he suspected he just wanted an excuse to touch her again. Moving closer and nudging her hand away, he held the side of her face and studied the site of the sting.
Not a lot to see, to be honest.
Just a bit of redness and maybe a slight swelling.
‘If it was a snake bite, I'd offer to suck out the poison,' he said.
‘That's really helpful. Thank you. If my lip swells up like a balloon, I'm going to look ridiculous,' Lily fretted. At that moment, her phone began to ring and she let out a groan of despair. ‘Oh no, it's Eddie.'
Dan moved back, Lily flapped her hand at him to stay silent and he spent the next few minutes listening to her telling Eddie that she'd just been stung on the lip by a wasp whilst neglecting to mention where she was and who she was with.
By the time she ended the call, her bottom lip was visibly bigger and she was visibly more upset.
‘What is it?' said Dan.
‘Oh come on, you know perfectly well what. We did that thing we did … ' Lily gestured helplessly between them, ‘and less than a minute later I'm stung by a wasp. On my mouth,' she emphasised.
‘And?'
She stuck out her swollen bottom lip. ‘If that isn't karma, I don't know what is.'
Chapter 42
Twenty-four hours had passed since That Kiss, and Lily was still so shaken by the experience she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever feel normal again.
Oh God, though, it had been so completely and utterly mind-blowing. She'd expected it to be a bit special, what with her having secretly wanted to kiss Dan for years, but no way had she expected it to take her over like this. It was like having your body infiltrated by a spirit and being incapable of controlling any aspect of it. Her brain was flatly refusing to concentrate on anything else. Her heart quickened every time she thought about Dan – which was all the time, pretty much – and production of adrenalin was in overdrive.
Plus, there was the guilt issue. Because there was undoubtedly guilt there. But try as she might, Lily knew she definitely wasn't feeling anywhere near guilty enough.
She heaved a sigh and looked at her reflection in the dressing-table mirror. What a mess, what an unholy mess. And what had she done? Only ended up making her own life that much more difficult.
Because it clearly hadn't meant anything to Dan. He'd come up with the idea on the spur of the moment and done the deed without stopping to think twice about it. Boom, kiss administered, job done. She was the one who should have guessed just how much turmoil it would set off. She should have said no when he'd first made the offer, laughed it off and not allowed it to happen.
Except she hadn't done that, had she? Instead, like a complete numpty, she'd let him go ahead and do it, unleashing all kinds of bodily havoc.
Twinnnnnnggggggg went her phone, and Lily jumped, because pretty much everything was making her jumpy right now. Then she did it again when she saw the text that had flashed up on the screen from Eddie.
Skype??
Oh God, she couldn't, just couldn't do it. Not yet, not while she was in this much of a state. It was hard enough speaking to him on the phone. Actually looking him in the eyes and pretending everything was fine was definitely more than she could handle right now.
Hastily she texted back: You'd get a fright if you did – my lip's swollen up like a football. I look awful.
You see? Even that wasn't true, her lip was fine. She was lying to conceal her guilt, but the real guilt wasn't what Dan thought it was.
As far as he was concerned, the plan had been that she would feel bad because she'd physically kissed another man.
What he was blissfully unaware of – thank goodness – was the fact that she felt bad because it had been the best kiss, the best thirty seconds and the most heavenly experience of her life.
Another text from Eddie lit up the phone's screen.
I don't mind how scary you look. Xxx
Lily texted back: Maybe not, but I do! Can't talk now, I'll call later. Hope your TV thing goes well. Xxx
He replied: OK. Love you. X
Excuse me? Lily looked at the message again. He'd definitely written Love you at the end.
OK, that was weird. He'd never said those words to her before, so why would he be texting them now?
Did he actually mean it?
Was he texting the fact that he loved her because it was less terrifying than saying it to her face?
Did she even want him to be saying it, given the situation she currently found herself in?
Lily closed her eyes, then opened them again and gave her reflection in the mirror a get-real look.
Because it wasn't as if she had two lovely men after her and all she had to do was choose which one she liked best. Eddie Tessler was really nice, but he was from a show-businessy parallel universe and she suspected she was a bit of a novelty, more of a passing whim for him than anything serious and lasting. And she was fine with that, because deep down she knew theirs was a relationship that had never been destined to last. It was a dalliance and it was fun, but it would never be long-term. There were too many differences between them for that.
Whilst Dan was simply Dan, her oldest friend and the last person you'd ever want to get properly involved with, because Dan just didn't do proper involvement. If she were to give him her heart, he would break it.
And life in Stanton Langley would be awkward for ever more.
Which was why she had – had – to get over the kiss.
Her phone burst into life and she saw that Eddie was now calling her.
‘Hi,' she said. ‘I'm still not Skyping.'
‘I know. It's OK. This is a bit embarrassing actually. I pressed send on that last text before realising what I'd done.'
During the ensuing awkward pause, Lily started to laugh. ‘Thank goodness for that. You didn't mean it!'
‘Exactly.' Eddie sounded relieved. ‘It's how I used to end texts to my last girlfriend. I just did it this time without thinking. I didn't want you to wonder what it meant … '
‘I was wondering,' said Lily, still smiling. ‘It seemed a bit weird. Anyway, mystery solved. I'm glad you called to explain.'
‘And I'm glad you're OK about it. I mean, I do like you a lot, you know I do … '
‘But it's too soon for any of that love stuff. God, yes.'
‘Thanks. Bye,' said Eddie.
‘Bye. Love you,' teased Lily.
‘Haha, very funny.'
Less than five seconds after ending the call, another text arrived. This time it was from Dan.
Where are you? Have you fallen asleep? Dinner's ready and we're waiting for you to get your lazy backside over here, or I'll eat all your roast potatoes myself. X
Lily dusted a bit of powder over her freckled nose, slicked on some lip gloss and jumped to her feet. She could put on a carefree face and carry on acting as if they were just friends.
She had to, because they were.
Rapidly she texted back: Touch any of my roast potatoes and you're a dead man. On my way.
Then she paused and added a single kiss, to match the one Dan had used to end his text to her.
One tiny electronic kiss. Who'd have imagined the amount of upheaval a real-life one could cause?
Declan had never before worked so hard or such long hours. OK, maybe he had, but never before with such intent and purpose. The last week had been a blur of activity, coordinating other workers and getting as much done as humanly possible. In his mind, he'd wanted everything finished by the time Coral returned home from the South of France. Superstitiously – and he'd never been superstitious in his life – he'd decided that if the renovation could be completed, all would be well.
He bloody hoped so, anyway.