The words stuck in my throat and I paused mid-sentence, heart racing, stomach churning as I stared at Mark’s companion. And suddenly I was back to the day nearly thirty years ago when I first laid eyes on him in this very pub.
13
THIRTY YEARS AGO
Birthdays had always been a big thing in our family. No matter what day of the week it was, it had to be celebrated. Occasionally a night out was deferred until the weekend but a fuss was still made.
I didn’t feel like celebrating my twenty-third birthday. A meal out or a few drinks at The Hardy Herdwick didn’t really cut it when I should have been spending my birthday in Thailand with my boyfriend. Except Rowan Hawkins wasn’t my boyfriend anymore – he was back with his ex and she was in Thailand with him right now.
I hadn’t fallen in love with Rowan but I thought I’d miss his friendship when we broke up. The only thing I’d actually missed was the dream of Thailand. I’d spent hours poring over guidebooks and brochures, planning out the holiday of a lifetime, but somebody else was doing it in my place, which was why I’d declared that I’d rather forget about my birthday this year. Which, of course, Georgia wouldn’t accept.
‘We’ll make it small,’ she’d eventually conceded. ‘Just you, me and a few drinks at the pub.’
I was still living with Mum and Dad but Georgia and Mark had been renting a small house together in Keswick for the past two years. He dropped her off at Derwent Rise so we could walk round to The Hardy Herdwick together.
‘Still feeling down?’ Georgia asked, linking her arm through mine, as we set off down the drive after she’d said hello to our parents.
‘A bit.’
‘Missing Rowan?’
‘Nope. It’s the holiday I miss.’
‘There’ll be other holidays. You can go to Thailand with a friend or a future boyfriend.’
‘I know and I’ll get over it, but I should have been spending today at an elephant sanctuary. A day at work and a few drinks in the local isn’t quite the same so I can’t help feeling a little grumpy.’
‘I get it. I’d be miffed too.’
‘I’ll let my birthday slip by quietly this year and maybe I’ll spend it in Thailand next year or the year after.’
She squeezed my arm. ‘That’s the spirit.’
We arrived at the pub and, as we stepped inside, I jumped at a chorus ofSurprise!Several tables on one side of the pub were filled with friends and family members and there was a large Dumbo helium balloon standing on the floor. Mark was there so he’d evidently dropped Georgia off then driven round to the pub before we got here. The door opened behind us and Mum and Dad appeared.
‘When it comes to birthdays, you know we never do understated in this family,’ Georgia said, hugging me.
As I joined the group, a drink was thrust into my hand followed by a gift bag containing a stack of elephant-themed items including a pair of silver stud earrings, a soft toy, a bar of soap, a notebook and a candle. Soon after, one of the staff appeared with the most amazing birthday cake of an elephant bathing in a bubble bath.
‘You couldn’t travel to bathe an elephant so we brought a bathing elephant to you,’ Georgia said after everyone sang the birthday song to me.
I’d genuinely thought that being surrounded by people was the last thing I wanted today but it was the best gift Georgia could have given me. The bag of presents and the cake were amazing but knowing that I had friends and family who cared enough to come out on a Wednesday night to cheer me up was priceless. I didn’t care that I didn’t have a boyfriend and it didn’t matter that I’d never been in love. It would hopefully happen to me one day when I least expected it.
The door opened and a group of eight men and one woman of varying ages from maybe mid-twenties to late-fifties made their way to the bar. One of the younger men caught my eye and I found my heart pounding – a reaction I’d never had at first sight before.
‘What are you looking… Oh! No need to answer that,’ Georgia said. ‘Not bad at all.’
‘I wasn’t looking at him.’
‘You keep telling yourself that.’
He was tall and broad with dark brown curly hair and a five o’clock shadow, but what really captivated me was his smile. It was so warm and friendly and I found myself wanting to be the person who made him smile like that.
‘I like his smile,’ I conceded, feeling my cheeks burning. This wasn’t like me at all.
At that moment, he glanced in my direction and his eyes rested on mine. His smile widened and I looked behind me, convinced he couldn’t possibly be smiling at me and must know one of my friends. But there was nobody looking in his direction. When I returned my gaze, he nodded and raised his glass towards me before returning his attention to his companions who were all toasting to the retirement of the oldest group member.
They pulled a couple of tables together at the other side of the pub and he sat down directly in my eyeline. As the evening progressed, we kept catching each other’s eye.
