Sophie nodded. ‘Yes. Nice to see you.’
With another uneasy smile, Brody walked towards the rear of the boat, presumably to where Tegan and his future in-laws were sitting. Sophie pushed her plate away.
Vee touched her arm. ‘You’ve gone quiet. Are you OK?’
‘Fine. Fine. I think I’ll pop to the Ladies before the dancing starts again,’ Sophie said, forcing herself to sound cheery.
She made her way through the packed saloon and down the stairs, to find a long queue for the Ladies. There were at least six people ahead of her, so she resigned herself to the wait. It was impossible not to think about Brody, how gorgeous he looked and how uncomfortable he’d seemed to see her. His compliment about her looking ‘nice’ had made her cringe. She’d rather he hadn’t said anything at all.
She’d barely moved when Tegan emerged from the Ladies and waved at her.
‘Oh, hello again!’ She was wearing a gorgeous grey satin dress. ‘How are your cats?’ she asked. ‘Brody told me they’d eaten some mistletoe and he’d had to treat them.’
Sophie hid her surprise that Brody had said anything about the incident. ‘They’re fine now, thanks.’
‘Good … And your anti-Christmas break went well?’
Sophie thought it wasn’t worth arguing about what thebreak was, having grown tired of explaining it to people. ‘Yes, I think everyone enjoyed it. Thank you for having us all on Christmas Day. It was really kind of you.’
‘Oh, you’re welcome! Actually it was a lot of fun. I was just worried it might be a bit too Christmassy for you all.’
Sophie kept her smile in place while being desperate to escape, hoping that the queue would move faster. ‘In the circumstances, I think some turkey and tinsel were the least of our worries.’
‘Yes, I s’pose so. Well, I’d better get back to Brody and my parents. I think I mentioned that my dad’s not well, but he still insisted on coming here tonight. He never misses the New Year’s Eve do.’
Sophie recalled the conversation with Tegan on Christmas Day and it made her feel sorry for her all over again. ‘It’s great he could make it. Vee was telling me that this was one of the big nights in the Bannerdale social calendar. I’m sure your dad will be OK,’ she went on, wondering if she was talking rubbish. Surgery of any kind didn’t sound like a trivial thing and she could understand why Tegan was concerned.
Tegan sighed. ‘It is great … and I hope he’s going to celebrate many more of them. People keep telling me it’s a routine op these days, but that’s not true. He has angina too.’ She held up crossed fingers. ‘Brody keeps trying to reassure me it will be fine. I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s so supportive. I’m very lucky.’
Sophie gave a weak smile. ‘I really hope it all goes well,’ she said. ‘I’d better go back too. Vee will be wondering where I’ve got to.’
‘Brody will too. See you on the dance floor maybe? If I can persuade Brody to dance. It’s not really his thing, but we’re celebrating tonight.’
Tegan waltzed off, holding up her dress to avoid tripping on her silver heels. Sophie felt terrible that not only had Brody kept quiet about his fiancée, but he’d done so when she was already dealing with so much. No wonder Tegan seemed rather brittle and clingy at times.
After visiting the loo, Sophie decided not to go straight back to her table, but instead headed for the exit. Although the night was calm, the cold took her breath away. There were half a dozen people out there, though it was so cold that most of them were shivering and hastily going back inside.
‘Sophie!’
Brody’s voice. Had he followed her? She hadn’t noticed him when she was talking to Tegan. She wrapped her arms around her body.
‘Why are you out here?’ he said. ‘You must be freezing!’
‘I don’t want to go inside.’
‘Then have this.’ Even as he spoke, he was shrugging off his jacket.
He draped it around her shoulders, his fingers brushing her bare collarbone as he did so. She didn’t know which goosebumps were from the cold and which were from the touch of his hand on her bare flesh. Far too large, the jacket was warm from his body and smelled of his aftershave, and the silk lining caressed her body the way she wanted him to.
Moonlight shimmered on the unruffled surface of thelake, and the fells were black against the night sky. It felt incredibly romantic, and even more wrong that she was out there with Brody.
‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’ Sophie tried to pull off his jacket and held it out. She didn’t care how cold she was.
Brody sighed. ‘Please put it back on. You’ll freeze out here.’
Reluctantly she did so. ‘Tegan won’t be happy if she comes out and sees this, though. Brody, she’s your fiancée.’
‘Actually she’d have no reason to be mad. We’re not engaged any more. We’re not even a couple.’
