The Importance of Being a Bachelor (26 page)

Message 1:
Hey you, just to let you know that we arrived safely, have had a long boozy lunch and are now heading for the rollercoasters! Miss you loads. A xxx

Message 2:
Have just been showing the girls all the pictures of you that are on my phone. They are all in agreement that you are by far the best-looking boyfriend I have ever had! Don’t let your head swell!!!! Love you loads. A.

Message 3:
It’s cocktail time! Love you xxx

Message 4:
It’s still cocktail time!!!! xxx

Message 5:
Cocktail time has claimed first casualty. Bride to be’s sister is throwing up in loos as I type!!! Miss you crazy legs! A xxx

Russell was about to compose a reply that would go some way to making recompense for his earlier non-replies when another message arrived.

Message 6:
Am v. drunk!!!! Have I told you how much I love you? RUSSELL BACHELOR YOU ROCK MY WORLD!!!!!!! XXXX

Nervously biting his lip as he kept look out for Cassie Russell typed the following reply: ‘I’ll make sure that we’re well stocked with Nurofen for your return home!!! Love you, you mentalist! R xxx’ and then pressed send just as Cassie returned to the table.

‘What’s up with you? You look a little bit shifty.’

Russell looked up. ‘It was nothing,’ he said, quickly shoving his phone into his trousers pocket. ‘Just a mate sharing a bit of an in joke that we’ve got going on. So what now?’

‘Haven’t you got anywhere you need to be?’ asked Cassie. ‘Come on Russ, there’s no need to be polite. You’ve gone way beyond the call of duty now, OK? You don’t really have to waste any more of your weekend looking after me.’

‘I have no plans,’ said Russell with a grin. ‘Because like you I have no mates and no life so why don’t we carry on hanging out together until one or other of us gets bored?’

‘That’s what you really want to do?’

‘No, Cass, that’s what I
really, really
want to do.’

‘You do realise that you’re making both of your brothers look like poor choices in comparison, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking it’s about time someone put them in their place.’

Allowing Cassie to take his arm Russell made his way out on to the pavement where Beech Road was now practically swimming in smug-looking couples who were doing the weekend strolling thing. Russell couldn’t help a small glow of pride at the thought that every one would jump to the conclusion that he and Cassie were together. It was like being in a dream and yet fully awake. If he didn’t keep his mouth shut he would be sure to involuntarily communicate the pleasure he was feeling in a fashion that would leave both of them severely embarrassed.

With no plan in mind they strolled aimlessly, content to simply walk and talk in what remained of the day’s sun, and eventually found themselves heading into Chorlton Park where they sat down on a bench overlooking the children’s play area.

‘How could anyone not want one of those?’ asked Cassie, pointing out a little girl wearing a pink T-shirt and yellow shorts chasing after a ball. ‘Look at her, she’s adorable.’

‘You’re right.’

‘Do you want to have kids one day?’

The question took him by surprise. ‘Me?’ he spluttered. ‘Do I want to have kids?’

She laughed. ‘It’s not that hard a question, is it?’

Russell thought for a moment. ‘Yeah. I suppose I would like to have them some day.’

‘Girls? Boys? Don’t care?’

‘Girls definitely,’ said Russell. ‘I’ve done the male-dominated household and let me tell you, it’s hard work.’

‘And a female-dominated one isn’t? Even when I was a teenager I used to feel sorry for my dad having to put up with me and my sister and all of our ballet lessons, pony obsessions and constant demands for new clothes when all he really wanted was someone to take to the park for a quick kick around with a football. And I don’t know how he must have felt when we first started going out with boys. He must have worked out a way of blanking it all from his mind!’

‘None of that bothers me. I’ve always liked girls. They’re more straightforward and loads easier to talk to about stuff.’

‘You’d make a great dad. You’d be really understanding and patient.’

Russell looked back over at the playground where two little girls, clearly sisters, were sitting on the see-saw taking it in turns to scream at the top of their voices. ‘How about you?’ asked Russell. ‘Judging by what you’ve just said my guess is that you’d like boys.’

‘And you’d be wrong. I wouldn’t care one way or the other. Boys, girls, I wouldn’t mind. I’d like at least three though. Three’s a good number for a family, don’t you think?’

Russell shrugged. While he was sure that he hadn’t missed out on anything being the youngest child of three he suspected that Luke harboured a few issues about being the middle child.

‘Kids are important, aren’t they? They bind you together with the love of your life and ground you completely.’ She began to get upset. ‘I just don’t get it. Why didn’t Luke want to start a family with me? Why did I have to make a choice between the man I love and having children that let’s face it I might never have? It’s just not fair. Luke got to experience being a dad, why shouldn’t I get the chance to be a mum?’

As Cassie started to cry Russell put his arms round her and concentrated on the sensation of her body pressing against his own. Part of him wanted to say something that would comfort her but most of him wanted to kiss her and so he reached out, gently lifted her chin until her lips were perfectly positioned with his own and then did so. For a moment or two he was convinced that she was kissing him back but as quickly as the moment had begun it was over.

Cassie regained her composure, stood up and moved away from him. ‘I’d better go,’ she said, avoiding his gaze. ‘I’d really better go.’ Without another word she turned and walked away.

‘Let’s not keep madam waiting.’

Saturday morning found Adam loading up the boot and back seat of his car with weekend suitcases. For the first time he and Steph were going away overnight to attend the wedding of one of Steph’s university friends in Stratford-upon-Avon.

‘Do we really have to do this?’ moaned Adam, who would much have preferred to follow their usual relaxed routine of eating nice food and taking in cultural events that he wasn’t interested in. ‘If there’s one thing I loathe it’s going to the wedding of a complete stranger.’

‘She’s not a complete stranger,’ said Steph patiently. ‘She was one of my best friends back in my uni days.’

‘But she’s not any more, is she?’

‘You’re more than welcome to stay here if you like but I’d just like to point out that you would be missing out.’

‘On wedding cake and pointless small talk with strangers?’

Steph shook her head and raised an enigmatic eyebrow. Eventually he got the message. ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’

‘I might be.’

‘Really?’

‘Well, put it this way: I’ve spent a small fortune on underwear and I really don’t want it to go to waste.’

‘Right then,’ said Adam, starting up the car. ‘Let’s not keep madam waiting.’

For the most part the drive down to the Midlands along the M6 was uneventful. Adam steadily worked his way through the playlist that he had made for the journey on his iPod while Steph dozed in the passenger seat in a bid to make sure that she didn’t fall asleep at the reception, but just outside Stoke the traffic came to a complete standstill and Adam began to wonder whether they would make it to their destination at all.

‘Worried about us making it on time?’ asked Steph.

‘Amongst other things.’

‘I can’t help you on traffic jams but I might be able to help you with the other stuff if you want to share.’

Adam squeezed Steph’s hand briefly. ‘I’ll be fine.’

‘That’s the thing about you,’ said Steph, sitting up upright. ‘You like to cope. Coping is what you do. But have you thought that there might be a more straightforward solution?’

‘Like telling people what’s on my mind?’

‘It’s a novel approach but I’ve heard it actually works for some people.’

‘OK, it’s like this: basically I was thinking how if I’d met you back at the beginning of the summer and you’d asked me to go to this wedding I would’ve had to say no.’

‘Because you don’t like weddings?’

‘No, because Monday is supposed to be my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary and we’d have thrown the party that we were planning for them today.’

‘Oh, Adam, why didn’t you say? The last place you’ll want to be this weekend will be at a wedding. Look, let’s forget it and turn back home or better still go off on an adventure for the weekend.’

‘You really would do that, wouldn’t you,’ said Adam, surprised by the rush of love that he felt for her. ‘You really wouldn’t care if we didn’t go.’

‘Not if it’s going to upset you, of course not. So where should we go instead?’

‘Nowhere. I’m fine with us going to the wedding. There’s nothing I can do about my parents, is there? I didn’t tell them to split up so I’m guessing it’s up to them to get themselves back together if it’s what they want.’ The traffic had started to move. ‘Anyway,’ he pulled off the handbrake and they started crawling forwards, ‘maybe this whole wedding anniversary thing will make them take a long hard look at everything they’re putting at stake. Maybe it’ll make them see just how important the family really is.’

For the next hour all Adam and Steph did was talk about family. Steph spoke about her mum’s illness and her subsequent passing away but also about all the good times that they had shared as a family of two. As she spoke about her past Adam found himself gaining a deeper understanding of why Steph was the way she was and of the things that she really wanted to get from life. Suddenly the conversation they had had about her ex-boyfriend and the tears she had cried on the night they first got together made much more sense. Steph hadn’t been lamenting the end of her relationship but rather the passing of what must have felt like her last opportunity to make a family of her own to replace the one that she had lost.

Arriving at their destination just before midday Adam and Steph made their way down the long and winding driveway of what was clearly a former stately home.

‘This must have cost a bomb, if they’ve hired the whole place,’ said Adam, looking out at the expanse of greenery towards the huge house mounted in the middle of the landscape. ‘What did you say your friends do again?’

‘She works in the City and I think he’s some kind of top guy in the Civil Service. Sarah’s always telling me about how he’s just had a meeting with this or that minister so he must be quite important.’

Adam lifted up his sunglasses and looked at Steph. ‘You do realise that I’m not going to have a single thing in common with these people, don’t you?’

She leaned across and kissed him. ‘Doesn’t matter, my friend,’ she replied. ‘All I care about is that you have everything in common with me.’

Pulling into the car park at the rear of the hotel Adam and Steph unloaded their bags, checked into their room, got changed and were back downstairs in the reception waiting area within the hour.

‘You look great,’ said Adam, taking in Steph’s simple but elegant dark green dress.

‘And you don’t look so bad yourself. A touch like an East End gangster but in this context that’s no bad thing.’

The afternoon went a lot better than Adam had expected. Determined not to embarrass Steph he gave his best efforts to the making of small talk even when the small talk got so tiny that it was invisible to the naked eye. He refrained from overindulging at the free bar despite waiters thrusting champagne into his hand at every opportunity. Some time after eight when the cake had long since been cut, speeches made and first dances taken, Steph turned to Adam and smiled.

‘What?’ he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

‘I want to go.’

‘Where?’

Steph rolled her eyes. ‘Where do you think? Back to our room. I keep thinking about our lovely room and the fact that we’re not in it. They’ll kick us out by midday! Let’s sneak out now before we’re missed!’

Laughing as Steph grabbed his hand Adam followed her out of the ballroom and they ran full pelt along the corridor, through the main reception and up the stairs to their room. After frantically searching around in her clutch bag for the keys Steph opened the door, pulled Adam in and once the door was fully closed threw herself on to him showering him with kisses as they both began to undress. As Adam struggled to take off his jacket without removing his lips from Steph’s his phone rang. He reached inside his pocket in order to switch it off for good and inadvertently noticed that the call was from his mum.

‘Talk about timing!’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s my mum. I’d better take it just to make sure that she’s all right. Is that OK?’

‘Of course. Anyway, I could do with a minute to get this dress off without ruining it.’

‘Hi, Mum, everything OK?’