Merry Measure - Lily Morton Page 0,37

we lag behind. “Like I said. I wouldn’t bother about Steven.”

“He’s with Jack at the moment,” I say in a low voice.

He shakes his head. “No, he’s not. Jack spoke to him for ten minutes at the most and then holed up in our room to shower and borrow a jumper and coat from Tom.” I sag with relief, and he smiles. “They’ve split up, and once Jack is done, he’s done. You know that. It happens with every relationship of his. He’s nice but firm.”

“Makes him sound like an orthopaedic mattress,” I say.

“One you’d like to bounce on,” he says tartly. “I don’t think Jack was ever really with Steven anyway,” he says thoughtfully. “Jack always seemed slightly disengaged, and Steven just seemed irritated that he couldn’t fit Jack on a spreadsheet.”

“Not together? Were you ignoring the holidays you’ve taken with them and the year and a bit they went out together?”

“I’m trying,” he says earnestly. “But the memory of Steven in the Louvre won’t fade.” He winces. “I told him the Mona Lisa wasn’t a suitable companion for a selfie and getting angry with that group of nuns was very unwise.”

He looks up ahead to where the others are following Tom. Steven and Jack are walking together, and Steven takes his arm. My heart sinks when Jack doesn’t shrug him off, but after a moment, he pivots, and Steven’s hand falls away.

Bee nudges me. “You’re not going to see a huge denunciation scene,” he says earnestly. “Jack’s too kind for that and very wary of hurting anyone else’s feelings. God, don’t you remember Andy and his flash mob proposal?”

I wince. “I honestly thought Jack would end up married simply because he’s incapable of saying no to people when they want something.”

Bee rolls his eyes. “I’d have used a megaphone to get that particular message across.”

I laugh, but then sober. “But he and Steven could still get back together.”

He laughs. “Not likely. They split a month ago and Jack seemed incredibly relieved to have it finally ended. All this is just Steven deciding to pay Jack a visit. Barbara and Derek suggested it.”

“What?” I say, and it’s far too loud. The others look back at me, and I search for inspiration. “What on earth is that cyclist doing?” I say, pointing to the road.

They all immediately start looking for the rogue cyclist, and I turn back to Bee. “Derek and Barbara sent Steven here?”

He rolls his eyes. “They convinced him to give Jack another try.”

“And Steven went along with it? He doesn’t exactly strike me as malleable.”

He scoffs. “Of course, not. If you ask me, Steven can’t bear the idea that Jack finished their relationship. That really sticks in his throat.”

“It was Jack who broke them up?” My stomach sinks rapidly to my feet, like I’m in a falling lift.

I pushed Jack into Steven’s arms in the room earlier because I thought they were getting back together and I didn’t want Jack to say the words that would ruin my dream of being with him. Only now it sort of looks like I just shoved Jack at Steven and waved him off happily. I swallow hard. What must Jack think?

Bee squeezes my arm. “I think they’d have split up a lot sooner if they’d been in the same country.”

The others have stopped on the bridge to watch a group of carollers bundled in eighteenth-century dress. They’re singing, “We Three Kings,” and their voices are astonishingly beautiful as they drift up and around the canal houses. The scene and the sounds are timeless, and I wish I were sharing them with friends and not… Steven.

He’s looking at me, and when my eyes meet his, he gives me a ferocious glare and turns back to Jack.

“Was Steven upset by the split?” I ask Bee.

He grimaces. “No. Steven is far too much like Jack’s parents. He was probably just miffed that they wouldn’t get a couple’s tax rebate.” He sends Jack an affectionate look. “God only knows why Jack went along with the relationship in the first place. He’d have ended up with a version of Barbara and Derek’s marriage.”

I sigh. “He did it because he’s a bit of a people pleaser and he wanted his parents to be happy even though they never will. They loved Steven, which must have made it easier for Jack when he visited. He wanted them all to be a proper family.” Bee looks at me startled, and I shrug. “I could have taken an A-level