Merry Measure - Lily Morton Page 0,47

want to be with you today. You make everything fun.”

I smile helplessly at him even though he just made me sound like a children’s entertainer. “Okay then, but if we do the gallery, I get to pick the next activity.”

He smiles. “That sounds good.” I raise my eyebrow, and he chuckles. “It actually does.” He hesitates for a second and then his next words come out in a rush. “Just being together on our own sounds good.”

“I know,” I say. We suddenly smile, as if synchronised.

“Let’s go, then,” he says, stepping away and holding out his hand.

He wriggles his fingers, and I place my hand in his. His grip tightens, and we walk out together. I like it far too much.

We walk down the cobbled street and cross the main road. The wintry sunshine is bright, but the wind is chilly, and I wrap his scarf around my neck tightly. It’s still early, so the streets are full of people walking to work or dropping children at school, and everywhere is the hum and rattle of bike wheels on the cobbled streets. Mothers cycle with children perched in front of them, wide-eyed and serious. People in suits cycle with their briefcases. I contemplate the idea of cycling to work myself, but then, thinking of the sweaty mess I’d be, I dismiss the idea, romantic though it is.

We walk over a bridge, and the sight is one I would never grow tired of. All along the canal, narrowboats are moored, their decks bright with winter flowers. On the corner, looking out over the canal, is a little cafe. A group of old men sit outside chatting and laughing loudly, their breaths white puffs in the air.

Jack grins at me. “Come on, let’s go and get a coffee.”

“Really? Don’t we have to be at the museum?”

“Not until eleven. We’ve got plenty of time.”

“Do you know where the museum is?”

He nods, looking slightly surprised. “Of course. I looked it up on the map before we came out.”

“Did you? I can never understand those things.”

“I know,” he says dryly. “I remember when we took you to uni for the first time. We spent hours going around in circles in Birmingham because you’d got the map upside down.” I poke him, and he laughs. “Let’s go and get coffee, at least. You’ve missed your chance to fleece the hotel by eating your body weight in breakfast food.”

“I know,” I say in a dark voice. “That’s the second day in a row. You should feel honoured because those eggs benedict with truffle oil were lush.”

He laughs. “Do you eat like this at home?”

“Not bloody likely. My budget doesn’t exactly run to truffle oil. More Rice Krispies and Pop-Tarts.”

He shudders. “Not exactly healthy.”

“Nope. Especially not if you try eating a Pop-Tart straight after it comes out of the toaster. That filling could give Vesuvius a run for its money.”

We wander over the little bridge, easing past two delivery drivers, their vans parked at an angle as they argue over the right of way. Jack steers me to a small table at the edge of the café’s seating area.

“I’ll go and order our drinks,” he says and leaves me to settle back in my chair.

The sun is warm on my face now we’re out of the wind, and the sky is a bright blue frosty colour. All around me shop owners are opening their doors, and smoke tumbles lazily from the roof of the houseboat in front of me.

I sit still, trying to analyse what I’m feeling at this precise moment. There’s excitement, the same emotion I always feel in Jack’s company. But it’s more intense now because it’s mingled with the memory of his kisses and the feel of his body. There’s also a tinge of disbelief, because if you’d asked me before this holiday, I’d have told you I had more chance of copping off with Harry Styles than I did with Jack.

Unfortunately, there’s also a shard of worry about how this is going to work out. I’m so different from anyone he’s ever been out with. How long will it be before my clumsiness and disorganisation stops being quirky and endearing and he moves on to the next perfect specimen? I wince. That’s going to hurt like a motherfucker.

As I watch the cyclists go past, I decide to settle in to the present moment. I’ve got a chance to be with Jack that might not come again. We’ll shag and have a good time and