Private Player

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Shall I open some wine?” he asked, already heading to the wine fridge.

He’d pulled out a bottle before I’d had a chance to answer. “That looks fancy,” I said.

“Champagne. Goes with anything.” He set about getting glasses and opening the bottle while I got napkins and cutlery.

“It feels like we’re on perpetual holiday at the moment,” I said. I’d declined the full-time position at the Post, but Bernie said he’d be interested in anything I wrote freelance. That would keep me going until we were ready with the book. When I finally decided what I wanted, everything seemed to slot into place: work, passion, love. “At some point I have to go back to Hampstead.” I’d not spent a night there since I’d made the trip to Norfolk. Nathan and I had been inseparable and so far, everything just worked so easily between us.

“Who says?”

“Who says what?” I asked.

“That you have to go back to Hampstead.”

I straightened our forks and looked up. “I live there, silly.”

“Technically. But you don’t have to go back,” he said as he began to pour the champagne. “Why don’t you move in here?”

Nathan Cove was already the best boyfriend a girl could wish for. He didn’t have anything left to prove. “It’s been six weeks, Nathan.”

“I don’t care. How I feel isn’t going to change. What’s the point in waiting? You’re living here in all practical senses anyway.”

It was conversations like this that made me realize why Nathan made such a great businessman. He just saw things very clearly. If something was broken, he saw the fix. If there was an opportunity, he grabbed it. But he moved at warp speed. That might be an asset in business but it sometimes gave me whiplash.

I picked up his laptop to move it down the table and the screen lit up. “What’s that?” I said, nodding at the image of a house on the screen.

“It’s a house in Norfolk. I thought we should go and look at it this weekend.”

“What sort of a house?”

“What sort of house do you think? One you live in.”

“Are you thinking of buying it?” He nodded without explaining further. “For your parents?”

The doorbell rang and Nathan disappeared to answer it, giving me time to click through some photographs of the house. It was beautiful—huge, on the water, with a garden full of weeping willows and sweeping lawns.

Nathan appeared with our supper and put it on the counter. “What do you think?” He came up behind me, wrapped his hands around my waist, and rested his chin on my shoulder as we both stared at the screen.

“I think it’s beautiful.”

“Six bedrooms, so there’d be plenty of space for kids.”

“Well, there are five of you, so you need the space,” I replied, snuggling into his warmth. “I wouldn’t have thought your parents would want to move. They seem happy in their house.”

He kissed me on the cheek and then released me, grabbing the takeaway and bringing it to the table. “It’s not for my parents. It’s for us.”

I felt like one of those cartoon characters, taking an audible gulp. “Us?” I asked. “And when you said there’d be room for children, you meant . . .”

He glanced up at me as he unpacked the containers. “I’m not saying we should try next week, but you’ve said you want children. And so do I. I’m just thinking ahead.”

Nathan wanting children was news to me. “How far ahead were you thinking exactly?” I asked. Half an hour ago I was ordering food online, wondering whether or not tonight should be the night I headed back to my parents’ house. Now, not only had Nathan suggested moving in together, I’d learned he was planning how many children we were going to have. “Are you serious?” I asked as he collected the champagne glasses from the kitchen and brought them over to the table.

“About you? I’ve never been so serious about anyone. You’re the person I’m meant to be with for the rest of my life. If I’m moving too fast then I’ll wait. But when I know something works, I don’t see the point in pretending otherwise.”

“I’m not pretending,” I said, taking a seat opposite him as he dished out our food.

“I’m not saying you are. But leaving Astro has made me realize that I need to let go of things that don’t work and embrace things that do. And we work. We work on such a fundamental level that I know in my gut we’ll be together forever. You’ll move in, or we can get a new place together if that’s better. We’ll get married and have a family. We’re a happily ever after, Madison. You know it.”

I looked at him and saw the truth—all of what he was saying was right. He was everything I could ever want in my life and we were going to be together for the long haul. That thick hair would go grey, those beautiful green eyes would grow wrinkles around their edges, his muscles would soften and his body would slow. And I’d be there to trace every line wrinkle, and kiss him good morning every day. I knew I’d live my very best life doing so.