Chapter 4

Chris spent the afternoon wandering around the mall. He got himself some designer jeans for half the price he would have paid in London and brought Beth a diamond pendant on a delicate gold chain. Then he headed back to the hotel to shower and change. Beth was waiting for him outside Molly’s when he strolled through the public garden at seven-thirty. She’d changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of tight jeans and white vest-top, and she had tied back her long blonde hair in a ponytail.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

Chris looked at his watch. “We said seven-thirty. It’s now seven-thirty-one. I’d hardly call that late.”

“I know, but I got here early. I thought you might, too.”

“You should have waited inside then.”

“God, no. I couldn’t go in alone. Come on.”

“Hang on. I bought you something this afternoon.” He held out the gift-wrapped box. “I hope you like it.”

“Chris, you shouldn’t have.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

She took it from him, ripped off the wrapping and stared at the small black jewellery box. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

She opened the box and gasped. “Oh, Chris. It’s gorgeous. You really shouldn’t have. It must have been really expensive.”

“Call it two years’ worth of birthday, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day presents wrapped up in one.”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she said, then stepped back and fumbled to get the chain from the box.

“Here, let me.” He took the box from her and removed the necklace. He told her to turn around and draped it around her neck.

She spun around. “How does it look?”

“Perfect.” The diamond hung just above the swell of her breasts, drawing his eyes to her cleavage.

“Are you looking at the chain or my titties?”

“Both,” he replied with a grin. “What normal bloke wouldn’t?”

Beth giggled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Come on, let’s go in. I have to find a mirror.”

She linked her arm in his and led them into the bar. They sat in a booth by the window. No sooner had they sat down than Mitch came over with the menus.

“Austins, Chris Austins. Glad you came to see us again. And this must be the mysterious Elizabeth. Nice to meet you. How come I’ve not seen you in here before?”

“Er, I, er, don’t go out all that much.”

“Shame. Good-looking girl like you ought to be out every night. I must say, I’m surprised you’re still on the market. I bet you were homecoming queen, weren’t you?”

“Actually, no. Missy Marshall was the queen that year. I lost out by six votes.”

“Missy Marshall, eh? I remember her. Doesn’t she do porn now? Anyway, what can I get you guys?”

They ordered and Mitch returned to the bar.

“How the hell does he know who I am?” Beth asked.

“Mitch claims to know everyone in town.”

“Mitch is notorious—that’s why I wouldn’t come in by myself.”

“I was in here last night and asked if anybody knew you. I wanted to surprise you. I had this vision of turning up on your doorstep and you melting into my arms. Only trouble was, I didn’t have your address.”

Their meals didn’t take long to arrive and took them even less time to eat. They ordered ice cream for dessert.

“I can’t believe I’ve come all this way and wind up with steak and chips as a main and ice cream for dessert. It’s shocking. On the Eurostar, I could be in Paris within three hours of leaving my house and find a more varied menu.”

Beth laughed and reached across the table to playfully punch his arm. “If our food’s not good enough, you can always get right back on the plane to merry old England.”

“Only if you come with me. I’ll treat you to fish and chips and an afternoon at the footy.”

“You’re on. But I can’t tomorrow. I’m busy.” She smiled weakly. “Lance would have liked you. You’d have got on well.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. You have a similar sense of humour. I think that’s what I’ll miss the most, you know. His laughter. It was infectious.” She paused. “It’s not like he wanted to be the centre of attention. You know how some people do and they scream, look at me, look at me’ But he had such a big personality that he just sort of wound up in the middle. D’you know what I mean?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah.”

“I guess it was because he always went full tilt at everything he did. Always gave everything he had and then a little bit more. Our high school won the state championship for the first time ever when he was the quarterback. And then they repeated it in his senior year before he went off to West Point. The Colonel was so proud of him. I was too.”