Nothing New for Sophie Drew: a heart-warming romantic comedy - Katey Lovell (best english novels for beginners .txt) 📗

at the pub with your mates was fun, but I thought we could go somewhere, just the two of us?”

“Are you asking me on a date, Sophie Drew?” The way he stared at me, teasing and testing, filled my stomach with a mass of fluttering butterflies.

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

“And where were you thinking of taking me on this date? After all, I already took you to the best drinking hole in the city,” he joked.

“You plied me with alcohol in a backstreet boozer,” I replied, giving as good as I got. “Maybe a picnic, or a trip to the coast? We could eat ice creams with all the toppings until we feel sick.”

“Ice cream sounds great. When are you free?” That was when I knew he wasn’t going to turn me down.

“The forecast said tomorrow was going to be nice…” I twiddled my hair around my fingers.

“I’m busy until two, but we could go after that?”

“Perfect.” It meant I could have a lie-in and still have time to wash and dry my hair and apply enough make-up to make it look like I wasn’t wearing any.

“Perfect.” He beamed and we made arrangements.

I was already mentally running through my outfit options and whether the polish on my toenails needed touching up. Doing my own pedis saved money, but my efforts didn’t last as long as the salon standard ones.

Five minutes later I floated out of the shop as though I was riding on a bubble, like an extra in a Katy Perry video. As I closed the shop door behind me a unicorn glared back at me, its colourful mane in juxtaposition to the dark expression on its face. Except it wasn’t a unicorn at all. The girl with the rainbow hair must have overheard our conversation. She looked completely devastated.

Chapter 19

The following afternoon my stomach was flipping somersaults. It was all I could do to stop myself peering out of the window to look for Max’s car. He’d told me to keep an eye out for a silver Mini just after 2pm, but I’d overestimated how long it would take me to get ready. By 1.42pm I was already drumming my fingers against the white gloss-painted windowsill, my chest fizzing with a combination of hope and first-official-date nerves.

I rifled through my bag for my phone, and for no particular reason found myself thinking the worst – that he’d send a last-minute message saying he’d changed his mind, or had a better offer from a member of his charity shop fan club.

I’d been about to put the handset back into my bag when my phone vibrated, the familiar ringtone making me jump. As if my heart hadn’t already been racing. When I saw it was Max trying to contact me, I inelegantly swiped at the screen to answer the call.

“Hi, Max.” I deliberately kept my tone light by raising my pitch. I sounded like an airhead. “Is everything okay?”

“Fine, fine,” he said casually. The general hubbub of people laughing and chattering around him blended with his words. “I’m on my way now so I’ll be with you in ten minutes.”

The noise in the background turned up a notch, and I thought I heard a wolf whistle.

“I’ll be ready and waiting. I’ve got a cool bag with picnic food, and some posh fruit juices.”

I looked at the ice-blue bag, crammed full of cheeses, meats and savoury snacks. Although I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go wild in the supermarket, I’d bought more than I’d set out to. The items in the yellow-sticker reduced section had been perfect picnic fodder.

“We’ll have to leave room for ice cream though,” he said, “and candyfloss. No trip to the seaside is complete without candyfloss.”

The voices in the background got louder again and I heard, clearly, a child call out, “Uncle Max is taking his girlfriend to the seaside!”

Being referred to as Max’s girlfriend pleased me, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth.

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s my nephew, Dylan. Chris, the brother you met at Johnny’s party’s son. He’s six, and thinks girls are disgusting. I’ve told him he may well change his mind about that by the time he gets older.”

Dylan responded in the background, “No way, girls smell,” and I giggled.

“Sounds like you’ve got a lot of people around you.”

“It’s always like this on a Sunday, everyone comes round to Mum and Dad’s for lunch. It’s too hot for a roast today though so the barbecue’s fired up instead and my nephews are splashing in the paddling pool.”

“That sounds nice.” A twinge of envy shot through my chest; they sounded like a really close family. Even though I got on with them, and Nick had made an effort recently so I saw more of him and Chantel, there were still times I felt like the odd one out of my siblings. In a particularly brave moment I’d mentioned my insecurities to Mum, but she’d told me I was being silly. Although her words were kind, I hadn’t believed them. All the comments she’d made over the years about how proud she was of Anna and Nick’s achievements had stuck with me, along with the little digs about my own choices. “It must be lovely.”

“They’re not a bad bunch. Except Dale. He’s an idiot,” Max said, a jokey lilt in his voice, presumably to annoy Dale. “Thankfully, I won’t have to see him until next week now.”

“One of your other brothers?” Having first-hand knowledge of how annoying brothers can be, it seemed likely. When we were growing up, nothing would give Nick more pleasure than getting a rise out of me.

“Yep. Anyway, I’m on my way out of the gate now. I’ll be with you soon.”

After he’d hung up I slid on my sandals, picked up my handbag and the cool bag and made my way down to the car park to wait for Max.

A silver Mini appeared around the corner shortly after and I didn’t even try to hide my excitement as he