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

That along with the drinking – way too much drinking, even though we’d said we were going to pace ourselves after our first eventful night – was Tawna’s hen do in brief. It had been emotional and exhausting and wonderful, but the time had come for us all to return to our realities back in the UK.

As we sat at the airport, waiting for our flight to be called, we enjoyed one final holiday cocktail in the bar. That was when I switched my phone back on and an influx of messages popped up on the home screen. The name that flashed up on the screen over and over again caused me to catch my breath.

Four new messages from Max.

Did you get my last message?

Max

Please, Sophie. Call me when you get this.

Max

Sophie, it’s about Darius and the money.

Max

I guess you don’t want to talk about it. I’ll leave you alone.

Max

I read the messages three times, trying to make sense of them. How did Max know about Darius and the money?

I clicked to make the FaceTime call even though that’d enable him to see me in my post-holiday state. My skin was a sallow shade from lack of sleep and bad dietary habits and deep dark rings circled my eyes. I’d tied my hair back in one of those messy buns which look chic when celebrities wear them, but just looked downright scruffy on me. But none of it mattered. I needed to speak to Max.

“Sophie,” he said, and I thought that maybe, maybe, something like longing lingered in his voice. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“I wanted to talk to you too,” I blurted, “but I’m still in New York with the girls. We’re about to board the plane home. My phone’s been off for days so I’ve only just picked up your messages.”

“Yeah, well, there are a few things I think you need to know. I’ll meet you at the airport, if you like? Drive you all back.”

“We’re flying into Manchester, not Newcastle,” I said with regret, as a tannoy announcement let us know our flight was ready for boarding. Tawna and Eve tried chivvying me along, but I batted away their attempts to get me to hurry.

“So? I can still come and pick you up. What time do you land?”

We’d reached the gate, a smartly-dressed flight attendant checking our boarding passes and passports.

“Three thirty-five in the morning. Honestly, it’s the middle of the night. Don’t come, please. It’s too far.”

“I want to. There are things you need to know, and it’d be better talking about it in person rather than over the phone. I’ll be waiting for you at the gate.”

As I settled into my seat on the plane, crammed between Tawna who’d bagsied the window and Eve who preferred the aisle so she could stretch out her long legs, I replayed the call over in my mind. Surely he wouldn’t have offered to come and collect us if he hated me? In fact, would he have messaged at all if he was that upset?

Seeing Max on screen made me realise how much I liked him. He was gorgeous, and not just on the outside. When the flight took off I wrapped myself in a blanket and although I didn’t sleep – my mind being too full of thoughts of Max – I allowed myself to daydream; to wonder if he’d be waiting at the arrivals gate like he’d said he would.

Chapter 25

He was there, looking sleepy and cute as he leant over a barrier holding a sign saying “Tawna and Hens”. If anything was going to win Tawna around, it was that.

Seeing him in the flesh was like receiving a sucker punch to my stomach. Before the trip I’d been aware of the attraction between us, but now the thought of us not being together set off a very real pain in my chest. All I could think was please, please, please, don’t let him hold the kiss with Darius against me, not when I’d finally accepted there was only one man I wanted, and he was right there in front of me, his hair mussed up like a scarecrow’s and his oversized jumper drowning him.

My body ached terribly, the activities of the trip combined with the onset of jet lag wiping me out as we clambered into Max’s vehicle, but as I tilted my tired head back against the headrest, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Max.

His hands were firmly wrapped around the steering wheel as he drove, his eyes focused on the road.

Tawna snored away on the back seat, her animalistic snorts drowning out the low hum of the Motown classics playing on the radio. Eve had her headphones on, most likely listening to the science podcast she was devoted to.

“How does it feel to be back?” Max asked, eyes still fixated on the motorway.

“America was incredible, but it’s good to be home,” I said, before softly adding, “It’s good to see you, Max. I’d been wanting to phone you, but I was scared. I thought you might not want to see me again.”

I longed to reach out and touch him but was afraid of distracting him when he was driving. The hug he’d given me at the airport had been so tight I’d felt the air being squeezed from my lungs.

“I saw you and your ex at the festival.”

I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I was glad it was still dark outside so I could hide behind the night’s veil.

Max looked over his shoulder to the back seat of the car. When he was happy my friends weren’t eavesdropping on our conversation he added, “I was jealous, and angry. So fucking angry! Do you know how much it takes for me to trust people?” He laughed bitterly. “Of course you don’t.”

A fire I’d not seen before burnt in his eyes and there was tension in the way his fingers coiled around the steering wheel and the rigidity of his