look like much.’ A bit disappointing, in fact. He’d expected to have something like a car versus pedestrian scenario for the coordinates in the middle of this small town. ‘You sure we’re in the right place?’
‘Sì. Assolutamente.’ Matteo pointed through the windscreen. ‘That car parked over there is a competitor. It’s got the numbers. And a light on the roof, like ours. And the flags are...’
‘Scottish,’ Luke murmured. There was only one team representing Scotland here and he knew who that was.
That smile was resurfacing. How astonishing had it been to run into Kate here, of all places in the world?
And how good had it been to see her again?
It made him realise that he’d been lonely ever since he’d taken up his new position in Edinburgh. He’d missed his mate, Matteo, who’d been so good for him during his time in Milan as he’d licked his wounds after escaping the disaster that his marriage had been. Focusing so completely on work in Edinburgh had left no time to try and make new friends, which was probably why he’d taken up Matteo’s invitation to join him for this competition.
And while it had been great to catch up with his mate, seeing Kate again was on a whole new level. They had history—heart-warming history—that made her like family.
He hadn’t thought about that ‘pact’ for years.
Not until last night, that was, when Kate’s avoidance of answering his query about whether she was married with kids yet had reminded him of how much time had passed. Plenty of time to have achieved the ‘plan’.
The plan they’d discussed that night after graduation, over that really great bottle of champagne.
‘Me? I’m going to start my stellar career and find the woman of my dreams to share the glory. What about you, Katy?’
‘Oh... I’m going to have a brilliant career, too. And I’m going to find the man of my dreams and get married and have a couple of the world’s most gorgeous children...’
And then they’d polished off that second bottle and things had become a whole lot more mushy. The ‘plan’ had morphed into the ‘pact’.
‘You’re my best mate, Katy. I love you to bits.’
‘Love you, too, mate.’
‘Tell you what...’
‘What?’
‘If we haven’t found those dream people by the time we’re...oh...say, thirty-five...let’s marry each other.’
‘Why would you want to marry me?’
‘I might be desperate by then.’
‘Cheers, mate.’
‘Oh, come on...it was a joke.’
‘Your idea of getting married is a joke.’
‘No... I’m serious. Let’s make a pact. If we’re both still single when we’re thirty-five, we’ll marry each other. Okay?’
She’d drained her glass of champagne, pushed her hair out of her eyes and given him a curiously intent stare. And then she’d done it. Agreed to the pact.
‘Okay. You’re on.’
‘So it’s a pact? Signed and sealed?’
‘It’s a pact. But now I need to go to sleep.’
Ancient memories but good ones.
Yes. It was extraordinarily good to see Kate again. Best of all, he had discovered that she lived close enough to his new home town that they would be able to see each other whenever they both had some free time.
Unless she had a boyfriend, of course. Thanks to Matteo’s conversation with Georgia last night, he now knew that Kate wasn’t married and that she was sharing a house with Georgia, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone else in the picture. Why wouldn’t there be? Kate was gorgeous, with that impressive intelligence shining from those bright, blue eyes. And he liked that her hair was a bit longer these days. The blonde bob almost touched her shoulders and had a bit of a swing to it.
Not that it would be a problem if she had a significant other in her life. It could mean that Luke’s circle of friends was about to expand, in fact. Maybe they could even double date. He and Matteo had had a lot of fun doing that in Milan. Nothing serious, mind you. Matteo might be dead keen to settle down and start a family of his own with the woman of his dreams but Luke had abandoned any such fairy-tale long ago. At about the same moment he’d learned that his marriage was a complete sham. As he’d remarked so bitterly to Kate, he had no intention of ever losing his head—or his heart—over a woman again.
Still...he wasn’t getting any younger. It would be a shame to miss out completely and spend the rest of his life caring for other people’s children...
* * *
The noise coming from the other side of the door was enough to make Kate and Georgia share a startled glance.
A party? At this time of the day?
Georgia pounded on the door. ‘Ambulance,’ she yelled.
There was no response, so she opened the door. They walked straight into a living room and there were at least half a dozen people, talking loudly enough to hear each other over the music. A bottle of vodka was being passed around and glasses clinked together. Nobody took the least bit of notice of the newcomers.
‘Hello...’ An earlier coin toss had decided that Kate was taking the lead role in this first scenario and she approached the nearest person. ‘Did someone call for an ambulance?’
‘Not me,’ the young man replied. ‘Hey...’ He put his arm around a young woman. ‘Let’s dance...’
Kate blinked. This was nothing like she had expected. Where were the officials that would be judging their performance? Where was someone who looked remotely like a patient?
Georgia’s eyes narrowed as she caught Kate’s glance and she raised her voice loudly enough to be heard by everyone.
‘Oi...’
The vodka carrier lowered the bottle. Heads turned in surprise.
‘Someone called an ambulance,’ Georgia said sternly. ‘Who was it?’
‘Oh...’ There was a man sitting in the corner of the room, leaning on the wall. ‘That was me. My girlfriend is upstairs. She’s lying down because she has a bad stomach ache.’
‘Anything else we should know?’
‘No. I don’t think so.’ The man raised a glass as he smiled at them. ‘Oh, she is pregnant. Is that important?’
Turning swiftly, they raced up a narrow set of stairs to find themselves in a bedroom and here it was. The scenario...
Two judges with clipboards were standing by. A young woman was sitting
