BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (84)
  1. Chapter one
  2. Chapter two
  3. Chapter three
  4. Chapter four
  5. Chapter five
  6. Chapter six
  7. Chapter seven
  8. Chapter eight
  9. Chapter nine
  10. Chapter ten
  11. Chapter eleven
  12. Chapter twelve
  13. Chapter thirteen
  14. Chapter fourteen
  15. Chapter fifteen
  16. Chapter sixteen
  17. Chapter seventeen
  18. Chapter eighteen
  19. Chapter nineteen
  20. Chapter twenty
  21. Chapter twenty-one
  22. Chapter twenty-two
  23. Chapter twenty-three
  24. Chapter twenty-four
  25. Chapter twenty-five
  26. Chapter twenty-six
  27. Chapter twenty-seven
  28. Chapter twenty-eight
  29. Chapter twenty-nine
  30. Chapter thirty
  31. Chapter thirty-one
  32. Chapter thirty-two
  33. Chapter thirty-three
  34. Chapter thirty-four
  35. Chapter thirty-five
  36. Chapter thirty-six
  37. Chapter thirty-seven
  38. Chapter thirty-eight
  39. Chapter thirty-nine
  40. Chapter forty
  41. Chapter forty-one
  42. Chapter forty-two
  43. Chapter forty-three
  44. Chapter forty-four
  45. Chapter forty-five
  46. Chapter forty-six
  47. Chapter forty-seven
  48. Chapter forty-eight
  49. Chapter forty-nine
  50. Chapter fifty
  51. Chapter fifty-one
  52. Chapter fifty-two
  53. Chapter fifty-three
  54. Chapter fifty-four
  55. Chapter fifty-five
  56. Chapter fifty-six
  57. Chapter fifty-seven
  58. Chapter fifty-eight
  59. Chapter fifty-nine
  60. Chapter sixty
  61. Chapter sixty-one
  62. Chapter sixty-two
  63. Chapter sixty-three
  64. Chapter sixty-four
  65. Chapter sixty-five
  66. Chapter sixty-six
  67. Chapter sixty-seven
  68. Chapter sixty-eight
  69. Chapter sixty-nine
  70. Chapter seventy
  71. Chapter seventy-one
  72. Chapter seventy-two
  73. Chapter seventy-three
  74. Chapter seventy-four
  75. Chapter seventy-five
  76. Chapter seventy-six
  77. Chapter seventy-seven
  78. Chapter seventy-eight
  79. Chapter seventy-nine
  80. Chapter eighty
  81. Chapter eighty-one
  82. Chapter eighty-two
  83. Chapter eighty-three
  84. Chapter eighty-four

There’s much shrieking and giggling. A bowl of what looks like rice pudding is being handed round. Some of the boys are trying to smear it on the girls’ foreheads. There’s a lot of wrestling going on. Sanjeev and Dean guffaw as they watch.

‘That’s tika,’ Dean tells me. ‘It’s a mixture of rice, yak yoghurt and honey.’

The bowl is handed to Dean. Sanjeev looks on wide-eyed.

‘And it has a significance, right?’

Dean nods.

‘I offer this to you if I like you.’ His eyes meet mine. ‘If I like you a lot.’ He traces his thumb through the white, pungent mixture and holds it up to me. ‘If you accept it,’ he adds, ‘it means that you return the affection. That you…like…me a lot too.’

I lower my head towards him and Dean smears the tika between my eyebrows.

‘That smells truly awful,’ I say.

Dean smiles softly. ‘No one ever said that love would smell of roses.’

No, they certainly didn’t. I feel rather self-conscious now that I’m wearing rice pudding on my head.

‘I want to kiss you,’ Dean whispers.

I’m not objecting.

‘Public displays of affection are frowned upon.’ He gives a nervous half-laugh. ‘We’ll have to wait.’

He takes my hand and leads me in a dance again. I’m sincerely hoping not for too long.

Chapter forty-one

Chapter forty-one

Jake returned to Neve’s flat alone. He’d stopped and had a few beers in one of the busy, impersonal bars down the road rather than face his own company, but now it was nearly midnight and time to go to bed. His footsteps echoed throughout the place, bouncing off the walls and the wooden floor. He threw his coat over the sofa, opened the fridge and grabbed another can of beer. This place could definitely do with a few kids running round, a stereo playing, some background noise. You could set up a brilliant toy railway track up here. Good heavens, what was he saying? Wasn’t this the very thing that had filled him with so much dread?

There was no message on the answerphone from Neve—hardly surprising since he’d been in a stinking mood when she’d left this morning. He should call her. Try to build some bridges. Even if their relationship wasn’t quite turning out to be the bed of roses he’d envisaged, they’d still have to work together whatever happened. And he owed it to everyone to at least give this a chance. Lyssa wouldn’t be home for a few more weeks yet; he had plenty of time to work out where he really wanted to be.