A Whirlwind Engagement. Jessica Hart

it something to do with work?’

      ‘No, no, nothing like that.’ Josh took another desperate drink of his beer.

      Bella pursed her lips, rolled her eyes and shook back her long, blonde hair in an achingly familiar gesture of exasperation. ‘Well?’ she demanded, sounding like the old Bella, and not the strange new, shy, prompt Bella who had been sitting opposite him a moment ago. ‘Do I have to guess, or are you going to tell me?’

      ‘Aisling and I are getting married.’

      Josh winced as he heard how he blurted out the words as if he felt guilty or something. He had meant to lead up to it more gently.

      He looked at Bella, unsure of how she would react. She seemed to have frozen, and for a second or two her expression was completely blank. Then the blue eyes dropped to her wine and she stared at it for a few moments, until Josh began to wonder if she had heard him.

      ‘Bella?’ he asked, but she had already lifted her gaze and there was a bright smile on her face.

      ‘Well…congratulations!’ she said in a voice that matched her smile, and she half stood to lean across the table and kiss him on the cheek.

      Her hair swung against Josh’s face, and he could smell her perfume. She always wore exactly the same one. ‘Allure,’ she had told him when he asked once what it was, and she had grinned at him. ‘Feel free to buy me a huge bottle whenever you want!’ Sometimes when she had been in his flat, he could sniff the fragrance still lingering in the air. It always made him think of her.

      What perfume did Aisling wear? Wasn’t that the kind of thing a fiancé should know?

      ‘When did all this happen?’ she asked, sitting back down with the same bright smile that for some reason intensified Josh’s feeling of unease. But she looked just the same, the same blue eyes, the same tilting lashes, the same swing of spun gold around her face as she shook her hair out of the way.

      It was just the smile that was wrong, but Josh couldn’t put his finger on why.

      ‘Last week,’ he said.

      They had just won a big contract, and the whole company had been out celebrating that evening. When they got home, Josh had tried to tell Aisling how much he appreciated what she had done. There was no doubt that she had made a huge difference. She had finely honed marketing skills, and with her background knowledge of clients like C.B.C. she had been able to steer the company in a new direction which was paying dividends already. This had been an important contract to win, and if they could get the C.B.C. deal as well, the future would be assured.

      ‘We couldn’t have done it without you,’ he had told her, still high on the relief and euphoria of the staff. They had all worked hard but Aisling’s input had been key and they all knew it. ‘We make a fantastic team.’