***
An hour later the first guests started to arrive. For a short while, Bonnie began to feel as though she was in an episode of This is Your Life as people that she hadn’t seen for many years began to pile into Linda’s spacious living room. Linda had removed as much furniture as was practical, and pushed the sofas back against the walls, to make as much floor space as possible. Now the room was easily as big as the function room of the local pub where they had first considered having the party. But Linda’s house was far more welcoming and Jeanie had been so touched by Linda’s offer that she agreed enthusiastically as soon as Bonnie had relayed it to her. There had been much oohing and aahing at Paige, and embarrassing tales of things she had done as a younger child, things that Paige couldn’t remember and suspected many of her grandmother’s old friends were making up. Still, she did her best to listen politely and smiled where she thought she ought to. Bonnie was certain that she would be grumbling later at home, but was just glad Paige was behaving herself for now.
The last expected guests arrived with no sign of the guest of honour, and Bonnie was about to phone her mum when there was another knock at the door. It went unheard by Linda, who was involved in relaying an anecdote about the time John broke his toe in a hilarious swimming pool incident in Turkey to a group of ageing rockers, and so Bonnie went to answer it.
Jeanie stood in the porch, smiling awkwardly, on the arm of a man.
‘This is Juan,’ she said, with uncharacteristic shyness. ‘Juan, this is my daughter, Bonnie.’
Bonnie stood at the door, staring stupidly at the pair of them. The moment had caught her completely by surprise. ‘When... what... how did you get here?’
‘They do have this invention called the airplane,’ Jeanie laughed.
Bonnie shook herself and stepped aside to let them in.
‘I am pleased to meet you,’ Juan said. ‘I have heard much about you.’ His accent was strong, but his English perfect, and he had a pleasing baritone to his voice that was almost soothing. Bonnie instantly felt at ease in his presence. She offered a hand to shake but he pulled her toward him and kissed her lightly on both cheeks. As he stepped back, she took a moment to appraise him. He was a little on the chubby side, but in a way that looked cuddly and comforting rather than fat, his shoulder length hair was thick and wavy but steel grey and his dark eyes were full of kindness. Bonnie could see straight away why her mum had trusted him so much at that first meeting, and she instantly relaxed. If first impressions were anything to go by, Jeanie was going to be very happy indeed. This was the best gift her mum could have given her before she left, and it seemed that both Jeanie and Juan had understood the need for Bonnie to meet him before they started their new lives together in Spain; for Bonnie’s peace of mind it meant so much.
‘It’s so wonderful that you could come,’ Bonnie said warmly. ‘Come and meet everyone else.’
A great cheer erupted from the gathering as Jeanie and Juan walked in, and Jeanie was bombarded with greetings and hugs. Juan looked slightly overwhelmed at first as Jeanie’s curious friends fired questions at him, but he soon seemed to relax and was chatting easily amongst them in no time.
Paige took this as her cue to fire up the music and as Bon Jovi kicked in to Livin’ on a Prayer another cheer went up. Paige rolled her eyes, but then shot a glance at Bonnie who gave her a thumbs up which turned her frown into a grin.
Paige had cautiously greeted Juan as soon as the music was set up, and then told Bonnie in confidence that he looked like an absolute loser and that, in her opinion, Jeanie would be back home in no time and the whole party would have been pointless. Bonnie listened patiently, but then caught a small smile from her daughter as a few minutes later, Juan accepted a drink from her and called her beautiful. Paige was just being Paige, and she would come around soon enough. It had been a long time since Bonnie had seen her mum look this happy and radiant, and she quite clearly adored Juan. From the way he looked at her, it seemed the feeling was mutual.
Nine o’clock came. Bonnie and Paige were about the only sober people in the room by now. Paige’s ipod was doing most of the DJ duty for her, and so she sat on a sofa with her head leaning on Bonnie’s shoulder, watching the other guests get drunker and more rowdy.
‘Jeanie’s friends are mental,’ Paige observed in a bewildered tone.
Bonnie stroked her daughter’s hair. ‘They are. But in a good way.’
‘What do you think of Juan?’
‘I think he seems nice,’ Bonnie said carefully. ‘Do you still think he’s a loser?’
Paige shrugged slightly as they watched Juan twirl a laughing Jeanie on the makeshift dance floor that Linda’s living room had become. ‘Maybe he’s not so bad.’ She suddenly lifted her head from Bonnie’s shoulder and cocked it to one side. ‘Was that a knock at the door?’
Bonnie listened but couldn’t hear anything over the music and chatter. ‘I don’t think so.’
Paige’s head went back to Bonnie’s shoulder again. ‘I just thought I heard something.’
‘Nobody else is meant to be coming tonight,’ Bonnie replied thoughtfully. She glanced around the room. ‘Unless it’s Stavros, of course, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d be coming this late… or Fred, but I don’t think he’s sociable enough.’
Juan came over with Jeanie trailing behind. ‘Paige...’ he called, rolling Paige’s name out with his glorious accent, ‘come and dance with us, senorita...’
‘Not bloody likely,’ Paige grumbled, clinging onto Bonnie’s arm.
‘Bonnie, you come and dance,’ Juan said, turning his attention to her instead.
‘I’m only coming if Paige does,’ Bonnie laughed.
Jeanie grabbed Bonnie’s hand and pulled her up, and in turn, Bonnie grabbed Paige’s and pulled her up too. As they reached the middle of the throng, Paige protesting loudly that she didn’t dance, and especially not to this crap, the song changed and everybody started to roar with laughter as Bonnie Tyler began to sing I Need a Hero.
‘Ha ha,’ Jeanie shouted at Paige, ‘you remembered!’
‘I wish she bloody hadn’t,’ Bonnie said, hiding her face as everyone started to grin in her direction. ‘Bane of my life, that woman.’
‘She’s brilliant,’ Jeanie shouted, grabbing Bonnie to hug her, ‘and so are you!’
As Jeanie let go and Bonnie started to dance awkwardly, far too sober not to feel self-conscious, there was a loud rap at the living room window.
‘I told you someone was knocking,’ Paige called to Bonnie.
‘Go and tell Linda,’ Bonnie said.
Paige was only too happy to have an excuse to stop dancing and went to find the party host while Bonnie was twirled around by an inebriated Juan.
Moments later, Linda came back into the room with a wicked grin. Bonnie stopped mid-twirl. She could feel the blood rush to her face and her pulse suddenly race as Max’s gaze settled on her. She should have been laughing, as others were, at the fact that he had turned up in full, white American naval uniform, but she wasn’t. She could only stare. He had lost weight through his illness, but his now trim figure buttoned up in the suit looked incredibly sexy. She had been used to seeing him slope around in pyjamas and track suit trousers since he had been in hospital, but now he was clean and groomed and looked healthy. It was like a scene from a film, and if he had come and swept her into his arms at that moment, Bonnie would gladly have let him. She would have kissed him until the end of time.
But instead of striding across the dance floor and sweeping Bonnie up, Max threw a murderous glare at Linda, who simply laughed and went off to join John on the dance floor. Bonnie Tyler was still singing about her hero as Max made his way towards his Bonnie.
‘I didn’t think you’d come,’ she said, still amazed by the sight of him.
He pulled off his cap and mussed his hair. ‘I wasn’t going to, but then Linda persuaded me at the last minute.’
From the corner of her eye, Bonnie caught Paige s
taring at Max too, grinning broadly.
‘Did she now?’ Bonnie asked, shaking herself from her stupor and looking Max up and down meaningfully.
‘She told me it was bloody fancy dress, didn’t she? I wasn’t going to bother but then she offered to go and get me something to wear from the hire shop.’
Bonnie giggled. ‘It could have been worse; she could have got you Scooby Doo or something.’
‘It’s not funny. Wait till I get hold of her.’ He shrugged as he looked down at himself. ‘I have a feeling that this was a very deliberate choice, though,’ Max added, unable to prevent himself smiling a little now.
‘I never told her about my man in uniform fetish, honest,’ Bonnie said.
‘Oh... so you do have a man in uniform fetish?’ Max replied impishly.
‘I didn’t think so until tonight…’ Bonnie gazed at him. This, standing right in front of her, was the old Max, her Max, the one she had missed so desperately. ‘Come on,’ she said, taking his hand, ‘I suppose you’re allowed a drink now you’re out?’
‘I’ll need one to forget the fact that I’m wearing this ridiculous outfit.’
‘I don’t know why you still swallow everything Linda tells you,’ Bonnie said as they made their way to the quieter, cooler kitchen. ‘You know how she loves to wind you up.’
‘Well,’ he said ruefully, ‘she did warn us that she hadn’t given up on matchmaking just yet.’
Bonnie grabbed a can of lager from the fridge and handed it to him. The kitchen was empty, the plates of food almost reduced to crumbs and the leftovers of the less popular dishes.
‘Don’t worry,’ Bonnie grinned. ‘There’ll be plenty of opportunity for revenge.’ Her grin faded as she found her gaze drawn to the gold buttons fastened over his lean torso.
‘Are you alright?’ Max asked, taking her sudden lapse into silence as distress.
She looked up into his clear blue eyes and nodded. ‘Never been better, actually.’
‘The party looks like it’s been good,’ he commented as he cracked open his beer.
‘It has,’ Bonnie said absently. Her mind was not on the party at all. She was about to take the biggest gamble of her life, and right now, she was wondering whether it was the most inspired or the stupidest thing she’d ever do. All she knew, as she found herself lost in Max’s eyes, was that she had never been more certain of what she really wanted. She loved Max. She had loved him for a long time. It was simply amazing that it had taken her so long to realise it, and she could only hope that all the idiotic things she had done over the previous months hadn’t ruined things between them forever. She laid a tentative hand on his chest, and even through the starched uniform, she could feel the solid beat of his heart. It seemed to quicken just a little as he gave her a quizzical look. He opened his mouth to speak but she laid a finger over his lips.
‘Don’t say anything. Not one word until I’ve done this, and then you can tell me what you think.’ Bonnie’s own pulse was racing. She wasn’t drunk, but she felt suddenly lightheaded as she reached to kiss him.
As she pulled away, Max’s eyes were still closed. When he opened them, a mix of surprise and lust reflected back at her. ‘I thought...’
‘I know,’ Bonnie said quietly. ‘So did I. But over the last few weeks I’ve had time to figure out what’s important.’ She stepped away from him, her gaze never leaving his. ‘So, what do you think?’
He put his beer down carefully and leaned against the worktop. ‘You’re sure you’re not drunk?’
‘I’m driving.’
‘Hmmm, so I’m safe to do this and you won’t forget in the morning...’ he pulled her close and grazed his lips over hers.
‘Quite safe,’ she whispered.
‘Ok,’ he said, ‘what about this?’ he kissed her again, harder, deeper this time, his hand finding the nape of her neck and then moving up into her hair. She sighed, her body melting against his, the warm scent of him intoxicating, the explosion in her gut sending her senses wild with desire. Everything else was forgotten – there was only this perfect moment, and this perfect feeling, here and now, a moment that seemed like it would never end.
They only stopped kissing when Bonnie suddenly became aware that they were not alone. Grudgingly, she parted from him and they both looked around.
Standing at the doorway of the kitchen was a small crowd, including Jeanie and Juan, Linda and John, and Paige. Linda started clapping her hands and chanting.
‘Duh, duh, duh, another one bites the dust...’
Howling with laughter, the rest of them joined in, stamping their feet and clapping, singing, very badly, the words to the Queen song. Only Paige folded her arms, scowling.
‘Oh my God, Mum,’ she said as the ribbing finally died down, ‘that’s so gross!’
Bonnie wrapped her arms around Max’s torso and nuzzled into him. ‘Gross or not, I’m afraid you’re going to have to get used to it.’
Linda let out a squeal and clapped her hands excitedly. ‘I knew the uniform would do it!’
‘About that...’ Max pretended to frown sternly at her, but Linda only laughed.
‘I’ll take payment in cheques or visa, or good old pounds sterling,’ she quipped.
Bonnie looked up at Max and he kissed her lightly on the nose.
‘Bloody hell,’ Linda said, rolling her eyes, ‘you can do better than that. Kiss her like you really mean it!’
Bonnie blushed furiously as Max laughed. ‘I’m saving that for later.’
And then Linda started the chanting again: ‘Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her...’
Max looked at Bonnie and shrugged. ‘I’d be an idiot to refuse an order like that.’
He kissed her again, and this time Bonnie didn’t care who was watching.
THE END
About the Author
Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the eldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. Tilly is married to Mr Tennant (not that one, though a girl can dream). After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009. She wrote a novel during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.
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Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn Page 26
