The Unexpected Consequences of Love by Jill Mansell Page B

was concerned, he was. Opening the driver’s door, he said, “Come on then. Let’s get your stuff up to your room.”
    Oh well. The fact remained that he wasn’t going to be getting anywhere with Sophie.
    Tula discreetly admired Josh Strachan’s athletic body as he swung the cases out of the trunk of the car. She might still be able to win him over; you never knew.

Chapter 12
    Sophie had been twenty years old when she’d met Theo Pargeter in line at the local post office.
    Ah, the glamour.
    It was a very long line. Everyone else in it was in their sixties and seventies, collecting their pensions, renewing vehicle registrations, or pedantically counting out small coins in order to buy stamps and post letters off to twenty different countries. The staggering slowness of all involved had Sophie in silent hysterics, and Theo, directly in front of her, soon joined in. By the time she eventually emerged from the post office, he was waiting for her outside. They went for a coffee. Then another. Followed by a walk in the park. And pizza and wine. It turned out to be a long, unpremeditated, and entirely unplanned first date.
    â€œFrom now on,” Theo told her at the end of the evening, “I’m never going to complain about post offices. Their lines are the best .”
    Weeks went by and Sophie was happy. Theo was great. They complemented each other so well and everyone remarked upon how perfect they were together. Unlike her last boyfriend, whose hobbies had been football and going out drinking and talking about football with his mates, Theo was charming, kind, thoughtful, and empathetic. He was also good company. Things were definitely looking up. Sophie even adored his mum, Betsy, which was just as well, since Theo still lived at home and he and Betsy were a close-knit unit of two. Not weirdly close; just in a good way. It was actually heartwarming to see how well they got on.
    The months passed and Sophie’s relationship with Theo went from strength to strength. Their friends started to tease them, asking when the wedding was going to happen. Which was crazy, because they were far too young to be thinking of anything like that.
    But another year later, completely out of the blue, Betsy suffered a major heart attack, and life as they knew it changed forever. Theo spent most of his time at her bedside in the coronary care unit, and Sophie visited whenever she could. Betsy, her face whiter than the sheets she lay on, clutched her son’s hands and told him how much she loved him. Then she started saying the same to Sophie. One afternoon, her voice croaky and weak, she whispered, “All I want is to know my boy’s going to be happy. He means everything in the world to me.”
    â€œI know.” Sophie stroked her thin arm.
    â€œAnd you love him too, don’t you?”
    Sophie nodded and said, “Yes.” Because she did.
    â€œI just want to be sure everything’s going to be okay. You’re meant to be together. You are going to get married, aren’t you?”
    Sophie swallowed; Theo had only left the ward to buy a coffee from the machine in the corridor outside. “I don’t know.”
    â€œBut you must .” Betsy was shaking her head from side to side in an attempt to convey the urgency in her frail voice. “You must! Promise me you will!”
    At that moment a nurse came bustling over to take Betsy’s blood pressure, and Sophie was saved from the awkwardness of having to reply. But Betsy wasn’t letting it drop; evidently she’d gone on to discuss the situation with her son. Three days later, taking a break from the hospital visiting routine, Theo took Sophie out for an early dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant and uncharacteristically ordered a bottle of champagne. Well, sparkling wine with a champagne-shaped cork.
    Sophie knew at once what it meant; she guessed what was about to happen. Oh God, surely not, please