The Reluctant Roadtripper (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 22

"What the fuck?" I hear Owen mutter under his breath as my brother walks towards us. His arm tightens around me. Is he planning to use me as some sort of shield?

"Oh, come on, Sully - do you think I'm completely oblivious?" Kieran laughs. "You weren't exactly subtle over the years - the Spin The Bottle game where the bottle was clearly not pointing at Mirren? All the questions you would ask about her? And I saw the way you looked at her. The only reason I didn't beat you up was because you were always too much of a pussy to do anything about it!"

"You're . . . Not going to beat him up now, are you?" I ask tentatively and Owen groans.

"Don't give him any ideas," he hisses in my ear. "I could totally take him, though," he adds.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually okay with this," my brother shrugs. "I'm not exactly in a position to judge, after all." A sudden, slightly smug, grin spreads across his face. "I might even take a little bit of credit in getting you and 'Portpatrick Boy' together finally."

Oh my god.

"You knew about 'Portpatrick Boy'?" I gasp.

"Nessa ended up spilling the tea one night when we were drunk, a few years back," Kieran confirms with a nod. "She couldn't remember Owen's actual name, but it didn't exactly take me a lot of brainpower to put two and two together.

"I'd probably have been more annoyed on your behalf, but then I remembered how down Owen had seemed when I ran into him after he'd come back from the Canaries. Especially when I told him you were seeing someone. Like I said, mate," he addresses Owen now, "When it comes to my sister, subtlety has never been your strong suit."

I shoot a glance at Owen, and you'll probably be unsurprised to hear that he's blushing. He squeezes me tighter. "I thought I was smoother than that," he protests.

"Definitely not," Kieran assures him. "Anyway, this information has been in the back of my mind for a long time, so when the girls' holiday plans got cancelled, I thought I might give fate a helping hand."

I was certainly not expecting this!

"Obviously, I had no guarantee that you'd actually be available to take them, Owen - that was just sheer luck - but I was hoping it might be the push you both needed. I had no idea if it was going to work, but after I spotted Mirren hiding behind that plant in reception last night, I had my suspicions it had."

Yet another puppetmaster, trying to push us together. An unexpected lone plotter, at that.

"You sneaky little sod," I say slowly. He nods, clearly very pleased with himself.

"I really am."

"And Nessa had no idea what you were up to?" I ask suspiciously. He shakes his head.

"Not at all. I don't think she even remembers telling me the 'Portpatrick Boy' story, to be perfectly honest."

"So . . . You really are fine with this?" Owen asks Kieran tentatively.

"100 percent. Just don't fuck things up with her this time, or you'll have me to answer to."

Owen smiles down at me, eyes sparkling. "I have no intention of messing things up again," he says softly, and my heart skips delightedly in my chest. He presses a gentle kiss against my ear before he releases me. And once again, I find myself wondering if we really can make a go of this.

I hear Debbie's voice approaching - she really is very loud - so the others must be returning from the viewpoint. So I back away from Owen and Kieran and pretend I'm retying my shoelace. Totally casual, nothing to see here!