Stuck with You: the perfect feel-good romantic comedy!

‘Three years? Blimey, that’s a long time.’

‘Mmm.’

‘Are you getting married?’

The atmosphere suddenly got thick and tense. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘Really? Three years sounds like a pretty serious relationship.’

‘We’ve not talked about it,’ I said, not wanting to admit that marrying Alex was the last thing I felt like doing right now. ‘Tell me about being a tree surgeon. I have images of you with a stethoscope around your neck, listening to tree trunks.’

‘Well, that’s weird. My official title is an arborist. I cut trees down if they’re rotten or dangerous. Or prune bits off that are overgrown or a bit dodgy. Generally tidy them up so they grow better and remain healthy.’

‘Did you always want to work with trees?’ I cringed inwardly. What kind of stupid question was that?

He laughed. ‘Actually, I probably did. My uncle was a tree surgeon. I thought he was a badass, climbing trees and stuff. I used to help him when I was a teenager. So, when I came back from travelling, I took a course and now I’m his business partner.’

‘Cool.’

‘I suppose, really, when I was a kid, I wanted to work for a forestry commission. Be a park ranger.’

‘Really? I never had you down as the outdoorsy type. I always thought you were really cool and arty. Sort of… urban.’ I winced. How cheesy did that sound?

‘Urban?’ He laughed. ‘I was seventeen. I just dressed like everyone else.’

‘You were cooler than everyone else.’ Oh my God! Why did I say that?

He sniggered. ‘Well, you certainly thought so.’

I felt my cheeks turn scarlet and pulled away from him. Thank goodness it was dark. The air seemed to pulsate in my ears. ‘What’s that meant to mean?’

‘You fancied me, didn’t you?’

‘What? No!’ I laughed, incredulous.

‘Really? I fancied you.’

‘You did not!’

‘I kissed you, didn’t I?’

‘Did you? I don’t remember,’ I said, lightly.

‘You wound me,’ he said, his voice dryly amused. The packet rustled as he took another biscuit. ‘You’re a liar, Elena Green.’

The noises outside got louder. It sounded like more people had arrived. There were voices and clanks and bangs. Someone knocked on the roof and a gruff voice shouted: ‘You all right in there?’

‘Yes,’ Daniel called up. He took my hand again and squeezed it.

‘Soon have you out.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ I breathed.

The roar of cutting equipment ripped through the air and the lift shook. The sound was so deafening I covered my ears with my hands and cowered into Daniel’s chest. His arms came around me, holding me tight, and I focused on the soft wool of his jumper against my cheek and the warm safety of his arms.

‘It’s all right,’ he said, against my ear. ‘We’ll soon be out.’

I wasn’t sure what happened after that. My eyes were shut but suddenly I became aware of light and loud voices close by. Daniel got to his feet, pulling me with him. They’d managed to prise the doors open enough for us to climb through, but the lift was still stuck between floors, so the gap we had to squeeze through was at head height. A fireman was peering through the gap, shining a torch at us. I shielded my eyes from the bright light.

‘Do you think you’ll be able to climb up?’ he asked.

‘I think so,’ Daniel said, sounding more confident than I felt. There was no way I was going to be able to climb up there. Especially wearing high heels and a skirt. I opened my mouth to protest, but Daniel was already saying, ‘I’ll lift Elena and you can pull her through.’

‘Right you are.’

Daniel bent and gripped the top of my legs, his shoulder beneath my backside, and hoisted me into the air as though we were doing some kind of dance lift. Before I knew it, the fireman had hold of my arms and was heaving me through the gap and into the outside world.

‘Thanks,’ I said, stumbling awkwardly as the fireman released me. ‘Thank you.’

A small crowd of onlookers had gathered and they clapped and cheered. I didn’t know what to do with the unwanted attention. My cheeks flamed red and I gave a small, embarrassed wave before bending to retrieve my bags, which had just appeared through the gap. Daniel’s hands appeared next, his knuckles white with strain as he pulled himself up enough for the firefighters to haul him up.

‘Thanks, lads.’ He laughed good-naturedly and shook the firemen’s hands, then he looked around for me. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, coming towards me.

‘Fine.’

‘You’ve ripped your tights,’ he said, looking down at my shaking legs. ‘And you’re bleeding.’

‘Oh, it’s nothing. Just a graze.’ I couldn’t feel any pain. My legs were rubbery and I felt strangely detached, as though I didn’t belong in this bright world full of noise and people. Each time I blinked, it was like a flashbulb going off in my head and the image stilled. Disconnected. Disjointed. What did I do now? Just go home?

‘Sir, madam, I’m terribly sorry about your ordeal.’ A man in a suit stepped forward, wearing a name badge that said he was Alan Jones, Customer Service Manager. ‘Would you mind if I took a statement from you both?’

‘Okay. Elena, do you want to sit down somewhere? You look a bit pale.’ Daniel put his hand on my arm.

‘No, I’m okay, I just want to go home.’

‘This won’t take long. I just need your names and addresses and a brief description of what happened.’

Daniel laughed. ‘The lift stopped, that’s what happened.’

The man blinked at Daniel through his spectacles. He looked tense and anxious. ‘You weren’t messing around or anything?’

Daniel looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You didn’t press anything you shouldn’t? Open any panels?’

Daniel’s expression changed from one of good-natured acceptance of the situation to shocked disbelief. He spoke carefully. ‘We got into the lift and pressed the button for the floor we wanted to go to. We didn’t vandalise it. We just wanted to get to our cars and go home.’

‘I understand, sir. It must have been very distressing for you and your girlfriend.’