The Perfect Escape: Romantic short stories to relax with

‘She doesn’t mean anything,’ gabbled Barry. ‘It’s you I love.’

‘You bastard,’ said Mel and took her bouquet and whacked Barry round the head with it. ‘If you must know, you were a lousy lay. You’re welcome to him, Claire.’ And she stormed off.

‘So it is true,’ Claire looked at Barry sadly. ‘How could you?’

‘I – er – but I love you,’ sputtered Barry.

‘You have a bloody funny way of showing it,’ said Claire. ‘Here take this. Your next girlfriend might want it.’ She flung her engagement ring in his face, lifted up the skirts of her dress, turned round and ran down the aisle into Steve’s arms.

‘Fancy coming for a ride?’ he said, with a mischievous twinkle.

‘But I haven’t got a helmet,’ she said.

‘Oh yes, you have,’ Steve said, leading her out of the church. ‘I kept your old one. It’s on the bike, along with your leathers and DMs.’

They ran hand in hand towards Steve’s sleek, silver machine. Steve climbed on board, and passed Claire her helmet. She hitched up her skirts, kicked off her high heels, replacing them with her much worn and loved DMs, put her leather jacket on over her dress, and climbed up behind him.

‘Aren’t you worried about the dress?’ said Steve.

‘Not in the slightest,’ said Claire. ‘I’m just picturing Barry’s mum’s face, when she realises what is happening to the very expensive Donna Karan dress she bought. Where are we going?’

‘Does it matter?’ asked Steve.

‘No,’ said Claire, leaning against him with a delicious sigh, ‘but round the world sounds like a good place to start.’

When I was getting married many moons ago, there was a point at which I felt like I had got on a rollercoaster which I couldn’t get off. I guess nearly every bride feels that pressure at some point. And I guess for all of us there is that slightly seductive thought about the one that got away. Suppose we’ve chosen the wrong route, and there’s someone waiting in the wings we should have gone for? Which is where this story comes in. I liked the idea of someone getting involved in a whirlwind romance because her fiancé seems to be offering the commitment her ex can’t. When in fact, she should be with the ex all along, and he’s offering her the chance to escape to something much better …

My latest book, Midsummer Magic is inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I love the mix of magic and mayhem in that play and it seemed perfect to play around with my putative lovers at midnight on Midsummer’s Eve in a magical setting in Cornwall. I had a lot of fun writing it, and hope you have as much reading it!

You can follow me on Twitter @JCCWilliams, and I’m also on Facebook as Julia Williams. My blog is http://maniacmum.blogspot.com and my website is http://juliawilliamsauthor.com.

Read on for an exclusive extract of Julia William’s new novel, Midsummer Magic: (#ulink_329c5be2-0cc4-5ef1-a3ad-20deaaf4d0ca)

Halloween

‘Combining your moving-in party with a Halloween one was a brilliant idea,’ declared Diana. She looked gorgeous as ever, in a little black dress which accentuated her curves, her auburn hair piled high on her head, with some fetching curls escaping, as she bustled round Josie’s kitchen. From the lounge – which they’d spent the afternoon decorating with wispy bits of cobweb, spiders dangling from the ceiling, flashing skull-shaped lights and pumpkin-shaped candles – came a loud set of expletives, as Harry tried to plug in various bits of electrical equipment to make a sound system any nightclub would have been proud of, but which Josie was somewhat doubtful was needed in a small London flat on a Saturday night.

‘I seem to remember it was more your idea,’ laughed Josie, as she got out plastic cups and put them on the kitchen drainer with the copious amounts of wine and beer that Harry had cheerily brought back from Sainsburys. ‘Josie, it’s so fab that you and Harry are moving in together, why don’t you have a party?’ she mimicked. ‘Josie, Halloween’s coming up, you can combine them, wouldn’t that be amazing!’

‘Well if I left it up to you, you’d have just snuck in here like a pair of sneak thieves, as if you were embarrassed about the whole thing, rather than celebrating the wonderfulness of you two becoming a proper partnership,’ declared Diana. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what you’d do without me.’

‘Er, get on with my life without being bossed about?’ said Josie, and ducked as Diana chucked some peanuts in her direction.

‘I can only hope Harry’s more domesticated then you are,’ said Diana. ‘I don’t know how you’ll managed to keep this place clean without my help.’

Until recently Diana had been renting Josie’s spare room, but when it became clear that Harry was becoming a permanent fixture, she’d tactfully moved out to live with friends down the road. ‘Three is definitely a crowd,’ she’d said, ‘and I don’t fancy being a gooseberry to you two lovebirds.’

‘I miss this,’ said Josie, ‘are you sure you’re okay about leaving?’

Di had been incredibly positive and supportive since Josie had first broached the awkward subject of Harry moving in, but Josie knew how good she was at covering up her emotions. Di didn’t have a huge social network, didn’t get on immensely well with her family, and for all her playing the ‘I love being single’ card, Josie had the sneaking suspicion that she was secretly yearning to settle down herself.

‘Of course I am,’ said Diana, ‘I mean, it is bloody annoying being best friends with someone as pretty, rich and successful as you are, who’s managed to nab a gorgeous man to boot, but I’ll survive.’

‘Oh Diana, now I feel terrible,’ said Josie, giving her friend a hug.

‘It was a joke, Josie,’ said Diana affectionately. ‘You are so gullible.’

‘Still,’ said Josie wistfully, It’s not going to be the same now, is it?’

Josie had met Di five years earlier, through a mutual friend, Carrie, who worked with Amy and had been to school with Di. They, both quickly decided they didn’t like Carrie as much as they did each other. They’d started meeting once a week for drinks, and soon it had turned into regular weekends on the pull – Diana’s confidence taking Josie places she would never have been alone. Without Diana pushing her, Josie doubted she would have followed up Harry’s tentative calls when they’d first met up again. It was no good, happy as she was, Josie was going to miss sparky, lively Diana, who called a spade a spade and always let you know when you were in the wrong, but was also an incredibly loyal, fun friend.

‘No it won’t,’ said Diana, ‘but it will be different. And that’s good too.’

She was being so positive about it, Josie hoped she wasn’t protesting too much.

‘And you really don’t mind?’

‘Don’t be daft, of course I don’t,’ said Diana, ‘I’m happy for you. You and Harry are made for each other. Now what else do we need to do? How’s the punch?’

Josie looked at the punch into which Harry had cheerfully flung a bottle of vodka, copious amounts of red wine, and not nearly enough orange juice, in Josie’s opinion. It seemed to be a bit lacking in the fruit department, and they’d run out of oranges. ‘What do you think about this punch? Does it need more fruit?’

‘Haven’t you got any more apples?’ said Diana. ‘It’s Halloween, you have to have apples. It’s the law.’

‘I think I might still have some left in the cupboard,’ said Josie.

She rummaged around, and then produced a couple of rather wrinkled-looking apples.

‘Great,’ said Diana, ‘here, let me peel them.’

‘Why?’ said Josie.

‘Because …’ said Diana. ‘It’s Halloween and you need to see the name of the man you’re going to marry … which will begin with H, obviously.’

Despite her straight talking and often cynical nature, Diana was extremely superstitious, always walking round a ladder, and freaking out if a black cat strolled across her path.

She grabbed one of the apples from Josie and peeled it with a flourish.

‘Now,’ she instructed, ‘you have to fling it over your shoulder, and it should fall in the shape of the letter that begins the name of your future husband.’

‘What are you talking about?’ said Josie.

‘Famous Halloween tradition, young maids did it all the time in olden days, don’t you know anything?’ Diana was a force to be reckoned with so, feeling incredibly foolish, Josie threw the apple peel over her shoulder. It landed with a plop on the floor, and despite herself Josie turned round to see what the result was.

‘Knew it was stupid,’ she said, ‘look, it’s formed the letter A. I don’t know anyone whose name begins with A, apart from Harry’s mate Ant, and I’m hardly going to marry him.’

‘Oh,’ said Diana, looking a bit despondent. ‘I can’t believe it hasn’t worked.’

‘Come on, Di, you can’t believe all that mumbo jumbo,’ said Josie, laughing. She could never get over how gullible Di could be.