Just Haven't Met You Yet - Softcover

Cousens, Sophie

 
9780593331521: Just Haven't Met You Yet
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593331524 ISBN 13: 9780593331521
Verlag: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

From the New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next Year comes a heartwarming and hilarious tale that asks: What if you picked up the wrong suitcase and fell head over heels for its mystery owner?
 

Hopeless romantic and lifestyle reporter Laura’s business trip to the Channel Islands isn’t off to a great start. After an embarrassing encounter with the most attractive man she’s ever seen in real life, she arrives at her hotel and realizes she’s grabbed the wrong suitcase from the airport. Her only consolation is its irresistible contents, each of which intrigues her more and more. The owner of this suitcase is clearly Laura’s dream man. Now, all she has to do is find him.
 
Besides, what are the odds that she’d find The One on the same island where her parents first met and fell in love, especially as she sets out to write an article about their romance? Commissioning surly cab driver Ted to ferry her around seems like her best bet in both tracking down the mystery suitcase owner and retracing her parents’ footsteps. But as Laura’s mystery man proves difficult to find—and as she uncovers family secrets—she may have to reimagine the life, and love, she always thought she wanted.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sophie Cousens worked as a TV producer in London for more than twelve years and now lives with her family on the island of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, located off the north coast of France. She balances her writing career with taking care of her two small children, and longs for the day when she might have a dachshund and a writing shed of her own. She is the author of This Time Next Year and Just Haven’t Met You Yet.
 

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Chapter 1

"Shall we begin?" I ask the couple on the sofa. "If you just tell me your story as naturally as possible, and remember to keep your eyeline to me rather than looking directly at the camera."

Sian and Paul both smile and nod. She is a redhead with neatly drawn makeup. He is a bodybuilder type with a jaw square enough to put him in a Marvel comic. While the cameraman, Dylan, makes a few final lighting adjustments, Paul whispers something in Sian's ear, gently stroking her knee with the back of his hand. In the small studio, I am close enough to see the skin on her leg rise into goose bumps. When was the last time another person's touch gave me goose bumps? Seriously, when? I literally can't think of a time, unless you count two weeks ago, when someone barged into me holding a frozen chicken in the freezer aisle at the supermarket.

"All set," Dylan says, and the light on his camera stops flashing and settles to a constant red.

"So, Paul, Sian, tell me-how did you meet?" I ask. It is the question I start all these interviews with.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing," says Sian, pressing her fingertips to her lips like a fifties pinup girl. "I was criminally drunk after a friend's hen do, and when I got back to my flat in the early hours, I had the silly idea of making popcorn on the stove. Of course, I then forgot all about it and passed out on my bed."

"We got a call from a flat across the road, saying someone's kitchen was on fire," says Paul. "I'm a firefighter, see."

"I think they can see that, honey." Sian smiles, framing his torso with her hands to show off the fireman's outfit I asked him to wear for the interview. I don't know how he isn't boiling alive under all those layers. The studio is tiny and windowless; it's a single-camera setup with just a couple of studio lights, our distinctive red sofa, and the Love Life logo prominent on the wall behind. The lights heat the room up fast, but Paul and Sian still look like freshly unboxed Barbie and Action Man. Maybe it's only me who's feeling hot and flustered.

"I was oblivious to any of this." Sian laughs.

"I had to kick the door down, put the fire out, and rescue the damsel in distress," Paul says, turning to give the camera a brooding pout.

"Only I didn't think I needed rescuing. I was still a little hazy after too many gin slings." She gives me a wink.

"I had to carry her out over my shoulder-"

"A proper fireman's lift-I was kicking and screaming all the way down the fire escape."

"I got bruises," he says, eyebrows knitting together in mock hurt.

"I'm sorry, honey." She kisses him on the cheek, he squeezes her knee, and they give each other a love-soaked look. I can practically hear the crackle of electricity between them.

If you put "hot fireman to get rescued by" into Google, I'm pretty sure a photo of Paul would come up. If I were to ever set my kitchen on fire, I guarantee, it would be a scary schoolmarm-type firewoman coming to save me. Someone who would give me a stern lecture on smoke alarm maintenance. As I look at Sian and Paul gazing into each other's eyes, I'm torn between being super happy that they found each other, and just a tiny bit jealous that these situations never seem to happen to me.

"So, we sent Sian to hospital to get checked for smoke inhalation, standard procedure," Paul goes on, "and once my shift ended, I figured I'd go check how she was doing."

"Do you do that for everyone you rescue?" I ask, turning to give the camera my best knowing look.

"Well, she might have stuck in my memory more than most." He lifts his hand to stroke a tendril of her wavy, red hair. "This is one flame I never want to put out."

"Awww . . ." I say, feeling a genuine pang of emotion at their evident connection. Our viewers are going to love this guy-body of iron, heart of a marshmallow.

"He came to see me in the hospital," she says, fluttering her eyelashes, "but I'd sobered up by then. I was worried where my cat had got to in the fire, so I sneaked out before being properly discharged."

"We were in the same lift before I realized it was her." He's started caressing her leg again.

"Then the lift goes and breaks-would you believe it?" Sian sighs, nuzzling into his shoulder. "Forty-five minutes later, I was in love."

"It only took me ten minutes to know she was the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life talking to."

How many times have I been in a lift in my lifetime? Probably four hundred. OK, that was a complete guess, I've got no idea how many times I've been in a lift. But it's a lot, and not once have I been in one that's broken down, and I've certainly never been trapped in one with a remotely eligible guy. Maybe the part of the universe that is in charge of meet-cutes also has jurisdiction over lift malfunctions.

"Sweetie," Sian whispers as she tilts her face toward him.

They kiss for the camera, and it's not a demure, other-people-are-in-the-room kind of kiss; it's a proper let's-race-home-and-rip-each-other's-clothes-off kiss. I bet she gets him to wear his fireman's outfit in bed. I shake my head, trying to stop my mind from wandering down these inappropriate thought alleys. But then I look back up and she's nibbling his earlobe.

Maybe it was easier to do these interviews when I wasn't single. My ex, David, and I weren't exactly having goose bumps-inducing sex, but clearly it was enough to stop me from feeling jealous when faced with crazily loved-up couples.

What if I never find a connection like these two have? The thought brings a lump to my throat. Everyone assumes single girls approaching thirty spend their time stressing about whether they'll ever get to have a wedding or a baby. But for me, I'm more concerned that I'll never know what it feels like to have that kind of life-altering connection with someone, and that I'll never get to experience sex like they have in the movies. I know, I know, movie sex isn't real-it's all choreographed and everyone orgasms together, like a perfectly conducted orchestra, but surely someone must be having mind-blowing sex like they do in The Notebook. These guys, these guys are having sex like that.

"Don't try this at home, people," I say, turning to the camera with my most cheerful not-thinking-about-sex-voice. "We don't advise burning your house down to find your perfect partner. Ha-ha. If you've got a great story of how you met and would like to feature on How Did You Meet? please get in touch via the website. We love hearing your amazing real-life love stories! I'm Laura Le Quesne, reporting for Love Life-
'Love what you buy, buy what you love.'"

I look over at Dylan to signal it's a cut, then jump up to open the door and let in some cooler air. We hire the studio and all the equipment by the hour, so I need to be mindful of the amount of takes we do.

"Guys, that was perfect, you were brilliant, adorable," I say, then scrunch my eyes closed in frustration. "Oh wait, I forgot to ask about the cat. Was the cat OK?"

Silence for a moment, and Sian lets go of Paul's hand.

"No, well . . ." She hugs her arms around herself. "It turned out Paul's fire truck ran Felicia over. She had to be put down."

Paul squeezes Sian's shoulder and shakes his head.

"Oh-I'm so sorry," I say, mirroring their sad body language. "Well, I think maybe it's best we leave that detail out-might be a bit of a buzzkill for our viewers."

Sian flinches ever so slightly. It looks like I've killed the sexy mood by mentioning the dead cat, and now they're not going to rush home and rip each other's clothes off. No sex for anyone! Woo-hoo!

What is wrong with me? I'm a horrible person.

I have three more interviews scheduled that morning: a couple...

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Verlag
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593331524
ISBN 13 
9780593331521
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
384
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
preigu
mail@preigu.de

Lengericher Landstr. 19
Osnabrück
49078
Deutschland

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Softcover