Bookends by Jane Green

that she simply refused to go out and leave him like that. So, because of their lack of communication, neither of them got what they wanted, and Josh was left on his own as Lucy reluctantly made him one final cup of tea before leaving to ski.
    Venetia clambered noisily over the sofa when the others piled back in, showering Josh with kisses, her long blonde hair tickling his nostrils and making him sneeze, and it was all he could do not to push her away.
    ‘Has old thunderthighs been looking after you?’ she said, nuzzling his ear, as Josh did, finally, push her away, his throat constricted with anger.
    ‘Don’t call her that,’ he said sharply, wishing fervently that the girl on his lap were Lucy.
    But Lucy and Josh didn’t get a chance to spend any more time together after that. Josh’s ankle was fine by the next morning, and Venetia, sensing that Josh had distanced himself since the accident, now clung to him like a limpet, trailing after him in an extremely good impersonation of his shadow. Josh cleared the plates and took them into the kitchen, where Lucy was removing a pecan pie from the oven, and, just as Lucy’s eyes lit up at the sight of Josh, Venetia tottered in on her spiked heels to see what Josh was up to.
    Josh tried sloping off early, claiming the ankle was playing up, but this time Venetia refused to be left behind, and the two of them sat miserably, side by side, in the cable car going down, both of them depressed, both for entirely different reasons.
    Finally, on the last day, everyone decided to go for one last ski. As they reached the cable car, Josh, furtively placing his ski pass in the pocket of his jacket, told the others that he had forgotten it and had to go back, and that they shouldn’t wait, he would meet them on the slopes.
    This time, when Venetia started to come with Josh, he told her she was being ridiculous, and it was bad enough that he should have to cut short his skiing time, but that there was no way she should as well. She couldn’t say anything, she just miserably turned back to the rest of the crowd.
    Josh went running into the chalet, nervous, exhilarated, unsure of what to say but determined to say something . He found Lucy in one of the bedrooms, cheeks flushed with the exertion of cleaning, shaking out one of the blankets, hair escaping from the elastic band holding it in a loose ponytail and falling in tendrils around her shining face.
    ‘Lucy,’ he said, standing in the doorway, his own cheeks flushed with the cold. ‘I…’
    And Lucy beamed at him, without saying anything, and just like in a Hollywood movie they moved towards one another as if in slow motion. Josh bent his head to kiss her just as the front door slammed and they jumped apart guiltily, before their lips had a chance to meet.
    ‘Josh?’ Venetia’s voice rang through the house as Josh came to the door, the flush of cold rapidly becoming a flush of guilt. He turned round and looked at Lucy, who gave him a sad smile of regret and picked up the blankets again. Josh froze in the doorway, pulled between the two women, not knowing what to do.
    But how was he to know Lucy was his future and Venetia his past? All he knew was that he didn’t really care if he never saw Venetia again, and he couldn’t get Lucy out of his mind. And he’d come so close! To kissing those lips! Oh, Christ. How could he let her get away?
    He did let her get away. Didn’t have a choice because he didn’t have a chance to find her on her own again, but before they left Josh scribbled Lucy a note, left his phone number in London, and shoved it under a pillow, knowing that Venetia wouldn’t find it, but that Lucy, on making the bed, undoubtedly would.
    Josh waited until they returned home before telling Venetia it was over. She seemed upset at the time, but a week later she was going out with a stockbroker called William, so evidently he hadn’t broken her heart, and Josh then spent the next few weeks trying to get over