Chapter 16

Although Leah never went to bed until late and was tired, she spent the night tossing and turning unable to sleep properly. She couldn’t understand why she refused to go into the house with Richie as it was something she really wanted to do. She didn’t know if it was feeling nervous that had stopped her, which made her wonder why she would be nervous. Since Joe she had had a few relationships, nothing was ever really serious but she hadn’t been hesitant to spend the night with them after she got to know them. She felt she knew Richie quite well now and it scared her how much she liked him. No-one else had ever made her feel the way he did just by being there. She had a great night with him and wanted to spend more time with him but it terrified her how out of control of her feelings she was when it came to Richie. Eventually deciding that sleep was going to be impossible, Leah dragged herself out of bed and away from her thoughts and got showered and dressed.


Richie made his way over to the house Jon was staying in. Before he could step up to the door Jon had already opened it to let him in, “So I never heard Leah come in till late last night, I take it you had some fun?” Jon asked with a cheeky smirk. Richie laughed, “Well good morning to you too.” Making his way through the door and into the living room, Richie glanced around. “She’s not here. Her and Dot went for a walk,” Jon told him, guessing he was looking for Leah. “So are you going to tell me or not?” Jon was perched on the edge of the chair eagerly awaiting Richie’s news. “It was a great night, the whole thing. But I’m going to have to disappoint you because nothing happened,” Richie said. “Yeah right, stop the lying. I saw the two of you last night and Dot and I both thought you’s were heading straight to the bedroom,” Jon said, adamant that Richie was talking rubbish. “Yeah, that’s what I thought or hoped. But seriously Jon, nothing happened,” Richie replied. “Well what the hell were you doing all night? Playing scrabble and swapping cooking tips?” Jon’s amazement made Richie laugh. “You know it is possible for me not to pounce on every woman I like. Anyway, even though nothing happened I still had a great time. Infact I would call it one of the best nights I’ve ever had. I definitely want to see her again.” Jon laughed at how into Leah Richie was, he hadn’t seen him like that over anyone for a long time. “So what did you do that was so fantastic all night then?” Richie thought for a minute before answering, “I don’t exactly know what to call it but I think I’ll keep it for myself just now.” Jon was about to coax him into spilling the beans when the door went. Stood at the other side Jon immediately recognised the man as Josh. Letting him in and welcoming him he took him to meet Richie. “This is Josh, one of Leah’s friends that we hung out with for a bit in Hawaii. And Josh, this is Richie,” Jon introduced the two men and they shook hands. “So what brings you here, Josh?” Richie asked. “Leah told me she was staying out here and I was passing through so I thought I’d drop by and pay her a visit. I’ve been in Australia for a while now this is the last stop before I leave in a couple of days,” Josh answered.


The walk with Dot was refreshing, Leah needed it after the lack of sleep she had gotten. They mainly spoke about the dinner they had the night before and how they enjoyed the night. Leah knew it was coming but it didn’t make the question any easier when it arrived. “So you enjoyed hanging out with Richie, I never heard you come in last night. Will you be seeing him again?” Dot inquired. Leah laughed, “I suppose I’ll have to answer that one, since it’s a straight forward question.” “Well I hope so since I’ve been dropping hints all day and getting nowhere with them,” Dot laughed. “For starters nothing happened last night, we just went down to the beach and sat for a while talking. I had a really good time and I would like to see him again but that depends if Richie wants to,” Leah said hoping that would change the subject, but it didn’t work. “Why did nothing happen? Jon and I were so sure something would,” Dot asked, curious. “It was me I just didn’t feel comfortable, well not comfortable. I was definitely comfortable. I don’t know how to explain it. I wanted to, I really did but something stopped me,” Leah provided in an uncomfortable babble. She didn’t want to be having this conversation with Dot, not when she knew she wouldn’t understand. Dot sensed that Leah didn’t want to talk about it so let it be and they continued to walk. It didn’t stop it playing on her mind though and she found she was suspicious of her new friend.


As Dot and Leah returned to the house, they could see three men through the window. “Who’s that other guy? It doesn’t look like Tico or David,” Dot asked. Leah studied the man for a minute before shouting “It’s Josh!” Running at full speed she was in the house in seconds, barely allowing Josh to realize she was there. She jumped on him and gave him a big cuddle while saying hello to Jon and Richie. She couldn’t help notice the look on Richie’s face as she cuddled Josh. Dot entered shortly after her also greeting Josh with a hug. “What are you doing here?” Leah asked all excited. “Came to see you, I’m here for a couple of days and I need your approval on something,” Josh told her, just as excited to see her. “My approval? On what?” Leah asked looking confused. “Well I just got engaged then I realized that my best friend hasn’t even met my fiancée, so I thought I’d come over and see if you had any time to spare this week? Preferably on Saturday though because I have plans for most of tomorrow?” Josh said with a straight face as though unsure of Leah’s reaction of not being told he was going to propose. She jumped up and gave him another cuddle. “Your getting married? Wow! I’m so happy for you. She’s definitely normal though, yeah? Not like the other psycho?” Leah joked. “Come on, it’s not only psycho’s I attract. Want to go a walk and I’ll fill you in on the details?” Josh suggested, already heading towards the door. They arranged to meet for breakfast the next morning since Josh had plans the rest of the day and Leah was eager to meet Emily. He told Leah all about her and he seemed really happy with her, which pleased Leah. “So what’s your problem then?” Josh asked, catching Leah off-guard. “Don’t lie to me though, I know something’s bugging you,” he smiled. “I swear you are psychic or something! I’m just a bit confused about something, well someone,” Leah explained all about her and Richie. “You know I haven’t heard you talk about someone like that since, well you know since when. It was you who told me to take a chance, can you remember? Well that chance led me to Emily. I think you should take some of your own advice. Just see where it goes. Now I’ll see you tomorrow, I have to go,” and with that Josh left Leah to make her way back to the house. His words worked, by the time she reached the house she had decided that she would ask Richie to go somewhere with her tomorrow and they arranged for him, Ava and Leah to go to a theme park the following day.