Chris was standing on the other side of the large room we'd just been herded into, an old retro cinema foyer with red carpet up the wall. It was absolutely jam packed with shinny, happy talkative people. The glitterati were out and about in force. 

I only saw the back of his head at first, but recognized it straight away. Salt and pepper, scruffy, a tad long, possibly in need of a trim.  He turned and I was almost knocked off my feet by an invisible gust of wind. He was clean-shaven, not a stray hair in sight, it was the first time I'd ever seen him like that. He was also wearing- be still my mad beating heart- a black double-breasted tuxedo with black satin lapels. But he still maintained that signature casual Chris element by wearing a dark grey shirt, a few buttons undone at the top, no tie or bow tie. A little bit of scruff mixed in with sophistication. Perfect.

He was surrounded by a camera crew and happily chatting to them. His expressions were animated and friendly. I just stood and watched for a while, mesmerized by how he spoke with such confidence, how full of life his eyes were and how every now and then the camera crew would burst out laughing- I wanted to be laughing at his jokes too.

The buzz of an alarm went off to signify that the movie was about to start and I suddenly felt like I was getting pushed by the crowd, away from Chris. I held my hand up in the air and called out,

"Chris!" But nothing.

"Chris." I shouted louder this time until the two blue eyes looked up and met mine. The feeling I got when I saw him again, for the first time in months, is hard to describe. I'll try...

Have you ever been dared to jump into a pool in the middle of winter? The water is icy, bitter, biting. And when you do, the shock is so overwhelming you feel like you might have a heart attack. Not only is the feeling physical, every part of your body stings as the icy water rushes over you, but it's mental too. Suddenly you are wide-wide-wide awake. You're heart is pumping, your brain is switched on and all your senses are acutely alive. That's how it felt.

Chris smiled at me, and I smiled back. I smiled so wide that the corners of my mouth actually hurt, like someone was tugging on them.

I started moving towards him but seemed to be getting ushered in the opposite direction, there was also a rope barrier crossing my path. I started climbing over it, when a man rushed up and ushered me away. I saw Chris waving, he was mouthing something and pointing his finger in the direction of the cinema.  I didn't need a sign language interpreter to figure that one out.

So I went with the crowd hoping to see him inside. But by the time I got inside it was pitch black and an annoyingly helpful usher had attached himself to me-ushering me. I guess their job is to usher, and normally I would be appreciative of said ushering, but now was NOT the time to be ushered, especially if it was in the opposite direction to Chris.

I finally got to my seat and when my eyes adjusted to the light, I started desperately scanning the room. I was tempted to take out my cell phone and use the torch on it, but I didn't.

I thought about calling out one more time or waving my arms in the air, but then I felt something fly into the back of my head. I turned, and about six rows up I saw Chris, throwing a rolled up piece of paper at me.

The look and the feeling that passed between us in that moment, I'll remember for the rest of my life. It was joy. And relief. I felt- once again- like I'd come home. The movie started and Chris waggled a naughty finger at me and pointed for me to turn around, I did.

But it was hard to concentrate, because I could feel his presence behind me constantly, like a ghost he kept causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. I would turn around from time to time, and each time, I would find him staring at me, smiling. We would repeat the same silly ritual; he would waggle his finger and point for me to turn around again.

The movie itself was basically the funniest, strangest thing I'd ever seen. It started on a guy with an enormous beard, living at home with his ten cats. He hasn't been outside in over five years, but works as a travel writer, who just goes online and researches the various places he writes about, (sounding vaguely familiar). He meets a girl online and they start dating. The sex scene had the audience in stiches; suddenly everything is in black and white and the two characters are talking in French with subtitles. After the sex they smoked cigarettes. But the guy in question- not based on a real person of course-has lots of issues, and lands up losing her. And then he begins an elaborate, over-the-top campaign to win her back. It starts small; flowers, chocolates and some singing minstrels but soon escalates to him jumping out of a plane and into her back garden with a sign that says "Will you marry me?" The woman sees him crash through her rose bush and looks up at him.... the movie ends. And then some words fly onto the screen-

WILL SHE TAKE HIM BACK?

I knew, even if no one else did, that those words were meant for me. I turned around to look at him, but a sudden standing ovation was in progress. I heard much chatter around me and people threw around words like "genius" "post modern"  "minimalistic" "Avant Garde" and "Noir".  I surmised that they must have liked it.

I wanted to find Chris.

But I didn't need to, because suddenly he was walking down the stairs towards the stage where a mic waited for him. Everyone clapped and I felt myself swell with pride; that was my guy. Well, as soon as I could speak to him that is.

He took to the stage and talked about the great actors, and the director of photographer, his supportive producer who believed in the project from the start. People seemed to be lapping it up, nodding and looking at each other with knowing looks. He talked about the freedom of making a small budget independent short film as apposed to a big studio one, about exploring his creativity. He thanked everyone for coming, and hoped everyone would enjoy drinks and canapés, he unfortunately would not be there, as he had an urgent personal matter to attend to. There were some sighs of disappointment, but not from me.

And then he walked back up the stairs looking so confident and accomplished and stopped at my row. All he did was hold out his arm, and gesture for me to come.

I got up- everyone was watching us but I didn't care. We linked arms and walked out together without saying a word. Chris strode out of the cinema and across the street to where a limo sat waiting for us. We climbed in.

He closed the door. The car pulled off.

And then, we were alone.

There was nothing really to do but to stare at each other for a while. Silly, big grins plastered across our faces. Chris reached out and took me by the hands, and our fingers meshed together. There was more silly staring and then he opened his mouth, he had that look about him that suggested he was about to say something funny to diffuse the loaded moment,

"Oh shut up" I said, and kissed him.  I've always thought you can tell everything through a kiss. It's like a highly coordinated dance, if someone gets the moves wrong, rushes it, goes to slowly, the whole thing looks bad and doesn't work. It's the same with a kiss. You either have the right rhythm and are compatible, or not.

We were compatible.

The kiss was intense. Slow. Deliberate. I had started it, but very soon Chris had taken over. His hands reached around my head and tugged at my bun, until my hair fell out and he wrapped his fingers through it. His other hand was cradling my face, telling me which was to go. His lips tasted like spearmint and they made mine tingle.  His breath was warm on my face and his hands were slightly cold. He made me feel like we were the only two people on the planet, and that we were somehow melting into each other. The kiss made me dizzy and light headed, and I swear for a moment or two, I think I may have even forgotten my own name.

"So..." He whispered.

"So what?"

"What's the answer?"

"To what?" It was so hard to think straight when he was speaking while kissing me and gently licking my lips.

"To the question?"

I smiled as I bit his lips playfully in response.

"Yes. Yes she will take him back."

"Oh thank God!" Suddenly everything changed and we were no longer kissing.

"Thank God what?"

"Well Annie, do you have any idea how awkward this would have all been for me if you'd said 'no'."

"What would of?"

"This...." Chris pulled me by the hand, out the car and onto the beach.

It took me a moment to understand what was going on.

There were candles illuminating a path to the waves. Pink flowers lay scattered on the sand and a man stood by the edge of the water.

"That's not an actor by the way...." Chris said pointing to the man by the sea. And then he looked at me with a smile, "Okay, here goes. I am going to do something very, very corny, something that I've written a million times before and every time I did, I laughed a loud cynical snigger...."

My heart started pounding as Chris got down on one knee,

"So Annie Anne, hot bitch, will you not fake marry me this time?"

"Only if you do it with this, " I said pulling the ring out of my bag. Chris took it and this time he stopped smiling, he looked up at me seriously, more seriously than I've ever seen him. Chris the funny guy was suddenly gone- and now, it was just Chris.

 "Annie. Will you marry me?"

 We close on ANNIE and CHRIS as they walk hand in hand down the beach towards the real PRIEST.  

**Thanks for reading! If you guys liked this book, please don't forget to go on over to Goodreads, and review it. That would be super appreciated. And if you want to read the longer updated version, it is for sale on Amazon! 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30145154-almost-a-bride