Free From Notting Hill with Love...Actually by Ali McNamara

you continue like this, you’re going to risk losing him—along with your mind.”
    I was about to say that might not be such a bad thing when I remembered one of the reasons I’d agreed to marry David and I stopped myself just in time.
    My father let go of me and walked to the window. After a moment’s consideration he turned to face me again. “Scarlett, I’m going to tell you what I told David yesterday. I think you need some time away, to get your head together and to think about things. What do you say?”
    I tried not to look too overjoyed. Hadn’t that been just what I’d wanted when I’d walked into the office this morning? But I hadn’t expected my father to hand it to me served up on a silver salver like this, all wrapped up with a big red bow.
    “Er…yes that sounds like a good idea,” I said cautiously, in case Dad’s idea of time away wasn’t the same as mine.
    “How about a couple of weeks off work?” Dad suggested.
    “How about we make it a month? Then I’ll have plenty of time to do lots of thinking about my life. I’m bound to come to the right decisions then, aren’t I?”
    My father considered this for a moment. “Well, if you think you need that long?”
    I nodded.
    “All right then, I’m sure Dorothy and I will be able to manage on our own for a while. Any idea of where you might like to go?”
    “Er…no. But probably not too far away.”
    “Well, make sure it’s far enough. Because I want you to come back in a month, Scarlett, able to prove you’ve made some sensible decisions about how you want your life to be in the future. That’s the only way David will agree to you going: if he thinks it will make your relationship stronger.”
    “Yes, I know,” I said, thinking about David for a moment. “And don’t worry, Dad,” I promised. “I’ll return in a month with loads of proof that I’ve done plenty of thinking about my life.”
    And more importantly, I’m going to come back with lots of proof for you and David, and Maddie for that matter, that I’m not just spending my life daydreaming. Life can be just like a movie, and it doesn’t just happen occasionally by accident; it happens every day, over and over again.
    ***
    I didn’t know what my father had said to David that weekend about me going away on my own for a while (maybe he’d agreed to help him with his wallpapering or something?) but David didn’t lodge a single complaint. It was most unlike him. I suppose the fact that I was going to house-sit for a month, and wasn’t going to spend any money on a fancy hotel or a cottage in the country, softened the blow quite a bit.

Six
    As I set out that night for Oscar’s dinner party, it was on my third attempt to leave the house that I was finally able to step outside into the cold night air.
    I’d had a few “minor” altercations with the house’s alarm system before we’d reached a compromise: the alarm would behave, accept the code I was pushing into it, and obediently set itself, ready to bravely protect the contents of Belinda and Harry’s home from intruders. And in exchange, I wouldn’t rip it down from the wall and stomp on it until all its insides would be good for were the inner workings of a toaster.
    Eventually, happy that we were each sticking to our side of the agreement, I pulled the door firmly shut behind me and set off down the steps to the pavement below. As I did so, I heard the front door next to me open and close.
    Oh no , I thought, trying not to look up. This was all I needed.
    “Evening,” he called.
    “Hello again,” I called back, forced to turn around. “I’m just off out.”
    “I can see that,” he said, nonchalantly descending his own steps.
    Clever sod .
    “Which way are you headed?” he asked as he reached my side.
    Please don’t let it be your way . “Er, this way,” I said, pointing in the direction of Oscar’s house.
    “Me too—should we walk together?”
    Do we have to? “Sure,” I said, forcing a