The tear-stifling silence in the back of the cab was broken by the inappropriately-cheery tones of Mariah Carey as Kayleigh's phone rang. She whipped it from her bag and answered immediately and angrily: "What?"
"Kayleigh? It's Elsie. Listen, sorry, is this not a good time to call ye?"
"Elsie?! Sorry. No... Yes... No, go on! I just thought you were..."
"Listen Kayleigh, it's not important. I was just after listening to the radio and I heard yer man's dedication, so I did. I was made up for you's! Are you in the car to-...?"
Kayleigh interrupted before Elsie could finish the question:
"What dedication? Where? I don't know what you're on about..."
"On the radio. The dedication they just played. That song named for ye and a message from John - something about not putting Kayleigh in the corner. Like from that film, ye know the one...?
"What!? When was this? What else did they say?"
Kayleigh turned round in her seat, craning her neck looking out the back window at the traffic behind her, trying to spot a familiar red Fiat 500L.
"Nothing! It was just reading out a text from a John, said he was stuck in gridlock and that no-one should put Kayleigh in the corner. It's just after happening not 5 minutes ago. I thought it was ye two! Sorry hen, did ye not...?"
Kayleigh's eyes filled with tears and she looked panic-stricken as the traffic started to edge forward and pick up speed once more.
"Elsie, I'm going to have to go! Sorry! I'll ring you later! Sorry!"
"But wha-...?"
Kayleigh cut the call off and frantically rapped on the partition, while throwing the phone back into her bag and looking for her purse.
"Stop! Sorry, can you stop here!? Please? I need to get back out!"
She thrust a fiver through the partition and was out the door before the taxi driver could even reach for the note.
She began walking as quickly as her heels would allow, scanning both queues of traffic and being met with bemused looks from the drivers, though not on the face she was searching for.
John had been slumped with his forehead on the steering wheel for the past two minutes, oblivious to the fact that the car in front of him was now 50 yards ahead. Finally the impatient driver behind beeped and he looked up... to see Kayleigh tottering down the middle of the road towards him. He spotted her just as she caught sight of him and she picked up her pace as he clambered out of the car.
She was slightly breathless when she reached his door.
"What...?"
"Give me your phone!"
"What? Kayleigh, listen, I'm..."
"Where's your phone? Give me your phone!"
She reached for his pocket and he quickly dug his mobile out of it, barely able to breathe - let alone speak - as she snatched it from him and began frantically scrolling through it.
She stopped abruptly and looked up at him, her eyes wide and wet as she held the screen up to him.
"Did you text this in to Forever FM? Nobody puts Kayleigh in the corner?"
"I thought..."
"John...?" Her tone turned pleading. "Did you?"
He nodded breathing out a faint 'Yes'... "I did, yeah."
Time seemed to stand still... until her anxious frown began to dissolve into a dawning smile, one which was equal parts relief and joy; it spread across her features and then melted into unexpected laughter. It was as infectious as always and he could't stop himself from grinning as he asked "What? What're you laughing at?"
"Only you John, only you..."
She handed him back his phone, shaking her head but still smiling. "C'mon, get back in the car."
He did as he was asked and, as he slipped behind the wheel, her hand slipped over his where it rested on the gearstick.
"Drive on John. Just drive."
He kept glancing over at her but her gaze remained fixed on the road ahead, a beaming smile playing on her lips as she hummed along to a Natalie Cole song courtesy of Forever FM, her hand still resting warmly on his. After about a quarter of a mile of edging forward in the gradually lightening traffic she finally turned to him and said "Right, pull over. In this lay-by ahead."
When they were parked up she unfastened her seat belt and slid towards him. Instinctively he did likewise and moved to meet her.
He was stopped by her reaching out to lay her hand on his cheek, her eyes dancing with amusement and affection.
"Oh, John. John, John, John! What am I going to do with you!? So are you going to tell me what you meant by that? By sending that text?"
There was affection in her voice too, but no reproof. Still, he was too much a creature of habit to avoid deflection:
"Erm, what do *you* think I meant by it?" he countered, fear edging into his voice.
For the first time her smile faltered slightly and she hesitated, breaking their gaze to look down at her lap.
"When I told you what the line meant in Dirty Dancing you asked me why he didn't just tell her he loves her instead of speaking in riddles."
When she looked up again her eyes were wide with hope and fear, and filled with heart.
"So I think it meant... that it means... that you mean...that you l-...?"
"It did," he interrupted, impulsively, quietly, decisively.
"It does. I do. Very much. Very, very much."
Her eyes widened even further if it were possible and as their heads started to tilt towards each other, she focused her gaze on his lips and pleaded "Tell me then.."
Her reward came just at the moment that their lips finally met, as she felt him sigh the words "I love you Kayleigh Kitson" against her mouth...
TO BE CONTINUED...