She picked up her repair kit and paused. “This won’t take me more than a few minutes, I’m sure.”
“Take your time.” His tone was rough. “I’ll use the shower.”
Clearly he was as frustrated as she was.
“Right.” She wanted to say something else but she couldn’t with her brother standing there, so she followed him out of the room and focused on Hayley’s dress.
It took her less than twenty minutes to assess the problem and fix it, but by the time she walked back into their bedroom braced to finish the conversation the room was empty.
There was a note on her pillow.
Your dad needed me to move furniture so that people can dance. I’ll see you downstairs when you’re ready.
She turned it over in case he’d scribbled something on the back but there was nothing.
NoI love you. NoI’ll meet you up here later.
Nothing.
She scrunched up the note and threw it in the bin.
She was expected to get through the evening without finishing what they’d started. Had their conversation fixed things? She didn’t know, and she hated unresolved conflict. Hated it, and they’d already been at odds for days.
And now she was expected to smile through a whole evening and celebrate romance. What an irony.
She grabbed her dress and slid it on. She wished now that she’d chosen something less eye-catching. Black or navy maybe, not petal pink even though she knew she looked good in petal pink. She’d fallen in love with the fabric and designed the dress herself, but now she was worried it was too girly. It was the sort of dress that would have made Declan’s friends stare at her with their mouths agape and normally she wouldn’t have thought about it, but she was thinking of it now.
She checked her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She did love the dress. It was gorgeous. It fitted perfectly and the colour alone lifted her mood. The truth was she didn’t want to wear black or navy. Black made her feel gloomy. She wanted to wear this sparkly pink dress.
This was who she was. This was the woman Declan had dated and then married.
Whether he was regretting that decision, she still had no idea.
Chapter18
Jenny
It has certainly been an interesting Christmas so far. Jamie married, Becky declaring undying love for Will.” Martin reached for the clean shirt he was wearing for the party. “Are you sure putting them in the same room was that the right thing to do?”
Jennifer scooped her hair into an elegant knot and started on her makeup. The first guests would be arriving in an hour but she was satisfied that almost everything was done. “Are you turning puritanical on me all of a sudden?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” He buttoned the shirt. “I’ve known you a lot of years, Jenny. I know the way your mind works. You don’t really believe that Will and Becky are together, do you?”
“Not for a moment.” Smiling, she met his gaze in the mirror and saw him shake his head. “What?”
“I thought we agreed a long time ago not to interfere in our children’s lives once they reached adulthood.”
“I wouldn’t call it interfering exactly.” She rummaged in her makeup bag and dug out her mascara.
“Inviting Will to stay and putting them in the same room isn’t interfering? What would you call it?”
“Making the most of circumstances.” Jennifer picked up her mascara and stroked it onto her lashes. “Believe me, it’s the right thing to do.”
“Go along with their fake relationship? Why?”
“Because they did it for a reason, Martin.”
“Now you’ve lost me.”
