We’ve been here before. Matteo holds me steady while I grab hold of the saddle and hook my ridiculous sandal in the stirrup. He is standing very close behind me, his hands gripping my waist. I’m going to positively evaporate if his hands go any lower or higher.
‘What was all that about?’ he says in a low voice. ‘Was he bothering you?’
I shake my head. ‘The opposite.’
Matteo gives me a quizzical look.
‘He’s going to get on the first flight out of here tonight. He’s going to resign from the Sinfonia.’
I swish my ponytail from my neck, exposing it to him. I bite my lower lip enticingly and blink slowly at him. It’s as though a spark has been ignited.
‘Please don’t,’ he says in a low groan that only I can hear. His eyes skim my body. I’m wearing tiny Barbie hot pants and a bra top. With one fluid move, he hoists me up onto my steed.
I watch him mount his own and pull it round to my side.
‘Okay then. One down, one to go,’ I say, smiling at him. ‘We might just get a night to ourselves after all.’
‘I can’t wait,’ he says, smiling at me. ‘I’ll try to make another reservation for Caesars Palace.’
His phone buzzes.
My chest tightens as he pulls it out of his pocket.
He throws his head up to the sky with a sigh. ‘Birdie suddenly has another job offer. She’s leaving tonight.’
‘But that’s great, isn’t it?’
‘It means we need to bring the completion date forward for the record we’re working on. She wants me to go back to LA with her to finish it.’
‘She wants you to leave tonight?’ My whole stomach drops. ‘That’s so out of order.’
‘Either I leave with her or she pulls the plug on the whole deal.’
22
Not that I’m thinking with my loins, but we’ll not get to consummate our marriage, and that annulment is looking easier and easier to obtain. Nor is that the most critical issue of the day. Obviously, Matteo pursuing his lifelong dream to produce a global smash hit for one of the world’s most successful pop stars is very important. While the threat of Luke being murdered by accident and us all going to jail for it is still an issue very much hovering on the periphery of my mind. But still, I can’t help feeling gutted that my gorgeous wedding dress and beautifully crafted underwear have gone completely to waste.
‘You’re going?’ I say. I can’t believe it. ‘You’re just going to do what she tells you, the moment she snaps her fingers?’
This outburst coming from a chronic wimp.
I see his face harden. ‘I hardly have a choice.’ He reaches down to pat his horse, the atmosphere between us suddenly tense. ‘I have people depending on me.’ He applies pressure to the horse with his legs and canters away from me.
I throw my head back and groan with frustration. I remain at the back of the horse trail. I should be admiring the gorgeous view but instead my eyes are glued to the back of Matteo. What does this mean for us as a couple if Matteo always jumps to it when Birdie snaps her fingers? If this deal is a success, will other artists expect him and Birdie to be the dream team they hire, always as a pair? If so, will we never be free of Birdie?
‘Admiring the gorgeous view, are you, pet?’ Tash cackles. She is riding her horse with knee-high socks on. Her high heels are hanging from the saddle.
‘Something like that,’ I say.
‘I feel like this has been such a spiritual journey,’ says Tash, not picking up on my flat, depressed tone. ‘It’s made me totally rethink my decision to have baby Vegas outside of wedlock. Seeing how happy you and Matteo are together. It’s made me hanker after a huge fairy-tale wedding instead. A proper one. Not like your quickie accidental one. No offence, like.’ She stares off into space. ‘I want a big fuck-off Jennifer Lopez meetsBridgertonmeets the Kardashians wedding with sweeping staircases and golden thrones aplenty.’ She flutters her eyes at Sister Kevin.
He’s so big, they’ve given him a very short but wide load-bearing mule. His feet are only inches above the ground. He’s yelling ‘Yeehaw!’ and waving his pink Stetson like a cowboy.
‘When you know you know,’ she says, cantering off to catch up with him.
It’s lovely to see Big Sue and Big Mand behaving like love-struck teens when they think no one is looking. They’ve barely spoken to any of us. A softness has consumed them. Even the way they walk and hold themselves seems different. They only have eyes for each other, their foreheads always touching. You’d think they’d only just met. I observe them riding side by side, gazing at one another, silly grins on their faces, laughing at private jokes and takingeveryopportunity to touch the other’s arm or face or leg.
I see Matteo up ahead, avoiding me. We have only a few days left of our minibreak and, so far, it has been nothing short of a romantic shambles. Ged rides alongside him. I wish I could hear what they are talking about. Matteo is smiling at Ged and thanking him for something. Then Ged’s face is looking horrified. Then Matteo looks awkward. Then Ged does a fifty-point turn on his horse and almost gallops towards me.
