He shoved his hand into his pocket and went downstairs without even looking at her.
Nicole almost followed, then stopped, a look of terror on her face as she watched Gabriel walk down the stairs and out of the house. Her mask had finally slipped. All the smooth calm crumpled. Her lips trembled and the colour drained from her face. Then she saw Pierre watching her.
“What the hell are you looking at?” she snarled. “Don’t you have work of your own, you sad hippie?”
Twenty-Nine
An hour later, Millie came back and found Pierre in the office compiling more songs Lord M wanted on the playlist for the wedding.
“Are you busy?” she asked.
“Not very. Have you found Laura yet?”
“Not yet,” Millie answered, but she was surprisingly upbeat. “Come on. Joanie — my bridesmaid — is here. She’s a close friend of Laura’s, too. We’re going back to the Casemates. Laura’s bound to come back there, and we’ll be waiting. Can you put your happy face on and come?”
She went, and Millie had been right because Laura did indeed come back to the Casemates later that afternoon and found them all waiting for her. Cook had put together a picnic basket of the most amazing dinner. Between the good food, good company, and some very sound female wisdom, they’d managed to convince Laura to stay.
They finally staggered home late at night.
“You missed dinner.” Liam, sitting at the kitchen table, looked up from his phone.
“I already ate,” Pierre told him as she went to the fridge. “Just came in to get some milk. I wanted to make a pot of tea and sit out on my little balcony. It’s a warm night.”
In fact, she needed a couple of hours in the quiet, warm spring night to clear her head. Too much had happened today.
“Emmet was looking for you.”
“Wha—” She paused with the fridge open.
“Emmet, the one you keep calling Gabriel for some reason.”
“When?”
“A couple of times, you referred to him as—”
“When was he looking for me?” Her heart beat hard enough to crack its way out of her chest.
“A few hours ago.”
She abandoned the fridge and came back to the table. The clock on the wall said half-past-ten. Was it too late to find him now? “What did he want?”
“Where were you?” Liam asked at the same time.
“We had dinner out. To cheer Laura up.”
“‘We being…?” He gave her a quizzical look.
“Me and Millie and Joanie. She’s apparently Laura’s friend from long ago.”
“Laura’sbestfriend.” Joanie came into the kitchen, giggling. Her corkscrew curls were starting to come loose from their clips.
None of them looked tidy anymore. Even Millie’s hair was a little dishevelled after the giggling, meandering, tipsy walk home in the dark.
“I thoughtIwas your best friend,” Millie said to Joanie with exaggerated shock.
“I’m your bridesmaid.” Joanie’s cheeks had two red spots now; it made her olive skin look adorable. “And you don’t need a best friend. You have a gorgeous Georgeous to marry in thirty-six hours. Don’t be greedy.”
Both women laughed.
