“Come on,” Daffy said to Lucy as she tucked her phone away, a sour twist in her gut. “We’re wasting daylight.”
“You okay?” Lucy said.
“I’m fine. It’s just my friend, Leslie Ann. Never mind.”
They turned down Wells Line without another word. Past theBelly of the Beast down to Canal Street toward the oldest Old Hamlet shops. The heady aroma of fresh bread from a little bakery mingled with the salty sea air.
“Daffy,” Lucy said, low and slow. “Have you been keeping up with things on social media?”
“Things?” She glanced at her friend. “Like what? The news? No. My personal accounts? Sort of. Why? The internet is spotty here at night and I’m too tired for a page to load. And there’s no time during the day.”
“I hear you, but I usually check during lunch and dinner. Please correct me if I’m wrong, if there’s something I don’t know, but on Thomas’s profile, there are a lot of posts with your friend Blinky.”
“Really? I don’t think they’re hanging out more than usual. Though she went with him to Saldings on the Waterfront to check it out for a wedding venue.”
“Yes, I saw those but, Daffy, they’re like, hanging out. So much so their posts fill my feed. My sister got a puppy two days ago and I just saw her pictures today.” Lucy held up her phone. “Maybe you know, but this is what I see.”
Daffy swiped through the pictures. Thomas and Blinky at Saldings, thumbs up, smiling, her arm around his neck, his arm about her waist.
Thomas and Blinky huddled together at Pub Clemency, mugging for the camera.
Thomas and Blinky in the background of a photo of Rick and Jones holding up a sign for Albert—Happy birthday ole chap. Daffy enlarged the image. Was his hand on her hip?
She handed back Lucy’s phone. “What are you tryingnotto say, Lucy?”
“Come on, you saw his hand on her hip. They look like a couple.” She flashed the photo where Thomas and Blinky lingered in the background. “It looks as if he is going to kiss her. He doesn’t realize he’s been caught on camera.”
Daffy thumped down Canal Street’s steep incline. “Why would he cheat on me when he just proposed? And you don’t know Blink well, but she’s crazy, exuberant, affectionate. She hugs and kisses people all the time. Sits on the lads’ laps without asking. She’s a flirt! Look at her other social media sites and you’ll see her hanging on lots of guys. But she’s also a loyal friend who’d never betray me.”
“Here’s another one.” Lucy shoved her phone under Daffy’s nose again. “Blinky’s Insta.”
Daffy glanced at the shot of Thomas standing on a street corner under a gorgeous seaside sunset, staring toward the horizon. The caption read Friends Forever.
“So? They’re friends.”
“One more.” Lucy showed Daffy a dinner scene. Two plates. Two glasses of wine. A candle. Dinner…okay… Daffy looked closer. The city lights in the background were from Thomas’s living room window. That was his dining table.
She scrolled to the time stamp. Last night. Right after Daffy called and he claimed to be dining with a client.
“So they had dinner together.” Daffy walked on. “I’ve eaten at the pub with Gus.”
Lucy tucked her phone into her coat pocket. “Well don’t get me started onhim.”
“Do you have something to say, Lucy?” Daffy pulled up again. The wind slicing up the hill from the channel wrapped her in a dewy chill. “Started on what?”
“You’re in love with the prince.” Lucy spoke with bold confidence. “It’s all over your face every time he enters the servants’ hall. Plain as day. You blush.”
Betrayed again by her silent affections. “That doesn’t mean I love him. Please, tell me no one else notices.”
“Maybe one of the maids, but not the men. Daffy?” Lucy’s voice softened. “Are you in love with him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Being asked point-blank forced her to be honest “I’m engaged and—”
“Are you? Maybe in word but not deed.”
“What does it matter? Gus has sworn off love. We’re just friends. Nothing more. Good friends who are comfortable together. Honest with each other. We could talk all night. He told me something Sunday afternoon he’d never told anyone.” At the bottom of Canal Street, Daffy spotted the Shop Vintage sign and headed that way. “And I confessed to him I wasn’t…” She drew in a deep breath of the salted sea air. “I wasn’t sure about Thomas.”
“Daffy…really?” Lucy squeezed her hand. “Isn’t it good news he might not be sure about you either?”
