We talked about Max and Vic’s wedding where Seph was one of the best men, about our wedding which no longer seemed like a fictional project and at one point I finished one of Liam’s sentences.
“You two are different,” Seph said when Liam had left to meet Wes again. There was another contract to sign for more songs.
“What do you mean?”
“It doesn’t seem fake anymore. He keeps looking at you the same way Max looks at Vic or Jackson looks at Vanessa.” Seph snatched a sausage I’d left on my plate. I forgot how much of a gannet he was.
“I notice you don’t mention how Owen looks at Payton, or Eli looks at Payton, or Killian looks at Claire...”
“That’s because I don’t want to think about how they look at my sisters because they should be locked in towers – to be honest, that would be safer for everyone if they could be locked away.”
“Seriously. Don’t try and become the over-protective brother now.”
“And don’t try and change the subject. He likes you.”
“I feel like I’m back in school.”
Seph laughed. “How much time have you been spending together?”
“A bit. We had a date last night.”
“Where?”
“Shoshi, then we went to Grand Pacific. His kind-of-ex turned up and he blew her off. Then explained she’d been kind of a consistent hook up.”
Seph raised his brows. “I’ve never explained any of my exes to any woman I’ve been out with.”
“That’s because you don’t get a chance. You only see them once.”
“That’s Callum, or it was before he got serious. I usually see them twice. You should try everything twice. The first time is the first time – never judge. The second time tells you if you actually like it or not.”
“It’s been more than two times.”
Seph laughed. “So you like it. You like him.”
I didn’t get a chance to answer.
His phone started to ring and a picture of Maxwell’s face with graffitied horns and red painted eyes flashed up on the screen. “Got to go. I’m meeting the new partner today and I’m late. Big boss brother’s probably going to try to roast me and serve me for dinner if I don’t get my arse there.” He stood, a disaster of fashion mess, kissed the top of my head and scattered out of the restaurant
“Don’t worry about paying,” Amelie said. “I’ll add it to Seph’s bill.”
I laughed. That sounded about right.
* * *
My head was full of what Seph’d said. I wasn’t a fool, not recently anyway, and I knew Seph had a point. Whatever had been between me and Liam to start with had changed. The plans that had been drawn up to separate the building into two were unarguably excellent; Ava’s suggestions for the design flowed seamlessly from the spa to the recording and rehearsal section. What shouldn’t have worked together was doing so – on paper.
Just like we were.
Last night had been a proper date and Liam had done everything he could to make sure we weren’t interrupted, including fobbing off someone he’d been close with in the past, because however he’d tried to sell it to me, he and Amber had a history.
I walked to the Southwark spa with a head full of thoughts and a web full of tangled feelings. Ready or not, we were getting married in five weeks, and this would be my fourth marriage – not something I’d ever considered or dreamed of.
Divorce wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought it would be – for either of us.
I walked into work with my head held high, wanting to focus on business because that had been my long term lover, through everything.
The reception looked immaculate. Someone had brought in fresh flowers from the market and there were now some warm fairy lights dotted around. We didn’t do a huge seasonal run up; people liked to get away here from every day, and that included the months up to Christmas. It was an escape.
