‘I like him!’ Mum gave me a rare seal of approval. ‘He speaks nicely too.’
‘Make sure you look after her,’ Dad warned.
‘I will, sir,’ Ben said politely as they waved to my auntie who’d just arrived.
‘So?’ Ben asked.
‘You’re freaking amazing!’ I muttered under my breath.
‘Why, thank you! Come on, should we do some more mingling? I’d love to meet your brother.’
‘Okay!’ I said. I felt a million times better than I had ten minutes ago. This fake-dating arrangement was even more successful than I’d hoped. I scanned the gathering and spotted Adrian. He was dressed in a smart navy suit and was chatting to my cousin at a table in the far corner.
I was pleased with the set-up. On the beach about half a dozen circular tables had been arranged with cream tablecloths complete with wine glasses and fancy white plates topped with thick napkins. The wooden chairs had comfy-looking cream seat cushions on top.
Tomorrow it would be a similar style for the reception, but with more flowers decorating the tables and the surrounding areas.
‘I think my brother’s over…’
I didn’t even get to finish my sentence because when I saw Trent and Esme appear with their arms around each other, I stopped in my tracks.
They were heading in our direction.
Esme was in a short, low-cut, bright pink dress that left nothing to the imagination, and Trent was wearing a shinypurple velvet suit with an oversized gold chain dangling around his neck.
His normally pale white skin looked dangerously close to orange, which I assumed was because he’d applied too much fake tan, and his short, dark hair had been slicked back with what looked like a gallon of gel.
Ugh. I couldn’t believe I’d dated such a sleazeball for almost two years.
‘Shit, shit, shit,’ I whispered, plastering a fake smile on my face so that no one would see the turmoil ripping through me right now. ‘Incoming. Incoming.’
‘Relax.’ Ben bent down. ‘You’ve got this,’ he whispered in my ear before taking my hand and squeezing it tight.
‘Sarah? Is that you?’ a squeaky male voice sounded. I knew that it was Trent. God, had his voice always been that annoying?
Ben squeezed my hand again, giving me the strength I needed.
‘Trent, Esme,’ I said curtly.
‘Who’s this?’ Trent said.
‘This is Ben. My boyfriend,’ I said as confidently as I could.
‘Ha!’ Trent laughed. ‘Yeah,right!’
‘There you are!’ Adrian joined us, distracting me from wanting to slap Trent. I knew he wouldn’t believe Ben was my boyfriend, but fuck him.
Ben ground his jaw in frustration. He was shooting Trent a look that was so fuelled with hate and anger, I was worried that he might deck him.
‘Bro, this is Ben,’ I said quickly, trying to reduce the tension.
‘Hey!’ Adrian said enthusiastically before doing that back-slapping thing men do. ‘So great to finally meet you. Sarah didn’t tell me she was dating a male model! Damn, man. I better hurry up and get my girl down the aisle before she sees youand changes her mind!’ He laughed, then winced and mouthed ‘sorry’.
I knew Adrian meant well, but I also understood why he’d apologised. He was probably worried that the whole partner stealing joke was too close to the bone given Trent and Esme’s betrayal.
‘Adrian, Esme and Sarah,’ Mum called out. ‘Here a moment, please.’
‘Er, are you gonna be okay?’ I looked at Ben.
