‘Hi, Jamie. How’s it going? And hello again.’ Katie nodded at Alicia and failed to peel her eyes away.
Jamie responded in a way that would get her attention. ‘Good, thanks. How’s the pregnancy coming along?’
Katie’s gaze shot to Jamie, her jaw slack. She wasn’t showing yet.
‘Frank told me,’ he informed her.
‘He did? I’m…um… It’s going well. Sorry, I did want to tell you myself.’
‘No big deal,’ Jamie spoke a half-truth. It had been a quite a big deal at the time, but now he had better things to think about. He moved his palm to the small of Alicia’s back.
‘Katie, this is Alicia. Alicia, this is Katie. Although I believe you’ve already met.’
Katie gaped again, clearly struggling to act like Alicia was just another person, which tickled Jamie.
‘Lovely to meet you, officially.’ Alicia reached out to shake Katie’s hand.
‘Yes, lovely to meet you, too.’ Katie found her voice and hand at last. ‘Are you enjoying the book?’
‘To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to start it yet,’ Alicia said. ‘I’ve been preoccupied with painting and with the five-star hospitality.’ She flashed a warm smile at Katie and turned an even brighter one Jamie’s way.
Jamie had to restrain the wattage of his own expression. Katie’s face twisted in disbelief, struggling to mask her astonishment. She clearly couldn't fathom that her ‘bad karma’ ex was now offering ‘five-star hospitality’ to a Hollywood model and movie star. He didn’t need others to beimpressed by Alicia’s status; he simply enjoyed witnessing Katie grapple with the reality of it all.
‘Alicia is such a talented artist that she’s going to do some artwork for the distillery,’ Jamie said. ‘We’ve some great ideas in the pipeline.’
Before Katie had a chance to draw air, Frank sidled up, devilishly bland in beige chinos and a brown shirt.
‘What’s all this then?’ He poked his pointy nose into the conversation, both physically and figuratively. ‘Didn’t expect you to be here tonight, Jamie. Decided to do some psychological spring cleaning? Oh, hello!’ His eyes bore into Alicia. ‘I know you.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Alicia was as blunt as a sledgehammer and Jamie again had to suppress mirth. ‘We’ve definitely never met.’
But Frank’s tactlessness had no limits.
‘No, but you’re that movie star, aren’t you? Donoghue family. Have to say the last place you expect to see celebs is Kinshore, and on the arm of Jamie Butler. No offence, eh, Jamie.’
Jamie’s blood pressure skyrocketed. Frank most certainly meant offence. Who barged into a conversation with a stranger and said such rude things? And what had happened to Katie to make her fall for this person? Jamie was thrown back to wondering what he might have done, or not done, to instigate it.
‘I’m having a vacation and I was lucky enough to meet Jamie at my hotel,’ Alicia explained. ‘And now I’m lucky enough for him to have invited me back to your lovely village.’ She was being as polite as pie, which was more than Frank deserved, but it didn’t deter him.
‘Aye, I suppose you’d be wanting away from all the Hollywood scandal.’
Alicia visibly recoiled and Jamie tensed, his jaw clamping down like steel.What the hell is this guy’s problem?
Katie, to her credit, tried to change the conversation.
‘Alicia’s doing some artwork for BDL,’ she told Frank. ‘What is it exactly, Jamie?’
From somewhere far away Jamie’s voice echoed in his own ears, as he explained that it was artwork for the whisky bottles, but his mind was consumed by Frank’s audacity in embarrassing Alicia. She didn't deserve his toxic remarks. Oh, why had he not put his foot down about coming here?
‘It sounds fabulous,’ he heard Katie reply. ‘I’d love to see some of your art. What are the paintings of?’ But he drifted out of the conversation because his brain was fizzing with what he could say to Frank that wouldn’t embarrass Alicia but would convey how bang out of order the man was.
‘Oh, local scenes. The beach, the lighthouse…’ Alicia’s voice trailed off as she and Katie moved aside and embarked on a conversation about art.
‘What’s the matter, Jamie? You seem a wee bit peaky.’ Frank’s voice filtered into Jamie’s consciousness.
He gaped at Frank. It was taking all his willpower not to let rip at the guy.
‘Don’t bottle it up,’ Frank chided. ‘Negative emotions are better out than in. You should try reading this book.’ He thrust a copy ofClearing out Your Negativity Atticinto Jamie’s palm with his trademark simpering smirk on his face.
