“After work, you mean? As far as I know, she went out to dinner.”
“Any idea who with?”
Terri was all innocence. “Well, actually, now that you say it, I think it was with that guy who saved you, Ethan Greene.”
There was a strange look on his face. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Terri. That guy didn’t save me.”
“Of course he did.”
Gary shook his head. “Dunno. I think he’s a bit of a player, this fella, making up stories to try and get into Rachel’s pants.”
Terri couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was Gary seriously trying to justify keeping the ring and now trying to accuse Ethan of moving in on Rachel?
“Think about it. If this Greene guy was so anxious to speak to me, then why did he go behind my back and ask her out to dinner?”
“Because you weren’t here, and Rachel thought you were staying overnight in Wicklow. Anyway, he didn’t ask her. She asked him, to thank him for helping you out.”
He rubbed a hand across his stubbly jaw. “I don’t know. This fella seems a little too cute for my liking, and if he thinks I’m going to fall for that sorry story he fed me earlier…”
“So you have spoken to him then.” Terri was relieved that the two had at least been in contact. It meant that Gary would now have no choice but to be up front. Granted, Rachel would be hurt and feel very deceived, but the truth needed to come out sooner rather than later. “I’m glad. The sooner Rachel knows about this, the—”
Gary looked at her. “Rachel doesn’t need to know anything.”
“But…but we both know that the ring isn’t yours,” Terri replied, wide-eyed. “You must give it back to Ethan.”
“Nope. It’s Rachel’s now, and none of us wants her to get hurt, do we?” He looked at her closely, and she realized that behind his Neanderthal bluster was a calculating mind.
This worried her even more.
Even worse, he was calling her bluff, daring Terri to admit what she knew to Rachel when they both knew how much it would hurt her.
By the looks of things, Gary was even planning to suggest that Ethan was using it all as a cover story to get closer to Rachel. Perhaps convinced of that himself.
Either way, it looked like Ethan wasn’t going to get the ring back without a fight.
Just then, Rachel arrived back in the kitchen. “Hi. What are you doing hiding away in here?” she said, sidling up to Gary.
“Just thanking Terri for keeping me company last night,” he said, putting an arm around her, and Terri was perturbed at how easily he could lie. “Anyway, I’d better go and let you ladies do some work.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to throw on an apron and give us a hand? I’ve got some fresh dough that needs making,” Rachel teased him, going to the storeroom.
“Nah, best to leave all that stuff to the experts,” he joked. Giving her a peck on the cheek, he eyed Terri briefly as if to challenge her.
Her heart sinking, Terri knew that realistically, even if she wanted to tell Rachel the truth, she didn’t have a leg to stand on. It seemed so unlikely and fantastical that she ran the risk of coming across as jealous or spiteful.
What made it harder was that Gary was willing and, it seemed, well able to cover his tracks, and as Justin had pointed out, by saying something, Terri ran the risk of ruining not only their friendship but their business relationship too.
So what was she going to do?
Rachel came back out of the storeroom. “Making more already?” she said, noticing that Terri was kneading out fresh dough. “Yours must be doing a bomb today.”
She and Rachel had an unofficial competition going on in the artisan bakery. Today, the olive bread was lagging behind.
“Doesn’t it always?” she teased, hoping her despondency didn’t show in her tone.
“I think we’re looking low on cookies too, and… Oh, blast it,” Rachel added, her face falling. She wiped her hands and fished around in the pockets of her apron for her phone.
“What’s wrong?”
