‘What’s that about?’ he asked Will because there was no one else to ask.
‘One of her house rules. Someone in her class once lost a diamond from her ring and they spent three hours looking for the thing. Ever since then she’s had a no-jewellery policy.’
Felipe sagged, as deflated as a two-week-old balloon. So she wouldn’t have been wearing jewellery in this class anyway.
Why was it so important for him to get proper confirmation of the engagement? He wasn’t sure, he just needed to. He could have asked Will, but he wasn’t about to give the other man the satisfaction of letting him know he was interested. Or maybe it was because he couldn’t bear to admit he’d lost out to the other man. All he could hope was that Rebecca would be happy. That was what he needed to hear. That she was happy. If she could look him in the eye and tell him that, then he would walk away and leave her to Will for good.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘We should tell her,’ Felipe overheard Katerina say. It was almost dinner time, it had been a very long day and he had been thwarted at every turn. All he wanted to do was talk to Rebecca on her own, apologise and check that she was happy. And see if she had a damned ring on her finger. Surely the girls would know.
‘No,’ said Ana, urgently. ‘You can’t.’
Intrigued, Felipe, who could hear the conversation as he walked along the hallway to the kitchen, was tempted to eavesdrop outside the door, but his scruples overcame his nosiness.
‘We could sing it to her,’ said Cristina, fisting her hands on her hips. ‘He’s a creep.’
‘He’s Rebecca’s choice,’ said Ana.
‘What are you talking about?’ he asked.
The faces of all three women became comically blank.
‘Nothing,’ said Ana so quickly that it was obvious that it had been something.
‘To do with Rebecca?’ he asked, trying to sound nonchalant when his curiosity was well and truly piqued.
‘No,’ denied Ana.
‘Yes,’ said Cristina.
‘Sort of,’ said Katerina.
He cocked his hip against the kitchen door frame. ‘No, yes, sort of?’
‘The Will man,’ said Cristina, her face wrinkling with disdain.
‘Are they engaged?’ he asked because he couldn’t help himself.
‘No. He’s asked her to move in with him and she said yes,’ said Cristina, her voice ringing with teenage outrage. The relief almost floored him. ‘He’s a phoney.’
Now Felipe really was intrigued. ‘How so?’
‘I heard him,’ Cristina piped up. ‘He said he was sorry, but then what he said was fake.’ She curled her lip in disgust, her young face radiating disapproval.
Felipe was grateful when Katerina jumped in to explain. ‘He told her that he couldn’t live without her, but with flowery words, except they’re from a song by Snackboyz.’
‘Who?’
‘Yooooou brought light into the darkness.’ Cristina launched into the song, belting it out and clutching her clasped hands to her chest, her eyes wide with entreaty while she blinked her eyelashes furiously. Felipe recognised the catchy tune from constant play on the radio in recent weeks as Cristina continued warbling– very badly, it had to be said, ‘Yoooou brought sunshine into my heart.’
Ana and Katerina joined in with the next line, ‘Without yoooou, I am blind and lost. So blind and lost.’
They then burst into cackles of laughter. ‘It’s such a bad song,’ said Ana, with rare criticism. ‘And him saying it… is so ick.’
‘It isn’t,’ said Cristina hotly.
‘The lead singer is a hottie,’ conceded Katerina grudgingly.
