‘It’s not your fault, Kelly. He only goes for old family wealth. Your father’s too new money.’
‘Are you serious right now?’ Kelly blustered.
‘Are you saying Gigi’s telling the truth?’ Niki asked, kinking an eyebrow.
‘As a matter of fact, yes. It’s true. So there. He doesn’t care about old money.’
Bel felt like she’d been sucked into some reality show nightmare.How the hell do you stop this ride?
‘I can’t believe you would try and steal my boyfriend!’ Niki yelled.
‘He was my boyfriend before he was yours!’
‘Just stop!’ Lisa yelled over the top of the ruckus. ‘This is hurting my chakra.’
Bel glanced towards her cousin, who was standing with her eyes shut and seemingly trying to remain calm. ‘Enough!’
This time, everyone stopped. ‘I am not having my wedding day ruined by backstabbing and name-calling. Gigi, stop being a bitch. I know that’s going to be difficult, buttry, okay? Niki, I’m sorry you found out about Oliver and Kelly this way, but Gigi was right, you are lowering your worth by being with that creep. The only reason he’s in the wedding party is because he’s Tristan’s cousin. You can both do betterthan him, so just stop it. As for Bel and Tate, I was the one who set them up, so if anyone has anything snarky to say, you’d better be okay saying it in front of me. Am I clear?’
A murmured sea of ‘Yes, Larkin’s followed.
‘Right. Now, I want you all to make up. No one and nothing is going to ruin my wedding day.’
‘I’m sorry, Niki,’ Gigi said. ‘I just want you to be the powerhouse boss-woman you were destined to be, babe. You can do some much better than Oliver. You both can,’ she added, turning to include Kelly.
The women stared silently at one another, then all three embraced in a group hug, so artfully mindful of their wet nail polish and face masks that it was more like an almost-hug.
With all parties somewhat mollified and order restored, Lisa got to lead them in a guided meditation. Bel was grateful for this, if only to be able to close her eyes and wish herself far, far away from all this insanity.
‘So we don’t have to sneak around anymore?’ Tate asked as they lay in her bed later that night.
‘Nope. Apparently, we were the worst kept secret this side of the Blue Mountains.’
For a moment he was silent and Bel turned her head to look up at him. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ he dismissed, but the continued silence warned her it was definitely something.
‘Is it a problem that people now know?’
‘Not a problem as such,’ he said. ‘I just prefer my privacy.’
Well, she hadn’t exactly wanted to take out an announcement in the local paper either, but they were all grown-ups and clearly the others had no qualms about sleeping around, so there was hardly going to be any scandal.
Bel was distracted when he ran his fingers along her arm, sending a shiver of delight across her skin, and decided to let his unusual response go.
‘There was something else I found kind of interesting. I heard that Oliver told you he was interested in me. Is that true?’ She felt awkward for asking, but Gigi’s announcement had stirred her curiosity.
His touch paused. ‘Oliver has a tendency to shoot off his mouth.’
‘So he did?’
‘Until he didn’t,’ Tate said.
‘What does that mean?’
‘I took him aside and I told him you were off limits.’
‘This was before the movie night?’
