Still, she looks as if she’s hiding something. I wonder if her father threatened her. After watching me beat up her bodyguard? She might be afraid to tell me anything else. Maybe she knows that her father doesn't want me to be with her, and she hasn't told him the full truth. Or maybe she has told him the full truth, and she is worried about what I'll do.
Everything’s going exactly to plan.
Then why do I hate how this makes me feel?
My phone rings, and I pick it up quickly.Leith.
“Yeah?”
“Mac. Are you within earshot of her?"
"No." I look briefly up at Bryn, but she can't hear my conversation.
“The wedding could be the exact opportunity that you need. Could be an easy in, you see.”
“Aye. Been thinking the very same myself.”
“Not to mention the fact that I'd feel a lot more at ease knowing you were at the wedding with the girls."
I chuckle. “That, too. Listen, Leith, we’ll be back up for dinner tonight, alright?”
“Aye, of course. See you then.”
I feel guilty when I hang up the phone. I've been battling this feeling from the moment I met her, but every moment that I spend with her magnifies it. I hate it. I hate knowing that I either have the choice of hurting her, or of letting down my family. I wish there was some happy medium, but there isn't.
I don't say anything to her at first, as we gather up the things she needs to take home. A sewing machine, and a small box filled with lots of notions. She's got fabric, and the things that she's working on, and, of course, the dress itself.
"Do you typically wait this close to a deadline before you actually finish the task?"
“Ah, well, that’s hard to answer, isn’t it?” she says with a laugh. “There… haven’t really been many tasks before this?”
There's a vulnerability in her eyes I've seen before, only this time she doesn't seem to be able to mask it to me as she did before.
I look at the dress before her, neatly tidied up and zipped in an ivory travel bag.
“Sweetheart, that’s fuckin’ gorgeous. If you’ve had a lull, then it’s only because word hasn’t yet gotten out about how bloody talented you are.”
She flushes. “Thank you.”
“I’m dead serious,” I say, shaking my head. “Alright, I’ll admit it. I don't know a bloody thing about things like this. Dresses and fabric and all that crap. But I do know enough to realize that my sisters are bloody blown away by the bridesmaids’ dresses, and I've heard tell they said there was never a more beautiful dress than the one that you've designed for Fran.”
Her eyes shine at me. “Thanks for that, Mac. Honestly. Thank you.”
I give her a suggestive look. “No need to thank me, sweetheart. Just remember me later, will you?”
She sticks her tongue out at me playfully, and I wag a finger at her teasingly. "Watch it young lady."
I love how she flushes when I boss her around, the way her eyes grow wide and I can tell she wants more. Christ, I can’t wait to get her alone tonight.
Maybe I don’t have to do what I planned. Maybe there’s another way. I hate the idea of anyone so much as putting a frown on her face. I detest the thought of me being the one that does it.
She sighs when we try to pack everything up. “I don’t know, Mac, I just don’t know how I’ll be able to move everything I need.”
“I’ll help you.”
She shakes her head. “I reckon it just might make the most sense for me to stay here today to get this work done. Everything I need is here, and it's going to take so much time just to move everything…”
“I can make that work. For now. We’ll bring stuff home tonight, but I can work alongside you as you do for a bit.”
