‘No. She’s still asleep.’ Jonah glanced at me. ‘She said you had fun last night.’
I turned around to pour him a coffee, in case my face flushed incriminatingly. ‘Yeah, we did.’
Between the kids and the bar, Satoshi and I hadn’t been able to get our schedules to line up for a week, so even though we’d talked and texted a lot, last night had been the first time I’d actually seen him since the previous Thursday. Perhaps because of that – or perhaps because I was simply so pathetically addicted to him – it had taken everything in me not to physically launch myself at him.
He had clearly noticed, because he’d convinced me to pretend to go to the bathroom, following me out there about thirty seconds later and bundling me into his office. Before I could get a singleword out, he’d picked me up, set me on the desk, and buried his face in my throat, arms so tight around me that I almost couldn’t breathe.Fiona,he groaned into my skin.
I’d grinned, looping my arms around his neck.Hi.
He’d looked sheepish when he finally drew back.Sorry. I just really… needed you.
The thought that I could put that look on his face made something in me burn, and I’d curled my fingers into his waistcoat.I need you too. So badly.
Do you now?His hand snaked under my dress.How badly?
When I went back out to the table a few minutes later, my legs were wobbly and I wasn’t wearing any underwear.
‘Sadie’s friend Julia seems nice.’ I handed Jonah his coffee, forcibly pulling myself out of the memory. ‘I’ve never met her before, but I liked her.’
Jonah hesitated. ‘You know that she’s…’
‘That she’s what?’
‘Nothing. I’ll tell you later.’ He downed his coffee in two gulps. ‘I’d better be going. Tonight’ll be the first night I’ve spent apart from Sadie since we got married, so I want to spend the day with her before Chess whisks her away.’
Mum made anawwsound. Dad scoffed. ‘Will she be wearing her wedding dress next time you see her?’ Georgia asked.
‘She sure will.’
‘We saw her try it on,’ Rosie said earnestly. ‘She looked so pretty, Uncle Jonah. Like a princess.’
‘She always looks pretty.’ Jonah’s eyes turned dreamy. ‘Anyway, I’d better get back to her. Bye, everyone.’
‘Mummy,’ Georgia asked, when Jonah had left, ‘will Daddy have a wedding with the other lady, do you think?’
‘I don’t know, Georgie-girl,’ I replied. ‘I suppose he might, one day.’
It was incredible how little it hurt to say. Every second I spent with Satoshi made me more grateful I wasn’t the married pregnant chosen one.
‘Would we be the flower girls?’ Rosie asked.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Lex got in first. ‘Of course not,’ they almost spat. ‘It’d beNikki.’
‘Oh.’ Rosie’s voice was small.
‘Hey, hey, let’s not worry about something that hasn’t even happened,’ I said. ‘How about we think about what we should do this afternoon instead? We could go to the park, or—’
‘Actually,’ my mother said, ‘I thought you—’ she kissed Rosie on the head ‘—and you—’ now Georgia ‘—and you—’ she held her knuckles out to Lex ‘—could spend this afternoon with me and Grandpa, so Mummy can have a break.’
‘What?’
She took an envelope out of her handbag. ‘A little treat.’
I opened it. It was a massage gift certificate for the day spa on the Bellerive high street, with an appointment time that afternoon on it.
‘This is lovely, but it’s really not necessary.’ Kieran worked at that spa, and much as I was starting to trust that Satoshi actually liked my body and wasn’t just saying he did, I wasn’t anywhere near comfortable enough to be that close to his so-beautiful-it-was-like-staring-into-the-sun ex. ‘How about you go instead of me? I’m sure you could use a massage after the plane ride.’
‘Nonsense.’ Mum waved her hand at me. ‘We’re going to have a lovely time while you get pampered. Aren’t we, my darlings?’
