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“Is everything okay?” I eventually asked.
“Hmm?”
“Is Adrien okay?” The panic cut clear through any effort I may have put toward keeping my tone casual and calm.
“Oh,” Robert said, not taking his eyes off the screen. Then, “No.”
Instead of elaborating, he simply put his phone away again and bit into a cucumber sandwich.
I grit my teeth, squirmed in my seat, told myself it was fine. After all, Adrien deserved to suffer a little over what he’d put me through. What he didn’t deserve was to have me sit here and care about what happened to him; or to have my insides lurch with worry over him.
“Oh, and before I forget, I think it’s important for you to know that Joshua is no longer welcome in our family home.”
My scattered attention zoomed back in on Robert. “Pardon?”
“That boy has been on thin ice with us for a while now,” he said with a new firmness. “I never really did forgive him for what happened with Mandy, but Addy insisted we let it go because he didn’t want it leaking to the media. They have a bad habit of twisting stories about him to get clicks so we… Anyway, the point is, you won’t have to worry about running into Joshua should you decide to come back here and visit us again. Which, by the way, we really hope you would.”
That was never going to happen. If Robert knew—
“Adrien told us everything.”
I doubted he actually meanteverything—
“And I do mean everything. Addy spilled the beans once Joshua, Mandy, and Kenny were removed from the property.”
Okay. But there was no way he’d told them about the relationship—
“Including the true nature of your relationship. We’re aware the engagement wasn’t real.”
I felt my shoulders deflate as my gaze dipped to the untouched scone resting on my plate. Things were about to become very awkward.
“Addy was also very adamant that we all understood none of this was your idea or your fault,” he said firmly. “So please don’t think anyone is angry or upset with you, because that simply isn’t true, and it’s also not what this conversation is about.”
I risked a glance up at him. “What’s it about then?”
He considered my question before committing to an answer. “In light of all the recent… dishonesty, I think it’s important for me to share a few truths with you. Just so you have a better understanding of how things look from where Alice, Julie, Anthony, and I stand.”
I sipped my cooling tea as the realization crept in. He was about to hit me with one of those “we’re not angry, we’re just disappointed”talks, wasn’t he? In his defense, I deserved it. In mydefense… I still deserved it. My justifications and excuses weren’t his problem, so I just kept my head ducked and listened.
“I understand that your engagement wasn’t real, but the changes I’ve seen in my grandson over the course of this trip certainly are. And I believe—as does the rest of my family—that these changes have everything to do with you.”
I sunk a little lower in my seat, preparing myself for the worst. But then he said, “I’ve never seen him laugh with anyone the way he does with you.”
And it was so unexpected that it snagged my full, undivided attention. His smile was faint but kind, and his eyes carried none of the judgment I was expecting.
“That’s a truth,” he said softly. “We were all very surprised by it. It was a rather hot topic of discussion among us just yesterday morning, shortly before the guests arrived. We’ve also never seen him quite as enthralled with anyone as he is with you. Look at anyone the way he looks at you. And don’t get me started on the fact that you somehow managed to convince the boy to turn himself into a human blueberry.”
My neck warmed. “I didn’t convince him to do it,” I defended. I hadn’t needed to. He’d all but dove into the makeup stool headfirst.
Robert nodded, looking suspiciously like he was suppressing a quiet laugh. “Fair enough. The point is, I also haven’t seen my grandson engage in that level of play since he was two feet shorter than he is now. It was refreshing, to say the least.”
Okay, well, you know what wasn’t refreshing? Being lied to and straight-up manipulated.
…
But I guess Robert would already know that.
Still.
