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‘Are we friends then?’
‘Seriously?’
He was the most haphazard she’d seen him in years. He was in immaculate black jeans and a black top, but the belt he’d threaded through was undone and he was untucked and unshaven and closer to the Dante of old that she hadn’t seen in years. Only now, she was in theDo Not Approachzone.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘We were friends.’
‘Does being friends mean holding on to some decade-old rumour waiting for your moment?’ he asked. ‘No, thank you, then.’
‘I have every right to be upset—’
‘Enjoy it, then,’ he said, sitting on his medieval bed and pulling on his boots.
The real torture was his indifference. ‘Where are you going?’
He didn’t answer.
‘Please don’t disrupt his life.’
‘Don’t worry.’ He was at his sarcastic best. ‘I’ll pick up some blue balloons and teddies on the drive there—Daddy’s home!’
‘Please don’t go and find him.’
‘Go to hell, Alicia.’
She was frantic to stop him—insensibly so. ‘We have your family dinner tonight...’
‘You’re not serious?’ Dante didn’t even look over, instead he was looking for his car keys, as if an eerie calm had come over him. ‘Wedon’t have anything.’ He picked up his phone and turned it off in front of her. ‘Believe me, there’ll be no family dinner.’
‘Don’t say that.’
‘I am saying exactly that. I don’t want one.’
‘So where are you going?’
‘To find a more sensible conversation.’ Even as they looked at her, those navy eyes didn’t really meet hers, and they were so unreadable they seemed opaque. ‘Do you want me to arrange your flight?’
‘You’re kicking me out?’
‘I don’t kick,’ he said. ‘Ever. Oh, but there were rumours though, weren’t there? When I was teenager...when the baker’s was broken into. Did you believe that too, Alicia?’
‘No!’ She was appalled. ‘They were lying. Ialwaysdefended you, Dante.’
‘You did,’ he said. ‘But it stopped long, long before the funeral.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘It is. Before you demand honesty from others, take a look at yourself.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘REVERENDMOTHERISunavailable,signor...’
He had not stood waiting at the gates of the convent for half an hour just to be told this.
‘Please tell her that if she fails to make herself available then I will attempt to deal with the situation myself.’ Dante was very good at getting his own way, and never had he needed to more than now. ‘However, I would appreciate her guidance on a delicate matter that has come to light this morning. Could you tell her that, please?’
