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You’d be my last choice for Angie’s replacement.
I didn’t want to antagonize her so I said, “How nice,” and covered her hand with mine for a split second.
She looked at me with such shock, I wondered if maybe she really did want a friend. Maybe she was misunderstood and just needed someone to care about her.
Too much wine and too little food. I wasn’t thinking straight. I needed to get to Montreal and part ways with her as soon as possible.
SEEKING SECRETS
Sadie
“Exactly when and where are you getting married?” Ronnie shoveled a forkful of salmon into her mouth.
“We haven’t decided yet,” I said.
“C’mon, you can tell me,” she said with her mouth full. I couldn’t decide if she lacked table manners, or I wasn’t important enough to waste them on.
“If I could tell you, I promise you I would.” I tried to sound sincerely disappointed. “But we haven’t decided. We’re waiting for Simon’s parents to come back from Africa for the occasion.”
“The famous National Geographic photographers.”
“The same.”
“I saw a documentary on them. They run an elephant sanctuary, don’t they?” She smeared butter on her dinner roll.
“They support one but most of their work is in the field, documenting elephants in the wild.”
“A little bit different than being a takeover king?”
“As different as chalk and cheese.”
“But Simon’s their only son, isn’t he? Can’t they just come back when you set a date?”
“It’s not that simple. They have a lot of commitments right now. For the next couple of months, they’re meeting with international conservationists and rangers to try to reduce poaching. There’re still more elephants dying to poachers and hunters than are being replaced by natural population growth. Anita and Phil consider it their life’s work to try to reverse this trend.”
Ronnie made a face. Obviously environmental issues were not high on the list of things that mattered to her. Mom, on the other hand, might have a lot of shared values with Simon’s parents. As quickly as that thought fluttered into my mind, it was gone. I had to get my guard up again.
“So. About your vows. Are they going to be those do-it-yourself efforts? Words from The Prophet or your own random poetry? What was it Simon said? That you’re going to promise to love, honor, and obey?” She grinned at me, flashing gorgeous dimples. “I thought your mother was going to swallow her tongue at that one.”
I laughed. To me, Mom’s reaction was the funniest part of the whole engagement party weekend. “We’re not even that far along yet. We’ve only started thinking about the next step. The engagement party was Simon’s idea to make our relationship official and try to satisfy some of the interest in us. Simon saidobeyto push Mom’s buttons and she reacted exactly as we knew she would.”
“Yeah, but he said it in front of witnesses. Do you think everyone knew he was joking?”
“If they don’t, maybe you can set them straight?”
“I’ll see if I can do that,” she said, mopping her dinner plate with the last scrap of bread. “Who’s doing your dress?”
“I don’t know. Any ideas where I should look for interesting bridal wear? I’m not into long white gowns,” I said, to point her to another topic.
“Speaking of dresses, where did you get that beautiful purple number you wore for your party?”
I bit my lip. This was not the direction I wanted the conversation to take.
“Madame Sainte Clare.”
“Her gowns are supposed to be exclusive. Do you know how that ratbag Maddy McDonald was able to copy it?” she asked.
“I have no idea but if you find out, please let me know. Better still, if you find outwhyshe did that, I want to know.”
