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Zach cut the call and opened his mouth to speak but no words of explanation came forth, so Millie decided to help him out.
‘Was that Clio, as in Clio your ex-girlfriend?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘She’s just landed at the airport and wants me to collect her.’
‘But I thought…’
However, Zach wasn’t listening. He spun on his heels and started to make his way down the street to towards where they’d left Tim’s car, leaving Millie to scramble in his wake with her myriad shopping bags.
The bubble of their early morning adventure had burst and the drive back to the villa was the most excruciating Millie had ever experienced. Awkwardness shimmered in the air between them, and she only just managed to hang onto her urge to blurt out a litany of questions she wasn’t even sure she wanted to hear the answers to. In the silence, her thoughts once again began to meander through the labyrinths of self-doubt that had been hewn by Luke’s infidelity and she chastised herself for thinking things had changed.
Chapter Ten
‘Hi Millie! Oh, my God. What happened to your hair?’ laughed Carla, taking in Millie’s halo of honey blond curls that had ballooned to double its normal volume.
‘The question you should be asking, Carla,’ Imogen giggled, kicking off her stilettos so she could pad into the villa’s kitchen in her bare feet, ‘is,whodid that to Millie’s hair. Millie, I saw you emerge from a very cute red roadster a few minutes before we arrived in the courtyard.’
Millie met Ella’s gaze with what she hoped was a silent plea for protection from the interrogation Imogen was poised to pursue. Every nerve in her body sparkled with panic at the thought of either confessing what had happened that morning or having to conjure up something mundane enough not to attract further questioning. She went with the latter.
‘Oh, I had to buy a few things at the market this morning so I got a lift back up the hill from a friend.’
Millie saw the scepticism in Imogen’s eyes, clear evidence that she wasn’t buying her explanation, but her expression swiftly changed to one of acceptance when she saw the faint shake of Ella’s head. Unfortunately, Harriet didn’t occupy the same empathy spectrum.
‘I know, I know!’ she squealed. ‘She’s been on a date with that hunky estate manager, Zach Barker. Yes, bingo! That’s definitely a blush of guilt!’
‘Oh, come on. Spill the details, Millie. I’ve been starved of gossip since I got here,’ moaned Carla, smoothing her palm over her head and tucking the sides of her hair round her ears in that familiar gesture. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be there to bake, and decorate the wedding cake pops, her beloved Pentax was strung round her neck like an over-sized necklace. ‘Unless you count what happened when Julia eventually managed to track down Fleur Markham’s offices yesterday.’
‘Why? What happened?’ asked Ella, her ears pricking up at the mention of Imogen and Alex’s elusive wedding planner, but she was equally keen to grasp onto a subject that would divert attention from Millie.
‘Well, Mum’s even more upset about her disappearance than I am. As you know, she and Brad took a taxi over to Castries yesterday to look for her offices, but when they got there the doors were locked and there was no sign of life. The girl in the flower shop downstairs, Martha I think her name was, said she hadn’t seen Fleur since Sunday – that’s the day we had our first meeting with her at the hotel, too.’
‘What did you think of Fleur when you met her? Did you think she would be reliable?’
‘That’s the weird thing. Alex and I really liked her. She seemed to have everything under control. She showed us photographs of our bouquets and the flower arrangements she’d ordered for the tables, and she assured us that there was no problem with arranging the release of butterflies Mum wanted so much. Fleur said she’d been asked for a lot worse! She had the string quartet organised for the ceremony and the live band booked for the evening disco. Everything else is being sorted out by the hotel. So after she had met with us she had an appointment to talk through the arrangements with the hotel’s temporary manager, Jerome. She seemed efficient and organised and very professional. We were due to see her on Wednesday to finalise the rehearsal on Saturday.’
‘Yes, but remember what Julia said,’ interrupted Carla, her green eyes wide with excitement. ‘Didn’t she hear Fleur arguing with Jerome in the gazebo?’
‘Did she hear what they were arguing about?’ asked Ella, her dark eyebrows raised with interest.
‘I don’t think so. And if it was anything to do with the wedding arrangements, I know Mum would have lurked in the bushes to listen in. She just sensed that the two of them had some personal history.’
‘Maybe he’s murdered her and hidden the body in a laundry basket?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Carla,’ snapped Imogen, the stress of the last two days bubbling to the surface. ‘That kind of talk is really unhelpful.’
‘So what if she doesn’t turn up?’ asked Ella. ‘What’s left to sort out for the wedding on Sunday?’
‘Thankfully, now that the cakes and the wedding favours are done, there’s only the flowers to chase up and Mum’s already one step ahead on that front. When she got back to the hotel yesterday afternoon she found the details of the supplier and confirmed that everything was on course for delivery on Saturday evening. Despite Karen’s initial reservations, Brad has turned out to be a complete angel. He’s not only running Mum up and down the hill in his hire car but also keeping her from having a total meltdown.’
Imogen poured herself a glass of home-made lime spritzer, added a scoop of ice and swallowed it down in one gulp.
‘Alex and I had a meeting with Jerome last night and he assured us that he has everything under control. I’m sure we can manage to choreograph a wedding ceremony. There are thirty-six guests, and me and Alex – how hard can it be? When Dad was alive, he and Mum used to throw summer parties in the back garden for more people than that!’
‘You’re right, Immie. We can totally do this without Fleur. You can rely on us!’ declared Carla before turning her attention back to Millie to resume her earlier interrogation. ‘So, Millie, who’s going to be your escort to the evening reception?’
