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“This is the kind of thing we’ve got to get used to over the next few days,” Mack says. “They’re totally going to gang up on us.”
“I’ll cope.” Alex plants a kiss on the point where my neck meets my shoulder, and I shiver.
Elizabeth chuckles and changes the subject, but Alex kisses up to my ear and murmurs, “I haven’t forgotten about that compliment you gave me.”
I turn my head to look up at him. “Surely I don’t deserve punishment for that?”
“No, it was the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me. It definitely deserves a reward.”
“What kind? Dinner? A bottle of champagne?”
He waits for a moment, his breath warming my ear. “How about I go down on you and take as long as I can to make you come real slow,” he whispers.
I blink. “I feel a bit dizzy. I think it’s the sun.”
He chuckles and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. “Soon as we get to the apartment. Just so you know.”
Ooh.
He straightens, and the conversation moves on, but I’m filled with a glow now that’s not going away anytime soon. This guy only has to say half a dozen words and I turn to mush.
Now that’s a serious superpower. All he needs is a cape and tights, and he’d be more than a match for Superman.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alex
More guests arrive throughout the morning, and we spend a pleasant hour or so wandering around, talking to Damon’s friends and family, many of whom I remember from childhood. At twelve-thirty Mae announces lunch is ready, and we take a plate and help ourselves to the amazing spread laid out on tables in front of the house.
“You know so many people,” Missie comments as we pause to get a cup of coffee from the barista working in the kitchen.
“I spent a lot of time here,” I tell her. “Damon and I went to the same school, and the atmosphere wasn’t always great at home, so I often stayed over. When I was eighteen, my folks divorced. Kait moved to LA, and my dad went back to Christchurch, where he was from. I’d applied and got in at Vic uni, though, so Damon suggested I stay here with him. We shared his apartment for a couple of years.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” She accepts her coffee, and we walk over to an empty table to eat our lunch. It’s slightly tucked away, at the edge of the garden, in the shade of a large palm tree.
The food is magnificent—a dozen different salads, homemade breads, meat and vegetarian dishes, lots of fish and seafood. We tuck in, talking about all sorts of things, and we’ve nearly finished eating when she says, “So why didn’t you stay here when you graduated? Why return to Christchurch?”
I poke at some of the potato salad on my plate with a fork, my appetite disappearing.
“You don’t have to tell me,” she says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“It’s okay. I was going to tell you at some point. It might as well be now.”
She puts her hand on mine. “Are you sure? I don’t want to make you sad on such a beautiful day.”
I look across the terrace. Neal is a big muso and loves all types of music. It was always playing whenever I was here. Today, he’s chosen a playlist of love songs. At the moment, Dinah Washington is singingWhat a Difference a Day Makes. In the center of the terrace, everyone has moved back to leave a space, and in the middle of it Belle is dancing with Damon, her arms around his neck. They’re moving slowly, talking and laughing, but they both look so happy that my throat tightens.
Missie’s right—it’s a beautiful day, and nobody should be sad at weddings. And yet, for some reason, I know it’s the right time to tell her.
“It happened when I was eighteen,” I begin. “Gaby was fifteen, and Belle was twelve. Kait and Dad hadn’t been getting on for a while. Kait was never an easy person to live with. She suffered from depression, she was moody, and a drama queen. I don’t mean to sound mean, but I guess it was because she was an actor, and there was always some kind of drama going on, when she wasn’t away filming.”
Missie’s hand tightens on mine, giving me the confidence to go on.
“They argued a lot,” I continue. “Blazing rows. If we were there, Gaby and I would take Belle out for an ice cream or something, just to get her out of the house. I was in the last year of secondary school. I hated the atmosphere, and although I felt bad leaving the girls, I slept over here as often as I could. One of those times, I woke the next morning to a text from Gaby to say that Kait had walked out.”
“That must have been a shock,” Missie says.
“It was a shock, but not a surprise, if that makes sense? We knew things were bad. It was only this year though that I found out Dad had been having an affair for six months with Sherry before Kait moved out.”
