Something From Tiffany’s (21 page)

But that didn’t happen, because as soon as Gary walked in Rachel’s face lit up with a smile. ‘Hey there! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?’

He shrugged indolently. ‘Nothing much doing, to be honest, only a few jobs to price and I’ve done that, so I took the rest of the day off.’ He stepped back a little as Rachel reached forward to embrace him. ‘Hey, babe, watch that flour on my jacket,’ he chided.

‘Oh, of course,’ Rachel said, pulling back. ‘Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’ She grabbed a dishtowel and began to wipe off the flour spots she had left on Gary’s precious leather jacket.

Terri sighed inwardly. Yep, the dashing Romeo from New Year’s Eve had now well and truly disappeared, only to be replaced by the Gary they all knew and . . . didn’t love. What on earth did Rachel see in him?

She watched Gary just stand there and let Rachel fuss over him. Then a thought suddenly popped into her head, and she bit her lip, deciding to see if this particular cat might upset any pigeons.

‘Gary, you’ll be interested in this. Rachel just got another phone call from Ethan Greene,’ she said, watching him closely.

‘Who’s Ethan Greene?’ Gary enquired blankly and Terri could almost picture the wheels grinding slowly in his mind.

‘The man who helped you, silly – after the accident?’ Rachel reminded him. ‘He and his little daughter made sure you got to the hospital safely.’

A strange look flitted across Gary’s face, and instinctively Terri felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention. Something else was going on here, she was sure of it. The problem was that she couldn’t figure out what.

‘He called here?’ he asked, his voice catching just a tad on the word ‘here’.

Terri nodded. ‘Yes, just a couple of minutes ago.’ She kept her eyes glued to Gary’s face; he was like an open book in situations like this. Probably because he wasn’t smart enough to hide anything that might betray him.

‘What did he want?’ he asked, looking at Rachel.

She shrugged easily. ‘He just wanted to check up on you, see if you were OK. It was a bit embarrassing actually, love. I thought you would have phoned him by now.’

‘Yeah, I was going to but I – I lost the number.’

Yeah and I’m Nigella Lawson, Terri thought sardonically. Hmm, there was definitely something up here. But what?

‘Yes, I thought it must have been something like that,’ Rachel replied. ‘Naturally, I told him you were fine. He’s so nice really, but, to be honest, I think he was more worried than was strictly necessary.’ She laughed lightly. ‘Then again, I suppose I wasn’t the one who picked you up off the street, was I? But thinking about it again, it truly was a wonderful thing he did for you, Gary, and you a complete stranger too. We should be very grateful to him.’

‘Right,’ Gary grunted, not having the look of a grateful man, Terri thought.

‘Yeah, it was very nice of him,’ she said, nodding in agreement. ‘Of course, it doesn’t matter that you lost his number because you might be able to thank the guy in person soon anyway.’

‘What?’ His head snapped up.

‘Oh yes, I almost forgot,’ Rachel told him. ‘Ethan said he might be in the city this weekend and was thinking of popping in for a visit.’

‘Here? In Dublin, you mean?’

Was it Terri’s imagination or had Gary’s face turned grey?

‘Yes. Strange how it goes, isn’t it? I’m glad, though; it means we might get the chance to repay him a little with lunch, or maybe even dinner, depending on how much time he has.’

‘You mean, he’s calling here – to the bistro?’ Gary blustered and Terri noted his eyes were shifting from side to side at a very quick rate.

Now Rachel looked up, finally noticing the edge in his voice. ‘If he has the time, yes. Why? Don’t you want to thank him in person?’

‘Well, of course I do but . . . Did he actually say he was coming here?’

‘Not exactly. He just said he might be in town, and that if he had any free time he’d give us a call to see if we were available to meet up for a chat. It sounded like a very loose arrangement really, so I wouldn’t worry about it; it’s not as though he expects us to get the welcome wagons out or anything. Anyway, why so touchy?’

‘I’m not touchy,’ Gary said, sounding decidedly so. ‘Just . . . surprised, that’s all.’

‘Well, don’t be. As I said, we might see him, we might not. But either way, it would be good for you to give him a call. It’s been me he’s been getting all the time, and I hate having to keep making excuses.’

‘OK, OK, stop nagging me, Rachel.’

Terri harrumphed.
Nagging
him? The cheek of it!

But Rachel didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered. ‘So tell us, what brings you all the way over here? Missing your fiancée already?’ she teased.

‘Yeah. I was going to ask if you wanted to get a bite to eat? I haven’t had lunch yet, so . . .’

‘Sounds lovely. Where would you like to go?’

‘Oh. Well, I thought we could just stay here,’ he replied lamely.

Again, Terri felt like choking him. Of course, stay here so you can get it for nothing, she thought, gritting her teeth.

‘I suppose that makes sense,’ Rachel said. She turned to Terri. ‘OK, if I take off now?’

‘No problem,’ she replied. ‘Justin will be in at two, so I’ll take lunch myself then.’

‘Great! Let me just wash my hands and I’ll be right with you,’ she said to Gary.

‘Hey, where’s the rock?’ he asked, frowning at her hand.

‘Oh I usually have to take it off when I’m working,’ Rachel explained, sounding a little guilty. ‘It’s so big it tends to get caught up in everything, and I wouldn’t want to damage it, you know?’

He nodded, seemingly satisfied with this explanation.

Gary and Rachel went through to the dining area, and Terri watched them go, wondering yet again why her friend stood for such egotistical behaviour. And the way he was going on about the ring – like some kind of overprotective father or something! Granted, it was obvious he’d spent a fortune on it so perhaps he was entitled to be concerned, but at the end of the day it was Rachel’s now, wasn’t it?

Something was tugging at the back of Terri’s brain, pulling at the edges, and telling her to pay attention to some important detail, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

Moving the tray of vegetables aside, she set about making puff pastry and thought a little more about Gary’s reaction to the mention of Ethan Greene. He looked a bit thrown by his upcoming visit to Dublin, that was for sure, but seemed content when Rachel admitted that a meeting wasn’t set in stone.

For Terri’s part, she was certainly interested in finding out if this so-called hero would be putting in an appearance at the weekend, because from where she was standing it looked as though all this couldn’t just be about simple consideration.

Of course, Greene’s only knowledge of Gary was when he was knocked out, so clearly the guy had no idea who he was really dealing with. If he did, Terri was sure that Ethan Greene wouldn’t be so concerned about Gary Knowles.

If anything, it would be the complete opposite.

Chapter 18

‘So exactly how long are you going to be in Dublin, again?’ Vanessa asked Ethan from where she sat on the bed, watching him pack.

He smiled easily at her. ‘Just overnight, maybe longer depending on how I get on.’

It was early Saturday morning and his girlfriend had not let up on the questioning ever since Ethan had mentioned earlier in the week that he planned to travel to Dublin. He had also asked if she would mind looking after Daisy while he did so.

Following their New Year’s Eve conversation about moving in together, Vanessa seemed much happier, and had since stayed over a couple of nights at the town house, but it would take some arranging before she packed up her own flat and came to live with him and Daisy permanently.

‘And remind me again why you’re going? All of this seems to have just come out of the blue.’

‘Well, not particularly,’ he replied, trying to sound casual. ‘You know how excited I was to meet that agent in New York. Well, I’ve simply decided that I’m going to get cracking on this book once and for all.’

‘I see.’ Vanessa’s eyes widened slightly, as if the opposite were the case and she didn’t see at all. ‘And going to Ireland will help . . . how, exactly?’

Good grief, she was persistent! ‘Well, for research, of course.’

‘Oh. So there’s an Irish aspect to the novel now?’

He smiled tightly, distinctly uncomfortable with this incessant questioning. ‘There always was, to be honest. I just didn’t do anything about the research side of it because, as you know, I was procrastinating about it all. But now, with it being the start of a brand-new year, and Daisy’s not-so-subtle hinting,’ he added, holding up his daughter’s Christmas present to him, ‘I’ve decided the time is right to jump straight in. New year’s resolution and all that.’

‘Well, I’m pleased to hear that, certainly,’ Vanessa said, smiling, and Ethan exhaled, realising that this cover story was actually proving to be a bit of a life-safer. ‘And, goodness knows, the critics do love an Irish element – all that good old reliable Catholic repression,’ she joked lightly. ‘So that New York agent must have been very positive about what you’ve come up with so far. What was her name, again?’

‘Erm, Rachel Knowles. She was at one of the bigger agencies, but has just set up on her own,’ he said, thinking quickly. Damn, he hated this barefaced lying, but wasn’t it entirely necessary, given the circumstances? ‘You probably wouldn’t have heard of her,’ he continued, smiling nervously, and at that moment Daisy walked into the room. Ethan wanted to hug her. Saved . . .

‘Hello, darling,’ Vanessa cooed as Daisy sat down on the bed next to her. ‘I’m just trying to get your father to explain why he has to run off to Dublin this weekend and leave us.’

Daisy gave him a conspiratorial smile.

‘For his book, silly.’

‘I know, but . . .’ Vanessa looked from Ethan to Daisy. ‘Now here’s a thought,’ she suggested suddenly. ‘Why don’t we all go – all three of us?’

Ethan’s head snapped up. ‘To Dublin?’ He gulped. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the scenario in New York, where he had to keep making excuses to sneak away.

‘Yes, why not?’ she said, smiling. ‘We could easily get tickets for Daisy and me at the airport. It would be a good excuse, actually. I haven’t been home to see Mum and Dad for a while and of course I didn’t get to see them at Christmas, what with being in New York.’ Vanessa’s parents lived in one of the Dublin suburbs, but her visits home were infrequent, and Ethan had been there on only one occasion to meet them.

‘But what about my piano class?’ Daisy whined dramatically, and Ethan looked at her gratefully. His little girl knew exactly what was going on and had been fully briefed on his cover story over the last few days. ‘I can’t miss another one; I’m already behind after being in New York.’ She gave Ethan her best petulant look. ‘I don’t want to go away again, Dad.’

He met Vanessa’s eye and shrugged helplessly. ‘It’s a good idea, but Daisy’s right. We’ve only just come back from a trip, so perhaps it’s too soon to take another. Not to mention that I’ll be mostly working, of course.’ He turned back to his packing. ‘Probably best to wait for a better opportunity – half-term, maybe? We could tie it in with a proper visit to your mum and dad then, and spend some time with them rather than just a quick flying visit now.’

‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Vanessa seemed to be thinking it over, and Ethan knew that she wasn’t altogether convinced about this so-called research trip.

He sighed inwardly. Well, there was really nothing he could do about that just now. This entire charade was ultimately for her benefit, so really he should stop feeling so guilty. He took a deep breath. Christ, all this fibbing, and ducking and diving questions was really taking its toll on him. Clearly he would never have been cut out for MI5.

‘We’ll be so proud of you when the book is published, Daddy,’ Daisy said, smiling at him.

‘Well, I’ll try my best, but of course there are no guarantees,’ he muttered, not wanting to add even more pressure to all of this by having to produce a publishable manuscript at the end of it.

Vanessa stood up from the bed. ‘Yes, that is true, and no doubt the trip will all be in a good cause. Go and do your research, darling, and enjoy every minute of it. Daisy and I will be sure to have lots of fun while you’re gone. I think I’ll make some tea. Would anyone like some?’

Ethan nodded, eager for her to leave the room so he could have a moment alone with his daughter. ‘That would be lovely, thanks.’

‘Daisy, some orange juice, perhaps?’

‘Yes, please.’

Vanessa went to do the honours, and as soon as she was gone, Ethan turned to Daisy. ‘Good thinking, buttercup. For a moment there I really thought we’d all have to go.’

‘That’s OK, Dad. I knew you wouldn’t want us tagging along.’

‘Well, it’s not so much that – more that I’ll probably need all my time there to get the ring back from Rachel.’

Daisy shook her head. ‘I just can’t believe she’s wearing your ring.’ She looked up, her expression thoughtful. ‘Does it fit, I wonder?’