I could have spent the entire day at the beach, but this was a rare day off, and Alex had made lunch plans with Gabrielle.
“Why don’t you come?” he asked, trying to include me.
I shook my head. “No. Nic’s probably bored out of her mind at the shop. I’ll hang out there and you can pick me up later.”
Alex didn’t press the issue, dropping me at the café as requested. He’d hardly left my side in the first few weeks post-Adam. It was beyond irritating, and things finally came to a head in the form of a huge blow-up one afternoon. My ranting finally convinced him that the only reason I was in despair was because he was following me around like the misery police.
Nicole wasn’t alone at the café. I should have known. I hadn’t managed to catch a moment alone with her in weeks. Ethan sat at the end of the counter drinking a bottle of water and reading a magazine – neither of which were probably paid for.
“Quiet day?” I asked, ambling towards the counter.
Nicole smiled. Ethan barely glanced at me. “If you’re here, can she go?” His flat tone made me want to slap him, and the way he referred to Nicole as she made me want to punch him in the head.
“No. She can’t. But you can.” I didn’t care that I was rude to him. We were past all niceties when I found out he’d been mentally spending the proceeds of La Coccinelle.
He sneered, and Nicole worked quickly to smooth things over. “I’m happy to stay,” she insisted.
Ignoring the fact that Ethan was still there, I mentioned the travel brochures Alex had collected for me a few days earlier.
“They’re out the back. I’ll show you, if you’re interested.” I wasn’t sure if she was. She hadn’t mentioned the trip in a long time.
“Great. Go get them,” she urged, too enthusiastically to be believable.
I could hear muffled whispers while I was out the back, and when I returned the tension between them was palpable. Nicole joined me at one of the tables and I tried my best to make-believe Ethan wasn’t there.
“I thought we could start in Fiji or New Caledonia,” I said, pushing the brochures across the table.
“Yeah, whatever you think.”
“Or if you want to go the other way, we could start in Bali,” I suggested, trying to engage her.
“I really don’t mind. Whatever you want to do.”
I heard Ethan’s condescending chuckle but didn’t bother turning around. My eyes were locked on Nicole who was looking past me, towards him.
“Do you have a problem, Ethan?” I snapped.
“I just think you could do better than that. If you want resort beaches, go to Queensland.”
“Where do you think we should go?” asked Nicole, showing more interest in his ideas than she had mine.
“Somewhere like Dungeons in Cape Town. Waves are huge there.”
“What do you think, Charli?” asked Nicole.
I laughed at the absurdity. A million lifetimes wouldn’t provide us with the skills to surf monster waves. “I think he’s an idiot for even suggesting it,” I scoffed.
“Who’s an idiot?” asked Mitchell, barrelling through the door. Obviously supersonic hearing was a Tate family trait.
“Ethan,” I replied. “He thinks Nicole and I should give Dungeons a crack.”
Mitchell pulled a chair across and straddled it, resting his forearms on the back. “Yeah, if you want to get your pretty heads mashed,” he teased, shooting a quizzical look past me in the direction of Ethan.
My friendship with Nicole had suffered because of her relationship with the twit at the counter. I wondered if Mitchell was feeling the sting too – he and Ethan were lifelong friends.
“Are you here for Ethan?” I asked hopefully.
“No. I came to see you, and I’ve got about ten seconds to explain why.”
He didn’t get a chance to explain, nor did he need to. A second later, the complete trinity of Beautifuls filed in.
“Charli, you’re out of hibernation. How nice for you,” purred Jasmine, dumping her massive handbag on the table next to ours. Perhaps she carried her witchy tools in it. It seemed plenty big enough to hold a cauldron and small broomstick.
The junior Beautifuls sat, and Mitchell shifted his chair closer to Nicole, to avoid Lisa who had edged ridiculously close to him.
“I’ve been here all along,” I pointed out.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, putting her forefinger to her cheek and tilting her head as if she was thinking hard. “It’s your boyfriend who left. I should have known you wouldn’t be able to hang on to him for long.”
Her words were like a blunt knife through cold butter.
“I did alright, thank you,” I said dryly.
“So did we. We got his beautiful car,” she said.
“Really? All I got was an expensive boat and his body…for free.”
Nicole covered her mouth to stifle her giggle. Mitchell laughed out loud. Lisa started cackling because he did. And Jasmine told them all to shut up before turning her attention back to me.
“I’m glad you’re here actually. I’ve been hearing a story about you and I’m dying to know if it’s true.”
I tried to anticipate where she was headed but there were too many possibilities.
“I heard a rumour that Alex isn’t actually your brother. I heard that’s he’s your daddy. Is it true?”
Even if she’d been capable of showing any tact, there just wasn’t a nice way of wording the question. I was suddenly the sole focus of everyone in the room.
My eyes drifted to Nicole and she half smiled before quickly looking away. It was a gesture that didn’t sit well with me. I suspected she’d let the cat out of the bag.
Speaking to Alex before verifying the rumour was probably the right thing to do, but as usual, my mouth got the better of me. “Yeah,” I confirmed.
Lisa’s gasp broke the silence. My eyes darted across to Jasmine who stood grinning like she’d just fired off a successful headshot.
“Wow, Charli,” spluttered Mitchell, drawing my attention back to him. He looked positively green.
Ethan – incapable of anything more intellectual – laughed.
“It’s not a big deal,” I told them.
“It’s a very big deal,” insisted Jasmine. “He’s totally off my to-do list.”
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who kept a list.
“Mine too,” said Nicole, giggling.
“He’ll be thrilled that parenthood has made him less appealing,” I snapped.
“Who’s your mum?” asked Lisa.
“Maybe Alex slept around,” suggested Lily, brainstorming. “Maybe he doesn’t know who her mum is.”
There was a longer silence than before. “Lily, did someone drop you on your head when you were a kid?” asked Nicole at last.
“Me,” admitted Mitchell. “A couple of times.”
Everyone except Lily erupted in laughter.
“So is that it then?” I asked. “Do you have anything else to torture me with today?”
“No. That’ll do for now,” Jasmine said, reaching for her witchy bag.
“Is that all you came in for?” asked Nicole, frowning at her.
“No. I came to tell Mitchell to hurry up. We’re supposed to be going to Sorell to pick out a birthday cake. We’re not going to wait in the car all day.”
“Just go,” ordered Mitchell, pointing towards the door. “I’ll be out in a second.”
I waited until I was sure all of the Beautifuls had vacated the building before speaking. Even then, I couldn’t be sure Nicole wouldn’t relay the conversation later. I hated the new uncertainty I felt for her.
“So. What do you want to talk to me about?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and folding my arms, staring him down from across the table.
“I need you to do me a favour, Charli. If you do, I’ll never ask you for anything else, ever again,” he promised.
Nicole leaned forward, hanging on every word.
>
“What,” I asked, already worried.
“I need you to come to this stupid birthday party with me on Saturday,” he said desperately.
“What? Like a date?” asked Nicole, looking strangely at him.
“No chance,” I declared.
“Everyone in town is going except you,” Ethan chimed in from across the room. “It’s the only way you’ll score an invitation.”
“Please, Charli,” begged Mitchell.
“Why? I’ve never wanted to go.”
“Because if you don’t come with me, I’m going to be lumped with loopy Lisa and my sisters. I can’t handle that by myself.”
The grin that crossed my face must have looked positively evil because he retreated.
“Come, Charli. It might be fun. You need to get out,” encouraged Nicole.
I failed to understand why everyone was accusing me of hiding away. I’d done far more hiding when I had Adam around.
“Oh, fine,” I muttered.
“Good girl,” beamed Mitchell, jumping across the table to kiss my cheek. “It’s black tie, don’t forget.”
“I don’t own a tie,” I teased.
“So wear a dress then. Wear nothing, for all I care.” He was already heading for the door.
Nicole and Ethan left soon after Mitchell and the Beautifuls. There wasn’t any point keeping Nicole there as long as he was around. I suffered through the last few hours of the working day, then sat on the steps waiting for Alex. I wasn’t nervous about telling him that I’d let the whole town know he was my dad – until he arrived to pick me up.
“Do I need to close up?” he asked, leaning across to open the passenger door for me.
“No, I’ve done it already.”
“Did Nic stay all day?” His tone suggested he didn’t think she had.
“She left at three. Everyone was gone by three,” I babbled, struggling with my seatbelt.
Alex clicked it into place instantly.
“What do you mean, everyone?”
“The Beautifuls, Mitchell, Ethan…everyone.”
He kept his eyes on the road while he deliberated. “Are you okay?” he asked finally.
I looked out the window at the trees whizzing past. He was playing misery police again, questioning my emotional state, knowing that Jasmine would have taken her best shot at me.
“I told them you’re my dad,” I confessed.
From the corner of my eye I could see his knuckles whiten.
“How do you feel about that?”
“Relieved. How do you feel about that?” I asked, turning it back on him.
Relaxing his pose, he glanced across at me. “Lucky,” he replied.
***
The next week at school was brutal. Hallway conversations about the Tate twin’s upcoming party were loud and inescapable. Everywhere I turned, girls were discussing dresses and dates. Boys were discussing booze availability and dates. The other topic dominating conversation was Blake genealogy. Those conversations weren’t loud. They were whispered and muted the instant the gossipers realised I was within earshot. It made no difference. I heard everything.
Out of the hundreds of opportunities I had to set the record straight, I never took one. I was definitely off my game.
Gabrielle graciously offered to lend me a dress for the party. Totally unenthused, I left choosing an outfit until the very last minute. I hadn’t been to the cottage in weeks. There was no need. Being there wasn’t uncomfortable, just different, and I walked out of there with a cute black satin dress, matching shoes and a weird empty feeling.
Mitchell picked me up right on time. Alex laid down the law about having me home at a reasonable hour, taking far too much pleasure in intimidating him. Boy-wonder-with-the-mad-translating-skills never copped the same lecture. Adam wasn’t scared of him like Mitchell was.
I doubt Alex was remotely concerned about me attending the party with Mitchell. To him, it would have been a sure-fire sign that I was moving on. I was fine. Adam was gone and I was fine. That was the façade I’d worked hard to maintain. It was one of my most convincing lies ever.
It turned out that Alex wasn’t the only one with rules for the night. I had a few of my own, and most of the ride to the Tate vineyard was spent spelling them out.
“Don’t leave me alone with your sisters,” I warned.
“Don’t leave me alone with my sisters – or Lisa,” he retorted.
“Can’t you just tell her you’re not interested?”
“I have. At first I was nice about it, and then I was mean about it. She’s convinced she can change my mind.”
“Jasmine is spurring her on.”
“Yes she is,” he despairingly agreed.
I had only ever been able to deal with Jasmine in short bursts. I couldn’t imagine how Mitchell coped with being her twin. Perhaps that was his motivation for traveling.
The Tate estate was arguably the grandest property in town. I’d never been inside the huge main house, and that wasn’t about to change. The party was to be held in one of the cedar outbuildings set among the lines of vines. By day it was a wine tasting centre and barrel room open to the public. Tonight it was by invitation only. As we walked across the car park I could see they were actually checking invitations at the door.
“Who’s that?” I whispered, watching a tuxedoed man practically frisking guests as they entered.
“Ugh! Jasmine’s idea. Everyone’s been hired. Caterers, bar staff, a band…”
“Friends?”
Mitchell laughed. “Some friends have probably been rented…or coerced.” He quickly glanced across at me, smiling sheepishly.
“Not me,” I told him, letting him off the hook.
“No?” He sounded surprised.
“No. I’m here of my own free will.”
Mitchell sighed despondently. “I wish I could say the same, Charli.”
I could tell he was dreading it. If I’d suggested leaving, he wouldn’t have argued. But I didn’t. A few hours at a party hosted by the Beautifuls weren’t likely to kill me. I’d endured far worse where they were concerned.
At first I’d wondered if the strapless dress with the full skirt Gabrielle had lent me was too dressy. I needn’t have worried. Everyone was dressed to the nines, including Nancy. The ugly little dog wore a big silver bow around her balding neck. The Beautifuls were overloaded with ruffled taffeta. Jasmine wore hot pink while Lily epitomised bad taste in aqua and sea green. Lisa fared much better. Her maroon satin gown with low neckline and three quarter sleeves would have looked perfect if only she’d ditched the silver bangles.
Nicole had borrowed the pseudo-vintage dress I’d worn to her sister’s wedding a few months earlier. I had to admit it suited her much better. It fitted her better too. From across the room I watched her for a while. She never once fussed with the plunging neckline. She caught me looking and waved me over with her free hand. I pretended not to see her, mainly because her other hand was gripped firmly around Ethan’s. I stuck with Mitchell instead, much to his mother’s disgust. There was no chance of ever making a good impression on Meredith Tate. She was a grownup version of Jasmine who believed every word her daughters told her. One of her daughters was traipsing around looking like a dolphin had vomited her dress, and yet to her I made questionable life choices – a brief liaison with her son being one of them.
Seeing Nicole sneaking out of the party after just a few hours came as no surprise. What did surprise me was that she’d changed into jeans and her thick winter coat. Something was going on.
Slipping away from the party was easy. Finding her in the dimly lit car park wasn’t as simple. She spotted me first, and called my name. I walked over, annoyed to see that Ethan was with her, standing beside her car.
“Here, take this. We’ve got plenty,” she said, handing me a bottle of vodka as soon as I was within reach. “And this,” she added, hooking my green dress over my shoulder.
“Did you swipe this from inside?” I
asked disapprovingly, waving the bottle at her.
“It’s free, Charli. It’s a party,” said Ethan.
I ignored him, keeping my focus on Nicole.
“It was one for the road,” she beamed, excited. “We’re out of here, Charli.”
“Take me with you. I want to go home too,” I told her.
“No, I meant we’re leaving town. Tonight,” she clarified.
“With him?” I asked, pointing to her loser boyfriend.
Even in the dark I could see Ethan smirk. At least he kept quiet.
“Yeah. We’ve been planning it for a while.”
Deep down inside I had known something was in the works. Nicole had left me long ago. We’d hardly spoken in weeks.
“Nic, you can’t. Just wait a few more months. We’re leaving then anyway.”
She shook her head. “I’m not waiting. Ethan wants to go now.”
“And what do you want?” I asked.
Nicole shrugged. The weak gesture infuriated me.
“Stand for something, Nicole,” I growled. “Or you’ll fall for anything.”
Ethan sniggered, and I knew he’d received my insult loud and clear.
“I’m going,” she insisted.
“And what about me?” I asked.
“What about you?” Ethan jibed. “It’s not her fault your boyfriend shot through.”
No one except Gabrielle and Alex really knew why things had ended between Adam and me, not even Nicole – my so-called best friend. We’d spent so little time together that I’d never had the chance to tell her. Evidently, just like the Beautifuls, she thought he’d dumped me.
“Adam went home, just as he’d always planned to do,” I hissed.
“But you would have gone with him if he’d asked,” reminded Nicole, speaking slower than usual.
I hated being reminded of how close I’d come to bailing on her. I wondered if that had made it easy for her to leave me.
“But he didn’t ask her. Strike two for Charli,” said Ethan, leering at me in a way that made my skin crawl. “That’s why she’s begging you to stay.”
Shooting him a baleful glare, I reached for Nicole’s hand and pulled her aside, to get her away from him while we talked.