‘Hello?’
‘Rachel? This is Ethan Greene.’ When there was no immediate reply he added, ‘We met in New York recently?’
‘Ethan, of course!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Don’t mind me; my mind is all over the place these days. Yes, I got your message from before, and passed your number on to Gary. He hasn’t called you back?’
‘Ah, no – he hasn’t.’
There was a brief silence. ‘Really? I was sure he would have done by now . . . Look, let me apologise on his behalf. I know he’s been up to his eyes since we got back, and with so much going on too . . . But I do know he really wants to talk to you, and to thank you, of course, for that lovely thing you did for him.’
‘About that—’
‘And we’ve just got engaged, so I think that’s possibly the reason why he simply hasn’t had time to contact you yet,’ she went on blithely and Ethan went white. ‘We’ve been so busy since we came back. We had a big engagement party and everything.’
Ethan wasn’t sure what to think. There wasn’t a chance that . . . no, surely not?
Gary Knowles wouldn’t have been stupid enough to swipe the ring and use it to propose to his girlfriend, would he? What right-minded person would do such a thing? Then a thought struck him: what if the guy
wasn’t
actually in his right mind? Perhaps his brain had been damaged in the accident, and he had a touch of amnesia or something similar, which meant that he didn’t know anything about a mistake and may very well believe the ring was his.
Trying to work it out, Ethan’s mind raced and he saw Daisy look at him curiously.
‘You just got engaged?’ he mumbled. ‘When?’
Rachel laughed. ‘Gary proposed right after he got out of the hospital. I couldn’t believe it. Apparently he had the proposal all planned for Christmas Eve, had even just bought the ring at Tiffany’s and everything, but then of course the accident put the kybosh on that.’
Ethan’s insides dropped and his fists automatically clenched. ‘And how is he – after the accident, I mean?’ he asked through gritted teeth. ‘Did he suffer any lasting injuries?’
‘Nothing major, thank goodness,’ she confirmed. ‘Really, you’re so good to be concerned, but luckily it all worked out OK.’
‘No head damage?’ Ethan persisted. ‘Memory problems? Anything like that?’
‘No, nothing at all like that.’ Now Rachel sounded a bit taken aback. ‘According to the doctors he’s fine. Why do you ask?’
‘I just wasn’t sure. I thought he might have had a bit of a bump on his head when I found him, but maybe I was mistaken,’ Ethan said, thinking fast.
Damn, what the hell was going on here? Was the guy that much of an immoral crook that he would seriously try to pass off Ethan’s ring as his own? It was obvious that he had no such proposal in mind before the accident, seeing as his Tiffany’s purchase had consisted only of a simple charm bracelet.
Ethan’s heart hammered. What on earth should he do now?
Or, more pertinently, what should he say?
Yet how could he burst this poor girl’s bubble now by telling her the truth? Rachel seemed way too nice to be marrying someone so obviously thoughtless and devious. To think that the guy would be so barefaced . . .
Then a sudden anger flared up within him. Damn it, the time for talking was well and truly over. This was definitely something that needed to be sorted out in person, Ethan decided determinedly. He would go straight to Dublin and pay this Gary Knowles a visit. He’d sort out this entire situation face to face, man to man.
Realising that the line had gone quiet, he snapped back to reality. ‘Well, congratulations.’ Given what Rachel had just told him, it was the obvious response, although the word tasted like bile as he forced himself to say it.
‘Thank you very much. Everything has happened just so fast, and of course there’s so much to do and plan and . . . oh listen to me! I’m Bridezilla already! You don’t want to hear about this.’
You can say that again, Ethan thought wryly.
‘Actually, now that I have you,’ she continued cheerfully, ‘can you let me know your address so I can send your lovely daughter those cookies I promised her? I would have done it before now but, as I said, things have been so crazy since Christmas. I’ll bake a fresh batch and send them over to you by courier today.’
At this, Ethan had an instant flash of inspiration. ‘No, don’t do that. I’ll come and collect them actually.’
‘Collect them?’
‘Yes. You’re in Dublin, aren’t you? Well, as it happens, I actually have some business there next weekend, and you mentioned something about having a café? So if you let me know where you are based, I could pop in and pick them up. Perhaps catch up with your fiancé while I’m there.’
He knew it was a weak story but in all honesty he didn’t care. What business would he – an English language lecturer – have in Dublin? He held his breath, almost waiting for Rachel to call his bluff or at least question his motives. However, if anything seemed amiss to her, she pretended not to notice.
‘Oh. Well, it’s a bistro, not a café, and it’s called Stromboli. We’re just on the quays, not far from the Ha’penny Bridge. Do you know the bridge? The building is painted deep purple and our sign is bright orange so you really shouldn’t have any trouble finding us. We’re hard to miss,’ she laughed. ‘Yes, it would be lovely to see you and I’ll let Gary know you’ll be in town.’
‘Actually, probably best not to arrange anything too concrete for the moment, just in case I’m caught for time.’ Ethan didn’t want to give the fiancé too much of a heads-up about his arrival, in case the guy decided to do a runner. With a man like that, who knew? ‘If I do have some free time, I’ll pop in for lunch or something. Would that be all right?’ He sincerely hoped he could get a weekend reservation at the Westbury, the only hotel he knew in Dublin that was centrally located.
‘Yes, absolutely. But are you sure you don’t want me to send over those cookies, just in case? I really wanted to do something, however small, to thank you. And it goes without saying that if you do have the time to see us while you’re in Dublin, then lunch is on us!’
‘Thank you, but really no thanks are necessary. With luck, perhaps I’ll see you at the weekend.’
‘Looking forward to it. Oh and tell Daisy I said hi, won’t you?’
‘I certainly will. Goodbye, Rachel.’
His brain hammering in his head, Ethan hung up the phone and exhaled deeply.
Daisy was using the famous squinty-eyed look on him. ‘Why didn’t you tell her about the mix-up with the bags, Dad?’ she asked.
Ethan felt his mouth go dry. Yes, why didn’t he? After all, he didn’t know this woman, and it wasn’t up to him to protect her feelings; he should really have just said something there and then. He looked at his daughter. ‘Her boyfriend seems to have used our ring to propose,’ he told her and Daisy’s eyes widened.
‘What? Oh no!’
‘So I thought it might be better to say nothing just now, so as not to hurt Rachel’s feelings.’
‘That is really nice of you, Dad,’ his daughter said, patting his hand. ‘So that’s why you’re going to Dublin?’ she asked. ‘To sort everything out with that man?’
Ethan nodded tiredly. ‘Yes.’
Yes, that was him, he thought irritably: too bloody ‘nice’ for his own good. Brian would have an absolute field day with this. Ethan knew his friend would have no compunction about telling it straight on the phone, especially considering the circumstances. But Rachel seemed like such a sweet person, and sounded so deliriously happy about her supposed fairy-tale engagement that he just couldn’t bring himself to break the poor girl’s heart by coming clean.
Well, come the following weekend, Ethan decided grimly, it remained to be seen how nice he would remain when Gary Knowles’s thieving mug was in front of him.
Chapter 17
‘Who was that?’ Terri enquired when Rachel hung up the phone.
They were in the kitchen prepping for the bistro’s evening sitting and she was up to her elbows in chopped peppers and red onions. ‘Did I hear you say something about making cookies? I checked earlier and we’ve still got loads.’
Rachel was rolling out fresh pasta. ‘No, it’s fine. I was going to send some to Ethan, but there’s no need.’
‘Who?’ Terri asked. The name sounded familiar but she just didn’t know why.
‘Ethan Greene. The nice English man who helped Gary after he had his accident in New York. Remember I told you about him before?’
‘Of course.’ She had forgotten about this so-called Good Samaritan until Rachel explained about him again when Terri had passed on the guy’s New Year’s Eve phone message. ‘Didn’t Gary phone him back afterwards?’
Her friend coloured a little. ‘It seems not. It was a bit embarrassing, actually. I thought Gary would have got in touch with him in the meantime, considering . . . Still, I suppose he’s been busy with work and everything.’
Some stranger saves Gary’s life and he doesn’t have the courtesy to pick up the phone and thank him? And even worse, the man who helped him was clearly anxious to hear about his condition and make sure he was OK. Not only that but poor Rachel was being saddled as go-between. Well, romantic proposal aside, this sounded very much like the Gary of old, Terri thought uncharitably.
‘You shouldn’t feel bad. It’s not your fault that Gary hasn’t bothered to call him back.’
‘Oh no, it’s not that; I’m sure it just slipped his mind. Anyway, it turns out he might be here on business at the weekend, so hopefully the two of them will get a chance to have a good catch-up chat then.’
‘Who might be here at the weekend?’
‘Didn’t you hear me on the phone just now? Ethan Greene, of course.’
Terri frowned. Didn’t Rachel say that this guy was some kind of professor or something? ‘What kind of business would a professor be doing in Dublin?’ she queried dubiously.
Rachel shrugged, her body language indicating that, unlike Terri, she was completely uncurious about it. ‘A university lecturer, and I have no idea. Maybe he’s organising some kind of field trip or something.’
‘I don’t remember any field trips to other countries when we were in college, especially at weekends, do you?’
‘Well, who knows? And besides, what does it matter? If it weren’t for him, Gary could have died or been robbed or something even more horrible than what happened. I’ll be only too happy to get the opportunity to thank Ethan again in person.’
‘And he said he’s coming here to the bistro – to see Gary?’
It seemed very strange to Terri, or not entirely coincidental, that this Ethan Greene person, whom Gary had met in New York but lived in London and was a university professor, was suddenly about to appear in Dublin at the weekend.
‘Yes, if he has the time.’ Rachel paused and looked at her. ‘Why all the questions?’
Terri stopped what she was doing and put one hand on her hip. ‘Well, it just seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? For someone who doesn’t even know him, this guy seems very interested in Gary’s condition. You said yourself he called the hospital in New York and he’s been phoning here too.’
Rachel laughed lightly. ‘Such a suspicious mind, as usual! I don’t see how someone being interested in Gary’s well-being is such a big deal. You weren’t there, Terri; you didn’t see how banged-up he was.’
‘I know, but if this Greene guy is a stranger, why would he care?’
‘Of course he’s a stranger. What else would he be? He’s a really lovely guy; you should have seen all the nurses mooning over him,’ Rachel said.
Terri cocked an interested eyebrow. ‘So he’s good-looking too?’
‘Yes.’ Rachel looked sideways at her. ‘Actually, if he does appear this weekend, maybe I should introduce you two,’ she said with a knowing grin. ‘Granted, he has a daughter, but for some reason I get the impression that he’s single.’
Terri stiffened. ‘Cripes, just because you’re Miss Loved-up Bride-to-be, stop trying to foist me onto every male specimen in sight. I’m grand as I am, thank you very much.’
Still, if this Greene guy had the New York nurses mooning over him like Rachel said, maybe he might be a worth a look?
‘OK, OK, you’re right. I’m sorry.’ Rachel laughed, Terri’s love life (or lack of it) being a well-worn argument between the two of them. ‘But, honestly, he’s lovely: very English, all manners. He even offered his congratulations on my engagement earlier, which I thought was nice of him.’
Terri looked again at her friend, who’d continued calmly rolling out pasta, and couldn’t believe why Rachel wasn’t wondering more about this impending visit. But that was Rachel, wasn’t it? Happy to take everything at face value, irrespective of the circumstances. Terri shook her head. Maybe her friend was right; perhaps she was too suspicious and sceptical about things for her own good.
But with Justin’s suggestion on New Year’s Eve that there was something ‘off’ about the engagement – as well as their long-held mutual misgivings towards Gary – she just couldn’t help it.
The two settled back into their work, and were making idle small talk about this and that, when the door leading from the dining area burst open, and in strode the man himself.
Gary was dressed in his biking clothes, and Terri wrinkled her nose at the smell of leather and exhaust fumes drifting off him. She hoped Rachel would shoo him out quickly, as she didn’t like having him around the food-preparation area dressed like that.