‘Thank you for offering, Ethan, but really I have it all under control,’ she said.
‘That’s great to know. I – I mean, we,’ he corrected, almost forgetting himself, ‘appreciate that, don’t we, Vanessa?’
His fiancée looked at him as if he were stark raving mad. ‘Well, I’d certainly appreciate a drink, if it isn’t too much trouble,’ she said, smiling tightly.
‘Of course!’ Terri leapt into action. ‘I’ll be right back.’
‘Is it just me or does she seem a bit odd?’ Vanessa said, wrinkling her nose.
‘I think she’s nice,’ Daisy piped up. ‘I really like her eyes.’
Ethan nodded in agreement. Oddly, Terri’s eyes were one of the first things he’d noticed about her too.
‘Hmm. She seems a bit too overfamiliar for my liking,’ Vanessa said, turning to look at Ethan. ‘Did you notice she called you by your first name just now? A bit much for someone who’s only met you once before.’
‘Actually, Terri was the one who came up with the idea of baking your engagement ring into the bread,’ Ethan said, feeling somehow bound to defend Terri. ‘So I suppose she feels somewhat part of it all. Anyway,’ he added pointedly, ‘wasn’t this personal touch the very reason you’re considering the company’s services for the wedding?’
‘Yes, but there’s a difference between that and over-familiarity.’ Vanessa picked up the sample menu Terri had laid out for them. ‘Still, I must admit that the food here really does sound delicious.’ She sat forward in her chair and glanced around. ‘Shame about the surroundings. Even for Dublin it’s a little bit . . . twee, isn’t it?’
Again, Ethan felt annoyed on behalf of Terri and Rachel. He suspected they had put a huge amount of thought and effort into the decor.
‘I rather like it, as it happens,’ he said. ‘It’s warm and cosy and, more importantly, it doesn’t feel like you’re eating in a science lab.’ It was a thinly disguised barb at Vanessa’s own preference for minimalist London eateries, which looked modern and funky but, in reality, often felt rather sterile to Ethan.
‘It smells great too,’ Daisy agreed. ‘I’m so hungry.’
‘Well, we’re just in time then!’ Terri chuckled, reappearing at the table with drinks; she was followed by Justin, who was carrying a huge platter of various savoury goodies. ‘Now this is a broad selection of options we offer as starters, so I’ll leave you three to dig in. Then, when you’re ready, we’ll bring out some mains. Sound OK?’
Already Ethan’s mouth was watering, and he worried that if Terri kept serving them this great food, then Vanessa really would want to choose Stromboli for the wedding. Which meant that he wouldn’t be able to avoid meeting Rachel again.
As they ate, Vanessa was determined to comment and rate almost every morsel she put into her mouth, and Ethan tuned out and wondered again how Rachel had reacted when she realised her precious ring had disappeared. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to relax properly until he found out.
After a while he spotted Terri across the room, chatting to customers at another table near the bar. He vaguely recalled that the restaurant’s toilets were situated in that area and figured that this was the opportunity he needed to get her alone.
‘Back in a moment.’ Excusing himself, he stood up and tried desperately to catch Terri’s eye as he approached. Luckily, she seemed to sense his gaze and very quickly finished talking at the table and proceeded to a small alcove by the entrance to the toilets. Ethan followed, conscious that while the spot afforded them some privacy, it would still be all too easy for Vanessa or Daisy to spot him from their table.
‘Terri, I’m so sorry,’ he began. ‘I had no idea Vanessa was going to do this. But thank goodness she spoke to you on the phone, otherwise I can only imagine how awkward it would be if Rachel—’
‘How much trouble it would cause, you mean,’ she interjected shortly. ‘Seriously, Ethan, what the hell were you thinking bringing your fiancée and that ring back here? You’ve really made things very difficult. I didn’t know if I should scupper the food on purpose, just to be sure we don’t end up at the wedding!’
‘I couldn’t help it. It was all arranged without my knowledge. Believe me, I had no intention of going within a million miles of this place. Sorry,’ he added quickly, noticing her slightly wounded expression, ‘you must know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong: I’m incredibly grateful that you’re handling it all so well. And what about Rachel?’
Terri fixed those intense green eyes on him. ‘What about her?’
‘Well, she isn’t here – on a busy Saturday. I take it that’s also your doing?’
‘Of course. We couldn’t risk her seeing you again, to begin with, and then recognising what she believes is her ring on another woman’s finger. Rachel can be a bit innocent at times, but any fool would be able to put two and two together.’
Ethan frowned. ‘Knowles still hasn’t told her the truth, I take it.’
‘You take it right.’ She shook her head. ‘I know I did you a favour, but really, Ethan, if I’d known how upset she’d be I’d never in a million years have intervened like that.’
‘For goodness’ sake, how is Knowles getting away with putting her through this?’ Ethan clenched his fists and Terri looked at him thoughtfully.
‘I thought you said that none of it was any of your business,’ she said, her tone implying in no uncertain terms that his reaction seemed over the top for someone who proclaimed he didn’t care.
‘It isn’t, but I just can’t bear to think that the man is still stringing her along like that. She’s much too good for him.’
‘I know, but I think that at this stage we just have to step back and let them get on with it—’
‘Terri!’
Ethan started quickly at the sound of the voice, and he and Terri turned to see a tall, broad-chested man he vaguely recognised heading towards them, a thunderous look on his face. He realised that the very subject of their discussion had just stepped through the door of the restaurant.
‘Oh shit! Just what we need,’ Terri whispered
And to Ethan’s dismay he realised that all attempts at controlling this situation had now gone right out of the window. There was no question that Vanessa would have heard; in fact, the majority of diners in the room were already glancing in his direction.
He took a deep breath. Here goes . . .
‘What do you want, Gary?’ Terri asked. ‘Ethan, we’ll talk again later,’ she said, dismissing him.
‘Ah, what a coincidence! So
this
is the famous Mr Greene,’ Gary said, glowering at Ethan.
As the man stood in front of him, Ethan tried to remind himself yet again that he had nothing to be afraid of – Gary Knowles was and had always been in the wrong – but when the guy had a good twenty pounds on him, this was difficult.
‘I knew it. I knew you two had to be behind this,’ Gary boomed, and Terri grabbed each of them by the arm and (quite forcefully, Ethan noticed, considering her small frame) pulled them into a quiet alcove nearby out of sight of her customers.
‘Gary, what the hell are you doing?’ she hissed. ‘This is a restaurant, not your crappy Saturday-night local!’
‘You should have thought of that before you helped Mr Do-Gooder here to steal Rachel’s ring,’ he growled.
Ethan was flabbergasted. Was this guy really so stupid as to have convinced himself that the ring actually belonged to him? ‘Rachel’s ring?’ he retorted hotly. ‘For goodness’ sake, you know damn well that ring was never Rachel’s, or indeed yours!’
Gary took a threatening step towards him. ‘Where is it? What did you do with it? I’m warning you, Greene. You make sure she gets it back right now or I’ll—’
‘Ethan? What’s going on here?’ Vanessa interjected, white-faced, Daisy standing by her side. ‘Who is this man?’
Suddenly Ethan saw his carefully ordered life come crashing down before his very eyes.
Gary crossed his arms, a slight smirk on his face as he realised that this was an awkward moment for Ethan in more ways than one.
‘Don’t worry, darling. It’s a long story,’ he replied, putting a soothing hand on Vanessa’s arm. ‘You and Daisy head back to the table and I’ll explain it all later,’ he added with a tight smile. The last thing he wanted was for Daisy to be upset by all this, so he prayed Vanessa would take the hint.
‘No, I want to know what’s going on right now,’ she insisted forcibly. ‘Clearly there’s something that you’re not telling me and—’
‘Hey, Daisy, would you like to come into the kitchen and say hi to Justin? I know he’d love to meet you,’ Terri interjected, swiftly taking the little girl’s hand and turning her away from the spectacle, and once again coming to Ethan’s rescue.
‘Good idea, buttercup,’ he reassured Daisy while she reluctantly followed Terri through to the kitchen.
‘Well?’ Vanessa looked from Ethan to Gary. Then she frowned. ‘Excuse me, why are you staring at me like that?’
Ethan looked at Gary to find that he was indeed staring at Vanessa with a perplexed look on his face.
‘Hey, I know you,’ Knowles said then, his eyes narrowing.
‘What? What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you before in my life. Ethan, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on here?’ she repeated impatiently.
‘Darling, I really don’t think this is the time or the place,’ he mumbled.
‘Hold on! I
do
know you.’ Knowles continued to stare at Vanessa with confused recognition.
‘Don’t be silly. I’ve never met you—’ She glanced disparagingly at Gary as if he were a particularly annoying fly she wanted to swat away, and refocused her attention on Ethan.
‘Vanessa—’
‘Bloody hell!’ Gary said finally. ‘It’s you.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘It
is
you. The bird in the taxi – the one from New York.’
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ Vanessa replied shortly, but Ethan noticed a faint blush creep across her face.
‘No, no, I’m right! I know I am. I’d swear to it,’ Gary insisted. ‘I recognise you from the CCTV footage. You and that guy were in the taxi that ran me over.’
Ethan was now seriously perplexed. ‘Knowles, what on earth are you talking about? How could Vanessa possibly have been . . . ?’ But the rest of the question trailed off when he noticed that Vanessa was looking momentarily unnerved.
What the hell?
‘Nonsense. You’ve clearly mistaken me for someone else. But never mind that, is anyone ever going to tell me what
this
is about? Why were you arguing?’ she asked, her voice low so as not to disturb the other diners. ‘And how do you know this man, Ethan?’
‘You were with the guy . . . the witness – what was his name?’ Gary was adamant that Vanessa had been in the cab. ‘Freeman, that’s it,’ he recalled eventually. ‘Brian Freeman.’
Suddenly the mood shifted.
Brian . . . ?
Confused by this, Ethan turned to look at Vanessa, who by now was looking exceedingly uncomfortable. Clearly there was something to Gary’s story. Ethan’s mind raced as he struggled to figure it out.
‘Brian? He was in New York while we were there?’ he said, ignoring Gary and addressing Vanessa. ‘What were you and Brian doing in a taxi? You never said anything about it.’ All too quickly, Ethan realised that his best friend had also failed to mention anything about seeing Vanessa in New York, or being in the city at the same time as them, let alone being at the scene of the accident that had preceded all Ethan’s problems with the ring in the first place.
Suddenly he felt caught completely unawares. How had this happened? How had the tables been turned? Instead of demanding an explanation, Vanessa was now the one under scrutiny.
Was it really possible that she and Brian had been in the cab that knocked Gary over? And if they had been, why on earth hide it?
‘Yeah, well, I’m sure you two lovebirds can sort the rest of it out in your own time,’ Gary interjected, and if Ethan had had any inclination to punch the man before, he seriously wanted to do so now. ‘I take it your missus won’t be needing that now?’ He indicated Vanessa’s ring and she looked down, puzzled.
‘Excuse me, I still don’t know who the hell you are, but I do know that this is absolutely none of your business,’ Vanessa said through clenched teeth. ‘Haven’t you caused enough trouble?’
‘I want an explanation,’ Ethan said to Vanessa, ignoring Gary. ‘If you and Brian were in the cab that day, why didn’t you mention it? You knew I was involved in the aftermath of the accident – I told you all about it – so why hide it?’
‘Yeah, and why didn’t you stay and try to help out instead of taking off like a rocket?’ Knowles queried. ‘I could have died, you know. The police call it “fleeing the scene”, which I suppose is why your boyfriend finally came to his senses about making a statement.’ He grunted. ‘Fat lot of good it did me, though.’
Ethan tried to pretend the other man wasn’t there. ‘Vanessa, I asked you a question.’
She sniffed and looked away, refusing to meet his gaze.
‘It’s not how it seems, Ethan,’ she began, her voice pleading, and Ethan’s stomach dropped into his shoes.
‘Nice try, babe, but this guy Freeman’s already hung you out to dry,’ Gary said, clearly enjoying the discomfort he was causing. ‘It’s on record that the cab picked you two up from some place uptown.’