Ah . Ash sat back. She wasn’t angry. Actually, she was pretty touched. “She’s not going to be another Vikki. Seriously, I’m just friends with Carmen.” She held up a hand when he made to interrupt. “Yes, she is attractive and fun to be with. I’m not an idiot; I can see that. But I’m not the person I was when we knew Vikki. I’ve learned a lot since then, and it’s all good. You don’t have to worry, okay?”
Damian leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. He stared intently at her for a few moments. “All right, then. Good.” He sat back and swigged from his beer. “And at least now I know I definitely did the right thing.”
“What right thing?”
Damian squirmed in his seat. “Shit, didn’t mean to say that.” He rubbed at his stubbly chin. “Ugh, I probably should have told you this back then, but I didn’t want to stir up old wounds.”
He was talking in bloody riddles, and it was annoying the crap out of her. “What are you talking about?”
Damian puffed out a long breath. “I got a call from Vikki, a few years ago now. She and Dave were getting divorced. She wanted to know if I knew where you were as she’d lost touch. It sounded off. Not sure why, but it just did. So I kinda lied and said I wasn’t in touch with you anymore but agreed to meet her for a drink, for old times’ sake. After three large glasses of wine she was hammered, and it all came spilling out.”
“What did?”
He ran a hand over his face. “Ugh, how much she missed you. How much she regretted marrying Dave and hurting you.”
“She really said that?” Ash didn’t know what to do with this knowledge. It was the last thing she ever expected to hear.
“Yeah, she did.” Damian snorted. “I never put them together. I mean, she was all bubbly, fun, and sexy for fucking days, and he was…” He shook his head. “A wet mop. Anyway, look, you can tell me I was wrong, but you were going through the shit with Leesa at the time, so that’s why I told her I didn’t know where you were. Well, that and I remember how fucked-up she made you feel after all that went down.”
Ash held up a hand. “No, no, that’s fine. Thank you. You’re right; there’s no way I would have wanted to get back in touch with her. It would have been…” She shook her head. “No, too messy.”
The news that Vikki and Dave had divorced didn’t surprise her in the slightest. She actually felt bad for both of them. But she had zero regrets about Damian acting as her shield; Vikki was all in the past, and that’s where she would stay.
“Phew.” Damian threw her a weak smile. “Hey, I’m sorry I compared the situation with Carmen to that. I just got worried you were getting all silly again.”
“Nope. Silliness is not going to happen. Trust me.” She smiled at him and reached for her beer. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice was asking if she was one hundred per cent sure there was nothing to worry about. Because it was far too easy to think about Carmen and to look forward to when she might see her again.
Chapter 14
“Carmen? Carmen! ”
Carmen blinked a couple of times, and Felicity’s face came into focus once more. “Sorry, what was that?”
Felicity held up a Hermès scarf and raised her eyebrows. “I asked if you thought this suited me?”
Carmen glanced once at the scarf, its silk printed in dark blues and greens, and nodded. “Totally.” She had no idea how long she’d drifted off—she hadn’t even known they were looking at scarves.
They were in Harvey Nichols, finding Felicity a new ensemble for a charity dinner she was hosting in a couple of weeks at the Savoy. It was Thursday evening, only two days after Carmen had spent the evening with Ash at Sloe Down, but it seemed much longer.
Yes, probably because for some reason that’s all you’ve been able to think about.
Her work had suffered. Her sleep had been sporadic at best. A few times she’d caught Monica and Beverley exchanging puzzled or worried looks.
And she’d spent nearly an hour with Felicity already this evening and somehow still hadn’t mentioned to her best friend that she’d had a night out with Ash and that her response to it confused the hell out of her.
She couldn’t get Ash out of her mind. With no trouble at all she could conjure up that image of her standing on the kerb, hands in her pockets, looking so relaxed and…gorgeous.
There was that word again.
Felicity stepped closer, her face only inches away. “Have you been abducted by aliens?”
“What?” Carmen stared at her.
“It’s the only explanation I have.” Felicity shrugged, her forehead creased. “It looks like you, and the voice is yours, but you’re rather like a shell of yourself.” She laid a hand on Carmen’s arm. “Are you all right, darling?”
“I think I’m attracted to a woman.”
Good God, what was this lately with her just blurting things out with zero censorship?
Felicity opened her mouth, then closed it again. She dropped the scarf on the table next to them, grabbed Carmen by the wrist, and pulled. Felicity had always been freakishly strong, and Carmen’s feet moved before she could think to resist.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“We need to sit down for this.”
Felicity led her to the lifts, and when one arrived, she pulled her in and pressed the button for the top floor.
Three minutes later, they were perched on two stools at the Fifth Floor Bar, glasses of champagne in front of them. Enticing scents from the food people ate around them reached Carmen’s nose, but her stomach recoiled; her nerves were too taut to contemplate eating. The bar was busy, and a loud hum of conversation and clinking glasses filled
