“Well, well, speak of the devil,” he said. Lisbeth turned her large eyes to face me and smiled in a way she probably thought was alluring but did nothing for me.
“Is this him?” she asked.
“Depends on who you’re looking for,” I said.
“Niall Bridges. We were just talking about you,” he said. I was sure that they were. How random was it that I was supposed to meet my supposed new wife at the birthday party of a random childhood acquaintance? Not random at all. I felt my stomach turn. Just how much of this arrangement had taken place without even a word in my direction?
“Niall, pleasure to meet you,” Lisbeth said. I offered a hand for her to shake but she leaned in and kissed both my cheeks instead.
“I’ll leave the two of you to get better acquainted,” Dirk said. He slid away. Planned, it was all planned. If I hadn’t walked over, they would have found a way to lure me in. It didn’t matter. We were here now; I could say my piece and leave. At this point, I could be back in New York by tomorrow.
“Lisbeth, it’s a pleasure. I have to talk to you. I’m sure you know…” my eyes wandered and landed on a head of auburn hair in the crowd. I completely lost my train of thought. I stared at the redhead in the crowd, watching her walking the floor with a brunette. It was Eddy. She was here. What the hell were the chances? Twice in a row, I ran into her in London in places I didn’t want to be. She and the woman were talking to Dirk, handing him a wrapped birthday gift.
“Yes?” Lisbeth said, in front of me. I belatedly remembered she was still there. I grasped for the words, but they wouldn’t come. Seeing Eddy again was too much of a shock. I felt a hand on my arm, Lisbeth’s.
“You were saying something? That our fathers know each other?” she asked. That wasn’t exactly where I was going but I would have gotten there eventually. I was going to tell her that we were told to be in the same place under false pretenses. I just nodded, distracted by Eddy. She was in a red dress too. The front of it gathered around her chest, beautifully framing her gorgeous breasts and skimmed over her hips and thighs, hitting just below the knee. I was hard just looking at her. I didn’t even have to remember our night together.
“Don’t you think so?” I heard Lisbeth say suddenly.
“What?” I asked. I worried whether she heard the annoyed edge in my voice. She was officially in the way. Between her and Eddy, I would have much rather been talking to Eddy.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the open French doors that led out to the garden. I let her pull me with her. I still had to talk to her. Once I got that out of the way, I could go and talk to Eddy. We walked out onto the garden following a stone path. I pulled my arm away from her grasp. She stopped.
“Lisbeth, I’m sorry we’ve met under these circumstances. My father alerted me that there have been arrangements made concerning the two of us.”
“My father warned me that you might not show up to the party.”
“Well, I’m here. We have something very important to discuss.”
“I’m so happy we’re finally meeting. I’m so pleased you came,” she said. Oh my god, why wasn’t she keeping up? Was she purposefully trying to stop me from telling her what I was trying to say?
“So am I,” I said, humoring her.
“I wore my best dress. Isn't it lovely?” she said, spinning, showing me her dress. For fuck’s sake. I forced a smile.
“You look lovely.” She smiled. “Lisbeth, the two of us…”
She cut me off. One minute, she was showing me her dress, the next her arms were around my neck and her mouth plastered to mine.
8
Edwina
“What was that, Eddy?”
“What? Oh, sorry.” I had to just been telling her and an acquaintance a story about boarding school when something caught my attention. She was looking at me expectantly.
“Is everything all right?” Missy asked me, sensing my anxiety right away. No, nothing was okay. I scanned the crowd again. He was gone. I knew that I saw him though. I had to come to this party for Missy's crush from our school days and guess who else was in attendance. I thought I saw someone that looked like him walking out of the French doors to the garden.
“Eddy?” Missy asked me again. The concern in her eyes was clear. What's going on, she asked me silently.
“So sorry, could you guys just excuse me for a minute?” I started walking away before they told me that it was okay for me to go. My heart was pounding, and my legs seemed to be taking me towards the French doors without my brain's permission. What did I even want? It wasn't like we had any unfinished business. Well, in a way I guess we did. I did leave without saying anything to him last night. That was hardly a slight, but he was allowed to be upset about it. Our relationship was barely that. I was drawn to him though. What if he was upset about the watch? Well, that was mine now that after the game. I didn't have anything to say to him, but I needed to see him.
My body was drawn to him and I wanted to talk to him now that I knew we were in the same space. What I should have done was ignore him at all costs. Still, I walked through the French doors out to the garden. Maybe I was hallucinating and it wasn't even him. Just that thought made me painfully aware of how much I did want to see him.
Where did he go? There were a few people who had come outside to smoke.
