“I can’t wait,” smiled Abi, doing one of those silly little girly claps that Faith hated.
Michael grinned, wrapped an arm around his fiancée and kissed the top of her head.
“It’s lovely having something to look forward to,” said Rose. “And one of my children married at last and you’re not even the oldest Abi.”
Both Vance and Faith looked her way but didn’t reply, refusing to rise to the bait.
“It’ll be your turn next Faith,” said Abi.
“Hardly,” she replied, forcing a smile.
“You get on really well with Matthew and he’s a detective inspector now.”
Faith didn’t even need to look at Vance to know he was jealous, she could feel it rolling off him. “I’ve had my fill of detective inspectors for one lifetime after Marlow.”
“Oh God, sorry Faith. I didn’t think. It’s the champagne.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” she said, patting her hand.
On the bright side, Abi’s tactless remark forced her to drop the subject.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually sulking because of what Abi said about Matthew,” Faith asked Vance as he drove them home in stony silence.
“No,” he curtly replied.
“Yes you are,” she smiled. “You’re sulking because you think there’s something between me and him.”
“Isn’t there?”
“No. He’s happy with Alice and I’m happy with you.”
“I saw your face when everyone was talking about weddings. You looked like you were pining for the same thing.”
“I was not pining.”
“Yes you were. You were wishing you were in a relationship with someone you could marry and don’t lie to me Faith, we’ve been through too much together for you to start lying.”
“All right, I admit that maybe just for a second I did wish we were a normal couple.”
“You do realise there’s nothing stopping us from getting married if we wanted to? We aren’t actually brother and sister. It would be legal.”
“I know but if we broke news like that to the family I can guarantee they wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about it as they were about Abi and Michael’s wedding.”
“They’d come round. Anyway, I didn’t think you wanted to get married?”
“I don’t.”
“You’re lying again Faith.”
“Well, maybe I do, at some distant point in the future. Not now. We have enough going on. And I want to make this very clear – you do not need to worry about Matthew. Our relationship is purely professional.”
Vance nodded. “All right Faith, I apologise.”
“No worries,” she smiled, resting her hand on his thigh.
She took her phone out of her pocket when it started to ring. “It’s Jules.”
“You sound nervous,” he smiled.
“Wouldn’t you be? Her bite is certainly worse than her bark.”
“She likes you.”
“I think so but what if it’s bad news?”
“You’ll never know until you answer and I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”
Faith put the phone to her ear. “Hello Jules. Oh wow, that’s great. Yes, I’ll tell him, he’ll be made up.” She hung up. “She’s completed the purchase of Eclectic on the north prom. We’ve to collect the keys from the agent in a couple of days, once the paperwork’s been done.”
“That’s great news. So Caleb finally gets his own nightclub to run.”
“He’ll be so pleased. I think you should help him run it.”
“But I thought I was helping you with Pulse and Kev and Jason would help Caleb.”
“It’ll take him some time to find his feet. What he needs is someone experienced guiding him and that isn’t Jason and Kev. He can’t be babysitting them while trying to run a nightclub. He needs your experience Vance.”
“I’ve never run a nightclub before either.”
“But you’ve got a cool head and you know how to deal with trouble. Kev and Jason are too volatile. It’s only temporary,” she added when he frowned. “Once Caleb’s found his feet at Eclectic then Jason and Kev can help him with it as planned and me and you can run Pulse together.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Caleb’s a fast learner, so it won’t take him long to pick it up.”
“Exactly.”
“And you are the boss, so if that’s what you want then that’s what we’ll do.”
Faith studied him, wondering if he was being sarcastic but he seemed to be being genuine. There wasn’t an ounce of bitterness in his tone. “Are you still okay with me being in charge, even though you’re the oldest?”
“I don’t think age dictates suitability to lead and you’re the right choice Faith. You were born for this life and Jules wants you running things. Everything is going so well under your leadership. Why mess with that? And I don’t think an ex-copper is the right person to lead the family.”
“As long as you’re happy.”
“Faith, I’m living in a beautiful flat driving this fantastic car and I get to be with you every day. Of course I’m happy. I’ve got everything I ever wanted.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Me too.” Maybe she was overcomplicating matters with thoughts of weddings? She and Vance were finally together after being separated for two painful years. That was the important thing. “I love you Vance.”
Gently he squeezed her hand. “I love you too.”
She settled back into her seat, feeling happier. It was important to concentrate on what really mattered in life.
CHAPTER 5
Matthew was ready for tearing his hair out. He’d been attempting to interview the men Mickey Gunning had said he was with when Dillon Enfield was killed. At first he’d thought his luck was in because he’d found all four together in The Red Lion and Lil had said he could use her back room to speak to them one by one. However, they were all drunk and attempting to question them was like trying to control mentally deficient cats. They were slurring and muttering inaudibly and all his questions had been met with
