Chapter 46
46
SOPHIE
T heir vacation began with the flight from Dublin to Brisbane, as even though it took almost twenty-four hours, including one stop in Dubai, they had splurged on first-class tickets and were rewarded with a luxurious journey. Flying on an Emirates Airlines Airbus A380 for the fourteen-hour flight from Dubai to Brisbane, they each had a private “suite” with a remote-controlled door that closed for privacy and chairs that relaxed back to full sleeping position. When the cabin lights dimmed, the ceiling of the plane sparkled with faux stars. The meals offered along the way were exceptional and included caviar and the finest collection of spirits and wine.
Gavin and Sophie’s suites were next to each other, separated with a wall that could be lowered to waist height but wouldn’t allow them to combine their spaces, so she spent a lot of the flight in his seat with him. They took advantage of the time to reconnect after having been apart for a week prior to the trip. Rogue’s final task for their second album, That Need , was to take it to London for the record label to hear it.
The label’s response to the album was so enthusiastic that Rogue ended up staying in London for several more days than initially planned so that the marketing department could jump on how they would roll out the new music. They also used the opportunity to celebrate, and while out partying at a club one night they met Jackson Armstrong, Britain’s leading romantic-comedy actor and renowned bachelor playboy. He delighted in showing his new friends all of London’s hotspots and made sure Conor and Shay had plenty of women to choose from. While they were living the high life, Sophie was in Dublin, taking her end-of-term exams. The demands of Trinity were greater than that of USC, and she had struggled with the workload for the whole year. Gavin’s frequent and unapologetic ways of distracting her from her studies hadn’t helped, but in the end, she did well.
Now, as she and Gavin squeezed themselves together in his reclined seat, they were well fed, bordering on drunk from the bottle of Dom Pérignon they’d shared, and content to cuddle with the door closed. Conor and Shay had gone to the lounge and bar and hadn’t been seen for more than an hour.
Sophie pressed her face into Gavin’s neck and smelled a foreign scent on his skin.
“You’re wearing cologne?” she asked lazily.
“It was in the WC. Had to give it a try. There’s women’s perfume in there too,” he replied. “You can always wash it off in the shower room if you don’t like it.”
Before she could lose her nerve, she asked him as casually as possible, “So, when you guys were in London … did anything happen?”
“Lots of things happened,” he said, and kissed the top of her head. “We got rave reviews from the record company on the album, we talked preliminary tour and video plans, we met celebrities like the actor Jackson Armstrong and saw the posh nightlife. And during all that, there was not one time that I so much as looked at another girl.”
Sophie laughed because he saw right through her attempt to check up on him. “Not even a glance?”
“No,” he said. “Marty, he was another story.”
“What does that mean? Did he cheat on her?”
“No. Absolutely not. He did not and he would not.”
“But?”
“But, he’s got an eye for the ladies. And I don’t blame him much. He said that Celia has even less sex drive since she got pregnant.”
That revelation went right by her in her champagne haze before sinking in. She pulled away from him and pressed her hand to his chest. “Pregnant? Is she really?”
Gavin laughed. “Seems so.”
“Oh my god. That’s so exciting!”
“You mean petrifying. They’re only kids themselves.”
“I know, but it will be so much fun to have a baby in the group!”
“Sure, yes. It’ll be great—for them.”
Sophie smiled and touched his cheek. “Don’t worry, Gavin, this doesn’t make me want to have a baby.”
He relaxed. “There’s plenty of time for all that. Let’s be young ourselves first, yeah?”
“Yeah, for sure.”