Chapter 33
33
LINCOLN
“Sorry we are late; we sort of got waylaid.” I push Violet’s dining chair into the table and take the seat next to her.
“Or just laid,” my dad mumbles under his breath.
He knows me so well.
My dad’s Greek skin is so dark. He’s caught up with me on the tanning.
“It’s not like my dad to be late.” Violet checks the time on her phone.
“Maybe he’s waylaid too?” I josh.
She screws her face up. “Oh wow, no, I don’t want to have that vision of him and Viva. Thank you.”
“This is a cool place,” I say, making everyone look around. It’s a giant glass box that suspends over the cliffs. “We should do this.” I lock eyes with my dad. “Fish restaurant. Suspended above the cliffs with the wild North Sea below?”
“I’m all for that.” My dad looks excited.
“Let’s do it. Better than this, though,” I whisper. “Fish-tank walls. Low-level lighting. ”
“Long nights, I won’t see you, you’ll be grumpy. Sounds great.” Eva smiles. I know she is only joking, but she’s not wrong. When Dad throws himself into a project, he gives it one hundred and ten percent.
“Done,” my dad decides.
“Is that how quickly you guys decide?” Violet looks shocked.
“Pretty much.” My dad takes a sip of his water.
“We have to draft plans first, obviously, and take it to the board, work out the budget, but I guarantee they’ll agree because there is nothing like it in the area. We own the surrounding ten miles of field one way and then thirty miles on the other. The hotel sits high on the cliffs. This would be awesome to do.” I feel excitement bubbling in my chest.
“Sounds like fun,” Violet tweets. I love her accent. I can’t get enough of her or of that.
“It is. I do all the refurbs.” I take a sip of water too.
“That will be a great project to work on. Oh, here’s my dad now.” Violet rises to her feet, and we all join her.
Violet’s father strides in, apologizing with a giant smile on his face. “I’m sorry we are late. Viva had to return her two sons to their father’s first. She’s just visiting the ladies’ room.” He kisses Violet on the cheek.
“Dad, this is Knox, Lincoln’s father, and this is Eva, his wife.” Violet introduces everyone and they all shake hands. “Knox, Eva, this is my father, Anthony.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Anthony.” My dad cups his elbow at the same time in a friendly gesture.
“It would seem these two are smitten.” Anthony tilts his head in our direction.
“It would appear that way.” My dad smiles.
I place a quick peck on Violet’s cheek and she snuggles into me. She looks great tonight in a black fitted dress. My girl has dangerous curves. She’s spent the last two weeks relaxing with my family and tanning herself; she’s so bronzed and she looks like she’s glowing.
“Good evening, Lincoln.” Anthony shakes my hand. “Going back home tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” I say with a heavy heart.
“You’ll be back.” He winks. “But I will look after her while you’re gone.”
That’s a lie. No one looks after Violet. Not one of her family members has called in two weeks. The only reason we are here is because Violet organized this so our parents could meet each other. If it wasn’t for her two friends, Hannah and Ruby, she wouldn’t have anyone.
We all settle into our seats, and Anthony is the first to speak. “Now I haven’t exactly been truthful with Viva. I said it was just dinner out.” He looks like a naughty schoolboy as he tells us. “She shies away from meeting people, especially bigger groups.” He looks straight ahead. “Oh, here she is now.”
A beautiful, familiar-looking woman walks in our direction. She’s looking toward Anthony with a smile on her face. I tilt my head. For the life of me, I can’t think where I have seen her before.
My dad and Eva both turn at the same time, and Viva’s face falls and turns ashen when she sees my dad and stops dead in her tracks.
“What did you say your girlfriend’s name was, Anthony?” my dad asks in a steady voice.
“Viva,” he says.
“And would that be a nickname for Olivia?”
My mind is reeling with confusion, and then the penny drops.
“Why, yes,” he answers cheerfully .
“Oh, no.” I hear Eva’s muffled voice.
I stand up faster than I realize, sending my chair flying, and it lands with a loud bang against the floor behind me.
“Mom?”