Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Eva was doing a great job of seeming calm and unbothered. She knew she was good at that. It was a skill that was useful on the job and transferable to all kinds of social situations.
But she wasn’t feeling unbothered. She felt like an idiot.
Muff. Sweet Jesus.
She lifted her glass again, more for something to do with her hands than anything else, and took a slow sip. It didn’t help. The burn of the scotch wasn’t doing what it should. It wasn’t removing her from this room. It wasn’t removing her from her own embarrassment.
But Maddy’s reaction to Eva’s flirtatious comment hadn’t been nothing. Eva knew a heterosexual response when she saw it. She’d seen something in Maddy’s eyes. The way she’d looked so absolutely flustered. Eva hadn’t imagined it. She didn’t imagine things like that.
And then Maddy had said…
Eva exhaled slowly through her nose. It was fine. People said stupid things when they panicked. That was understandable.
Still. ‘Not into muff?’ It was like a door slamming shut.
But that was good. The door was supposed to be shut. Double-locked with a few extra padlocks thrown on for extra security. Everything that had happened in the last few minutes was exactly what should have happened.
Well, maybe not all of it. That lipstick theft had been a bit charged, right?
Wrong. All wrong. No more. Let it go. Get through this weekend and get this woman married, and then go about your business like you always have.
‘Right!’ Hannah clapped her hands together, blissfully unaware of the minor emotional wreckage she was presiding over. ‘This is excellent. We’re hitting our stride now.’
Eva set her glass down and leaned back in her chair, forcing herself to relax into it. This was always going to be nothing. A blip.
She didn’t know why she felt…
No. Not going there.
‘Next victim,’ Mary announced.
‘Kelly!’ Hannah said, pointing with delight.
Kelly blinked and smiled, sitting up straight like a puppet whose strings had been yanked. ‘Oh. Right.’ She reached for a card and turned it over. ‘Oh, for god’s sake.’
‘What is it?’ Aria asked.
Kelly sighed. “Hide and seek. You are the seeker. Everyone has two minutes to hide. If you can’t find everyone, you drink a shot.”
Mary whooped. ‘Yes!’
Hannah was already half out of her chair. ‘Oh, we’re absolutely doing that.’
‘We’re in a spa,’ Maddy said weakly.
‘Exactly,’ Hannah said. ‘So many hiding places. Treatment rooms, relaxation areas, steam rooms—’
‘This is how we get banned,’ Aria muttered, though she was already standing.
Chairs scraped back. The waiter was nowhere to be seen. The other guests—those few, serene, cucumber-water-drinking women—pretended not to notice the plebs getting up to hijinks. To acknowledge it was to let in the suspicion that bougieness was only being performed.
Eva stood more slowly, finishing her drink in one last, decisive swallow. Fine, she could do this. It might be good, actually. Maybe she’d never be found, and she could stay in her hidey hole until this entire weekend was over.
‘Two minutes!’ Hannah called. ‘Kelly, count in the bar area. Everyone else… go!’
They scattered.
***
Eva moved quickly at first, then slowed as soon as she was out of sight of the restaurant.
The spa at night was quieter, dimmer. The peace was nice.
She passed the relaxation lounge, already claimed—Mary’s laugh gave her away instantly. Aria’s voice followed, hissing something about subtlety.
Eva kept going. She didn’t want company.
A corridor led toward the treatment rooms, doors half-closed, the scent of oils lingering in the air. She slipped into one at the end, easing the door almost shut behind her. She needed to ninja this.
It was a small room containing a massage table in low lighting. Perfect.
Eva sat down cross-legged under the table, getting comfy. She was there all of ten seconds when the door opened. Maddy’s head appeared under the table. For a second, neither of them spoke.
‘Oh,’ Maddy said, a little breathless. ‘Sorry. I didn’t—’
‘No, it’s fine,’ Eva said quickly, shuffling up. ‘Plenty of room.’
There wasn’t, really. Eva didn’t know why she’d said that.
Maddy hovered, as if she might bolt. Then, slowly, she climbed under.
‘This is a good spot,’ she said, a little too brightly.
‘Mm,’ Eva replied.
Eva folded her arms loosely, watching Maddy. Trying to read her. That was the problem. She couldn’t. She thought she could. But then…
Not into muff.
Eva tilted her head slightly. ‘Are you sure you want to hide with me?’ she asked before she could stop herself.
Maddy blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well…’ Eva’s tone stayed light, but there was an edge to it now. ‘You wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. About you and muf—’
Maddy’s expression turned quickly to horror. ‘No! Please don’t say that word. I never want to hear it again as long as I live.’
‘You said it first,’ Eva shrugged.
Maddy looked down at her hands. ‘I panicked,’ she admitted quietly.
Eva let out a small breath. ‘No biggie,’ she said dryly.
Maddy coughed an embarrassed laugh. ‘I’m sorry I said that. Honestly.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Eva said.
Maddy looked up at that, at Eva. A real look. And for a second, something shifted again.
‘Let me just explain. I didn’t mean it like that,’ Maddy said.
Eva held her gaze. ‘No?’
Maddy shook her head, just slightly. ‘No.’
The quiet pressed in around them. Eva wasn’t sure what to do with this. With Maddy.
‘Not sure there are two ways to interpret it,’ she said finally.
Maddy let out a breath that might have been a laugh. ‘Interpret it that I said something vile that I wouldn’t have said if this weren’t my hen party.’
Somewhere down the corridor, Kelly shouted, ‘Ready or not!’
For a moment, they just sat there, Eva and Maddy, under the massage table, a couple of awkward kids playing hide and seek.
Then Maddy shifted, her arm brushing Eva’s as she moved. Eva went still. Maddy did too.
And suddenly, the game, the noise, the others, everything, felt very far away.
‘The game might be over already—’ Maddy started.
‘Yeah,’ Eva said.
Neither of them moved.