Chapter 29
She sat next to Laurie at lunch. Whether it was Sophie’s matchmaking, Ginny’s poorly thought-out obfuscation or sheer bad luck, Rhys didn’t know, but it made him wonder what Sophie and the others would think if they knew the truth.
It made him want to tell them the truth, even though that option was stupidity, now Andreas knew he was leaving the country for longer this time.
He was thankful for the distraction when an older man in a felt waistcoat raised himself out of his chair and cleared his throat. Rhys stood as unobtrusively as he could, coming around the table for a better angle with his camera.
‘Welcome to the Falknerhof, our farm and vineyard, which has been in our family for generations. My name is Englert Franz. I have the great honour to be Andreas’s uncle.
We actually have a fifth season, here in the Eisacktal, our valley.
It’s called the Torggelen time and it’s the tasting of the new wine – accompanied of course by fresh food from the autumn harvest.’
He paused, lifting his glass of cloudy, partially fermented wine.
‘There is no better time for a wedding,’ he said, his voice rough with emotion, ‘especially a wedding most of us never expected would happen. Andreas, my snotty little boy, bringing Sophie into the family, and now the little Poppele coming at Christmas, are the best things you’ve ever done.
Climb Everest? Pah! The world is more beautiful from here.
To Andreas, finally doing the right thing and marrying his Sophie! ’
Englert Franz – Rhys was fairly certain his first name was Franz, despite the way he’d introduced himself – raised his glass in a toast to a chorus of, ‘Hear, hear!’ and ‘Bravo!’
A hand on Rhys’s arm made him turn and those stunning brown-green-whatever-they-were eyes looked up at him, winged with a swoosh of eyeliner. Her gold stud seemed to accent her cherry-red lipstick.
Three hours and he’d missed her. This was not good.
‘Take a picture of Andreas and Sophie,’ she said urgently, and he snapped out of it just in time.
Or perhaps not in time. He couldn’t tell what Ginny thought he so urgently needed to photograph.
‘You should have seen his face when Franz said, “His Sophie.” It’s such a convoluted love story, so many years in the making. ’
Rhys studied Ginny as she peered at the bride and groom with a wan smile. ‘Your sentimental nature has recovered from last night’s shock?’
‘Old habits die hard, I suppose,’ she said with a shrug.
He was a second away from making a comment about Laurie, so he took himself back to his seat at the table.
His hair stood on end every time he caught sight of her conversing with him, even though his rational brain knew it was nothing.
But the lump in his throat was enough that he had to admit he was in trouble.
After the wedding, he needed to make sure he went back to avoiding her.
Whatever momentary insanity she was experiencing to want to sleep with him, she’d get over it sooner rather than later and he’d be safely in Canada.
After lunch, the two families gathered under the enormous chestnut for posed photos, which brought Rhys out in a cold sweat. Too many variables, too many faces.
He waved a hand above his head, trying to get the attention of the two unruly little people in the front row. ‘Uh, kids? Look this way. And smile.’ It didn’t work.
‘Do you need a hand?’
Desperately, except he’d just been thinking about keeping his distance from Ginny.
‘Hey, Eliza!’ she called out to the little girl.
‘Did you see these?’ After opening one of the spiny cases with her foot, she retrieved two little chestnuts and brought them to Eliza and the boy who was probably her brother.
‘These are chestnuts, not conkers. Do you collect conkers at home? Yeah? Well, these you can actually eat, although you have to cook them first. Don’t they feel good in your hand? ’
Helpless to do otherwise, Rhys raised the camera, framed up the shot and immortalised the picture she made, crouching in her smart dress, making the little girl smile.
Eliza took one nut and her brother the other one.
‘You can collect more of them in a minute, although you have to open them with your foot, like this. The spines are really sharp, which I discovered the hard way,’ she said drily, gesturing for the kids to retrieve two more nuts from the case at their feet.
‘How about you hold them up? No, not in front of your face,’ she said with a laugh.
‘Next to your face. And say cheese! And biscuits! Cheese and biscuits!’
It seemed impossible to resist Ginny’s charm when she was nearby, so he gave up trying and embraced it. He unfolded a soft white reflector and handed it to her, ushering her to the position he needed and just barely managing to ignore the amused lift of her shoulder as he put her in place.
‘You’re welcome,’ she said indulgently. ‘Happy to help.’
When the shots had been taken and the guests dispersed to explore the red-and-gold vineyards or stand around the barrel fire where Franz was roasting nuts, Rhys released a deep breath and checked over his gear out of habit.
‘Survived?’
He glanced up, only to flinch away, shielding his eyes.
‘Oh shit, sorry,’ Ginny said, hastily lowering the reflector. ‘This thing is stronger than I thought. I can kind of see why you don’t like photographing people, when there are all these extra considerations.’
‘And now you believe it’s not only because I don’t like people on principle?’
‘Only partly,’ she teased.
‘I make an exception for you.’ The closer he got to saying goodbye to her, the less control he seemed to have over his mouth. ‘You look gorgeous, by the way.’
She straightened in surprise. ‘Thank you. What exactly looks gorgeous? I’m not fishing for compliments, I’m just curious about what makes a difference for you.’
So she could take that into account when she chose an outfit on another occasion? The thought appealed to him immensely, although there wouldn’t be another occasion.
‘You’re a study in contrasts,’ he murmured with half a smile. ‘This colour suits your skin. I like the material here.’ He gestured vaguely to her chest. ‘And your body language tells me you’re happy to be beautiful.’
She had nothing to say to that. She just pursed her cherry-red lips and raised her shoulders self-consciously. That wasn’t quite the reaction he’d been going for, but it wasn’t surprising for something between them to backfire.
‘I… didn’t expect you’d be so good at compliments,’ she said, biting her lip.
‘Did Laurie tell you you look lovely?’
‘What? Why would he?’
He could identify the guilty stiffening in her posture.
‘I suspect letting Sophie believe you’re having a fling with Laurie will come back to bite you later.’
She sighed, coming closer to speak quietly. ‘What was I supposed to say? She noticed beard burn and whose fault is that?’
His face heated, although his chest expanded too – both reactions unhelpful. ‘But you didn’t need to put her off the scent with such an outrageous lie.’ It made me jealous and frustrated and so many other things I shouldn’t be feeling.
‘I didn’t lie,’ Ginny insisted. ‘Sophie made the assumption and I didn’t correct her.’
‘What? How could she think you’re with Laurie?’
‘Because it would never cross her mind that it could have been you.’
He had no response to that. He still didn’t quite understand how any of this had happened or what Ginny saw in him.
‘Then you don’t need to put her off the scent. The secret is safe.’ He crossed his arms. ‘We go home on Sunday anyway.’ And then I’ll be out of your life. ‘When are you thinking of starting up with the dating apps again?’
‘As soon as I get home,’ she declared, lifting her chin.
Ouch, that got him in the kidneys. It was a good thing he was leaving the continent.
But her shoulders drooped and her features scrunched up as she sighed. ‘I’m not serious. The ban has become an indefinite hiatus. I have some stuff I need to work out and… you made me think differently about some things. Don’t look so guilty. It’s good for me.’
‘It’s not great imagining I’ve put you off relationships, Ginny. It’s exactly what I’ve been afraid of all this time – letting someone down.’
With a glance over her shoulder, she stepped closer, letting the reflector sway in the breeze, apparently carelessly. But she used the cover of the silver fabric disc to press a furtive kiss to his lips that he in no way deserved.
He didn’t have a choice but to kiss her back and it was with some difficulty that they managed to stop before the reflector blew their cover. It took him an extra few seconds to remove his hand from her waist. The dress was velvety against his palm.
‘I thought you didn’t want to risk anyone getting ideas,’ he said with a crooked smile.
‘I don’t,’ she agreed, ‘but I also think on principle you should end an argument with a kiss.’
‘That was an argument?’
‘You were annoyed at me for letting Sophie think I was with Laurie.’
‘No, I wasn’t—’ It seemed pointless to deny it, when she could see through him. ‘Fine. I was. But I know I don’t have any rights to you.’
‘If this were a real relationship, I would never—’
‘I know, Ginny,’ he reassured her. ‘There are a lot of things we’d be doing if this were a real relationship.’ Although he struggled to think of one – aside from yelling about it from the top of that mountain in the distance.
‘Running away as fast as you can?’ she joked.
‘Yeah,’ he agreed in dismay. Give it another few days and maybe all of that would happen. The thought was sobering. ‘Didn’t you call it a “situationship”?’
She shook her head with a chuckle, adjusting the collar of his blue checked shirt. ‘We haven’t even got that far.’
If that was true, he hated to think how he’d feel if they had something real and screwed it all up.
She turned to go and he was determined to let her, to allow the moment to pass, which was why it made no sense that he called after her, ‘Will I see you tonight?’ His voice was thin.
With a flirty shrug, she replied, probably loud enough to be overheard, ‘Maybe you’ll run into me at the condom machine.’