Chapter 14
Fourteen
T hat afternoon I finished up my work early and dedicated the rest of the day to figuring out how to get rid of those damned trackers.
I took my phone apart and quickly realised I had no idea what I was looking at.
I put it back together, searched it, and found no suspicious apps.
Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Google was useless too.
My van was my next stop which I was even more clueless about.
I crawled under the vehicle, ignoring the confused stares of shoppers passing by.
I had no idea what I was looking for. I racked my brain through every spy movie I’d ever seen but it didn’t help.
Drawing a blank I crawled out and checked under the hood.
Nothing in there had a ‘Disable Tracker Here’ sticker on it so, with a huff, I slammed the bonnet shut and got into the driver's seat.
I searched every square inch of the interior and found nothing.
As a last ditch effort, I called my mechanic but after finding out how much it would cost for them to search it, I quickly gave up.
I couldn’t afford it and Alfie knew that.
I sat in my van, my phone in my hand, feeling like I was being watched.
I searched my mind for a solution but I couldn’t find one so I tried to be objective.
Had Alfie violated my privacy? Yep. Big time.
Was it hurting me? Physically, no. But Adam hadn’t hurt me physically either.
But Alfie wasn’t Adam. Adam was a weak, desperate kind of person and Alfie was anything but that. With gritted teeth, I resolved to let it play out. Feeling Alfie’s presence like a watchful demon over my shoulder, I started up my van and headed home.
A huge bouquet of tulips greeted me when I entered the kitchen. I buried my nose in them, inhaling their delicate aroma.
"Hands off!" Natalie said, pointing a wooden spoon at me. "Those are for me."
"What? Who's sending you flowers?" I pulled off the card.
Natalie,
My behaviour last night was inexcusable. I hope that you and your son were not too upset.
It won’t happen again.
Alfie Tell.
"Wow." I looked up and Natalie raised her eyebrows at me.
"He's smooth that one, isn't he? Did you get flowers too?"
"Actually, I got another dinner invitation." I was nervous as hell about it and I really hoped that she would be supportive. I'd have to keep the tracker thing from her, though. She definitely wouldn't be supportive about that. Not that I blamed her.
"Are you going this time?" she asked and I nodded. "Is that wise?"
"Probably not." I gave her a wry smile. Dinner with Alfie Tell felt like walking into the lion's den, but Keira had been right; I couldn't live in a box my whole life just because I was afraid of further loss.
"Be safe." The worry in her eyes pulled at my heart. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she continued buttering bread.
"Always. How was your date by the way?"
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Total bust. He clicked his fingers at the waiter and spent most of the meal complaining about his ex."
"Gross."
"I know. Never mind, though. It still felt good to go. I felt like an actual adult for once. A young, single woman. I forget that's what I am sometimes."
"You'll find the right person, Natalie. One day, he’ll just walk through the front door. You watch." She nodded as if she didn't care but I knew that underneath all that strength, she was lonely.
"Go on, go and get ready." She waved a hand at me. "I need to live vicariously through my baby sister."
I grinned and got up. Hopefully a bath would calm my raging nerves. "Okay. First, though, is Ryan around?" I asked, fingering the red velvet box in my pocket. "I have some real treasure for him to bury."
Had I ever been on a real date before? I didn't think so. Not like this anyway. Adam and I had met through friends and we'd never really dated in the beginning. We just sort of happened organically. We went out on dates once we were together but I'd never had a proper first date. Not like this.
After tearing my limited wardrobe apart, I'd eventually decided on a pale pink dress. It was what I felt most beautiful in. I pinned my hair up on one side and brushed out my thick waves, curling them slightly at the ends.
"Woah!" Ryan exclaimed as I came down the stairs. "Auntie Lo, you look like a magazine!" He should be in bed by now but Natalie had let him stay up so that he could see the fancy car pick up his Auntie Lo.
Natalie looked at me approvingly. "Call me if he turns out to be crazy." Hadn't she already noticed he was crazy?
"It's here!" Ryan shouted, jumping at his spot by the window. "Mummy, can I have a turn in the car?"
"No, I already told you, it's just for Auntie Lo." He let out a mournful wail but I didn't suspect a tantrum was truly on its way.
"Can I have a kiss for luck?" Ryan turned his face up to be kissed and I pressed my lips to the delicate skin of his cheek. I gave Natalie a wave and left before my nerves got the better of me.
Elliot was waiting as I stepped out, and he opened the door of the Rolls Royce for me.
"Miss O’Connell," he said politely. I arched an eyebrow at him. Really? I'd crashed into his boss’s car, crashed into his boss, and then he'd caught me practically shagging his boss. We still weren’t on first name terms?
I slid into the car, trying to pretend like getting into a Rolls Royce was something I did all the time.
Compared to the welcoming exterior of my gran's cottage, with its ivy covered walls and faded blue door, the Rolls felt cold and soulless. I tried to relax as we set off.
"Elliot, about the other night. I…" I trailed off, trying and failing to find a way to apologise for the way I'd behaved in the Harrington House garden.
"I saw nothing, I heard nothing," he said, his eyes firmly on the road. He must have noticed how embarrassed I was because he caught my eye in the mirror. "Truly, Miss, don't worry yourself about it."
I nodded and gave him a small smile. I liked Elliot. I was desperate to pepper him with questions about Alfie but I knew he wouldn’t tell me a damn thing so I left it alone.
"Can you tell me where we're going tonight?"
"A restaurant near London."
"That's it?"
"That's it. Some music, Miss?"
"Please. Something soothing." He pressed a button and a moment later, I relaxed into the seat as an angelic voice I didn't recognise filled the car.
An hour later, Elliot pulled in alongside the most elegant restaurant I'd ever seen.
The word L'Amour was stencilled high above the door in black and silver script.
It was beautiful, but the windows were covered in huge cream drapes, shielding the inside from pedestrians. I wondered if it was closed.
Elliot opened my door, I climbed out as gracefully as I could and followed him. He knocked on the restaurant door for me, and it was opened a second later by a smart looking man in a suit, sans tie. His beard was neat and flecked through with grey, and he had bright, smiling blue eyes.
"Miss O'Connell," Elliot introduced me to the man before abruptly turning, getting back into the Rolls, and driving away.
What is going on?
The man, whom I assumed to be the ma?tre d', ushered me inside with a ‘this way, madame.’ I followed him into the dining room.
I expected a busy room full of tables and diners.
Instead, I found a room lit by a hundred candles and completely free of tables except for one in the centre of the room, where Alfie Tell waited for me.
Alfie stood as I entered, eyes raking me from head to toe in appreciation. The deep grey suit he wore was perfectly tailored to his muscular body. I bit my lip as I drank him in.
He was just so delicious to look at.
He crossed the room and pulled me into him, kissing my cheek.
"You are resplendent, Miss O'Connell," he whispered in my ear and I shivered at the proximity of his mouth to my neck.
"Thank you." He pulled my chair out for me and I sat. "What's going on here?" I asked, gesturing at the empty room. "Is the place shutting down or something?"
He arched an amused eyebrow at me. "No, Lola, it's not shutting down. I bought the place for the evening. Or rather, for the night, so we can take our time."
"Seriously? People actually do that?"
"Yes. Do you like it?" He tilted his head at me, watching me closely.
"Yes. I mean, it's a little strange. I like to people watch, you know? I just didn't expect this."
"You don't like it." His shoulders were stiff, his features a cool mask, as if he didn't want me to see how hurt he was.
Me and my dumb mouth. He'd gone to all this effort for me—sending Elliot to pick me up, getting this place for the night.
I suddenly felt like the most ungrateful girl in the world.
"No, I love it. Really, Alfie. I'm just not used to this sort of thing. It's beautiful, thank you for bringing me here." I smiled, trying to fix the bad start we’d gotten off to.
This morning, I had hated this man. Now I was grateful that he was spending time with me, thanking him for taking me on a date that I had refused to go on yesterday. How had that happened? I gazed at the Adonis in front of me, unable to fight the feeling that he had just engineered my entire mood.
“Say my name again.”
A blush immediately crept over my cheeks. “Alfie.”
“It feels right in your mouth, doesn’t it?”
Before I could begin to form a reply, we were interrupted by the ma?tre d', who it seemed would be acting as our server as well tonight.
I guessed Alfie wanted as few people around us as possible.
A rather rotund man in a white coat followed him and immediately clasped Alfie in a firm handshake as they exchanged pleasantries in rapid French.