Chapter Sixty
‘I’m not jealous,’ I insisted. I went to take another sip of wine, and banged the glass against my tooth. ‘If you must know-’
‘I must know,’ said Liam quietly.
‘I’m simply sticking up for the sisterhood.’
‘Bollocks,’ he scoffed.
‘I beg your pardon?’ I said primly. Not easy when the words had come out as peg your bardon.
In a jiffy, Liam was up on his feet.
‘Oooh, have I offended you?’ I mocked. ‘Are you about to leave my house in a huff and take off into the sunset with Vimpy Vactoria and-’
Suddenly my glass was whipped out of my hand and Liam was sitting next to me. As his leg touched mine, a zinger scorched through my central nervous system. I made a strangled noise.
‘You’re invading my pace,’ I said weakly.
‘I think you mean space,’ he corrected. ‘How many of those antihistamines did you take?’
‘Three,’ I said sulkily.
‘Oh for…’ He got up again.
‘Bye,’ I called after his rigid back.
‘I’m not leaving,’ he retorted. ‘I’m getting you some water.’
‘Spoilsport,’ I muttered, as he went off to the kitchen. For a moment, I studied my many fingernails. My close-up vision then shifted, restoring the correct amount of digits to my hands.
‘Here,’ said Liam, returning with the water.
Once again he sat down next to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off.
‘Please don’t tell me that I’m invading your personal space.’
‘But you are,’ I mumbled.
‘Too bad,’ he said. ‘Now drink.’
I gulped down some water.
‘More,’ he commanded.
‘Are you always this bossy?’ I grumbled, as my head began to clear.
‘Only when necessary,’ he said. ‘Come on. Drink up.’
‘You sound like Cilla at closing time,’ I joked feebly. ‘All right, all right,’ I protested, catching the look on his face. I drained the glass. ‘There.’ I set the tumbler down on the coffee table. ‘Satisfied?’
‘I will be’ – he shifted his position again to properly look at me – ‘when you’ve answered my question.’
I rubbed my temples.
‘What was it again?’ I asked, playing for time.
‘Why are you jealous of Victoria?’
Oh dear. Straight to the point.
‘How can I be jealous of someone I’ve never met?’ I deflected.
‘I don’t know, but you are. So, forget the sisterhood nonsense and tell me why.’
Oh God, this was really putting me on the spot. Hell. Why had I taken so many antihistamines with wine? I’d come across as some sort of green-eyed girlfriend. And the awful thing was – I gulped – I wasn’t remotely in that category. Friend was stretching it. Acquaintance would be more apt.
‘B-Because’ – I stammered – ‘at one point we were texting quite frequently, and I was, er, enjoying it.’ My face reddened at the admission. ‘And that didn’t seem right to me. I didn’t feel comfortable about it. So, I thought it best not to be quite so chatty, and then…’
‘Yes?’
‘Then I thought it best not to do it at all.’
‘But if you were enjoying the chit-chat, why stop?’ he asked in confusion.
‘Because of Victoria – your girlfriend!’ I cried.
Liam looked utterly bemused.
‘Victoria isn’t my girlfriend.’
‘Oh, please,’ I tutted. ‘Does your last text not ring any bells?’ I put my hand up as if holding a phone and parodied reading his text – which wasn’t hard because I could remember the gist of it.
‘Despite just spending a weekend together, Victoria insisted on tagging along to the Cotswolds. We ended up seeing a psychic, and the reading was most thought-provoking!’ I dropped my hand and shot him a disdainful look.
‘Did the psychic mention that cosying up to one woman while messaging another isn’t exactly the done thing? ’
‘Let me explain,’ said Liam. ‘Victoria recently broke up with a guy. She’d been seeing him for a while, so she was cut up. She kept chasing me for some company and a shoulder to cry on.’
‘How sweet of you to be there for her,’ I said sarcastically.
And then Liam said something that nearly had me swallowing my tonsils.
‘Why would I not be there for her?’ he said softly. ‘After all, she’s my sister.’