Chapter 5 #2
“Your hair looks fine to me, but I suppose I could go. I’ll be back soon. Don’t go anywhere, handsome.”
“I’ll be counting every second you’re gone,” Jason said, one arm stretched possessively over Katie’s chair.
Ellie beckoned for Katie to join her, and they moved to the ladies’ restroom, where they waited in line for the facilities. All the while, Katie kept going on about how handsome Jason was, how wonderful he was, how charming.
“I agree, he’s very handsome, but you don’t really know him.”
“Yes, I do,” Katie protested. “He’s told me about his work, and that we have the same taste in poetry. And he loves ancient history too!”
“Did he tell you this before or after you told him about wanting to go visit Pompeii?”
“He told me this after. So?”
An internal red flag waved, but anything she said would likely be received the wrong way. She needed to tread carefully. “Look, maybe he has a genuine interest in Pompeii, but it’s easy for a man to say one thing in order to get another.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Ellie winced. And this was the problem of having a sister who was so romance-minded that she lacked practical sense. Lord, give me wisdom to say this right. “Some men might go on a charm offensive in order to persuade a girl to do, uh, things, that they might not want to do.”
“Like eat tiramisu?”
“Seriously, Katie?”
Her sister scoffed. “I don’t know what you take me for, but I’m not a complete idiot. And there’s no way somebody I’ve just met is gonna charm me out of my pants.”
Whoa. Okay. “Good to know.”
“I can’t believe you would think that of me.”
“Well, you haven’t exactly been hiding your feelings.”
“And why should I? I have no reason to hide. I have been open and sincere, where perhaps you would’ve preferred me to have been reserved, spiritless, dull, and deceitful. Why shouldn’t I let him know I like him?”
“Because I don’t want you to get your heart broken by someone who isn’t worthy of it.”
“How dare you? And how dare you judge whether he’s worthy? You don’t know him.”
“And you do?” she challenged. “Is he a Christian?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t got that far yet.”
“Well, surely that’s an important question to ask before you get too carried away.”
“Is Ethan?”
“Yes. He also helps run a youth group at his church.”
“Well, good for him. But it’s not like you have been hiding your feelings about him. Anyone with two eyes can tell how you feel about him.”
Heat rushed into her cheeks. “Keep your voice down.”
A toilet flushed, and a woman exited a cubicle and glanced at them. Embarrassing.
Obviously this was not the place to talk about this. And obviously she was going to have to guard herself from showing her feelings so openly.
Several minutes later, they were primping at the mirror, Ellie the recipient of a few more compliments about her dress.
“See? I told you it would be a hit.” Katie smiled smugly. “Ethan’s barely been able to take his eyes off you.”
She shivered. It would be so nice to think she was the focus of a good man. He didn’t even have to be handsome, but the fact she thought Ethan was, was a bonus.
“I’m going to do some youth group graphics for him.”
“So you’ve got his phone number already? You go, girl!”
“Keep your voice down,” she murmured again, as another toilet flushed. She really didn’t want other people speculating about her. What if someone knew Ethan and said something to him about the peacock girl getting ahead of herself?
No way did she want him to feel embarrassed or obligated because she’d misread things. “I don’t have his number, just his Insta. But that’s something.”
Her smile drooped. Was he paying her attention because he felt a spark of something, or was it simply because he was a nice guy who was being friendly?
She’d never felt this way before, so she had no experience to work from.
Whereas Katie had been in love at least a dozen times since high school, and while some of those men had been actors on TV, others were men she’d come to know, so Katie must’ve had some clues to make her think she had something reasonable to base her emotions on.
Ugh. This was hard. She didn’t want to get carried away. She probably needed to protect herself by guarding her emotions and revealing too much too soon.
“Come on. I want to get back.”
She followed her sister back to the room, conscious of people watching her in her beautiful dress.
While she loved the dress, she didn’t love people looking at her.
This was definitely a centre-of-attention party-girl kind of dress, made for someone with Katie’s bright personality rather than Ellie’s own more staid and boring one. Oh well.
She saw the way Ethan’s face brightened as they returned, and Jason straighten from his slouch beside the woman who had been so rude before. “Katie, my love.”
Katie’s eyes widened, and Ellie felt her own eyebrows rise. But Ethan had stood, was holding out her chair for her, just as Chris was doing for Katie.
Ethan waited, then helped push in her chair.
“Thanks.” She smiled up at him, then remembered. She needed to be circumspect. Not impart heart-eyes like Katie was giving Jason. She dimmed her smile. Glanced at the table. She needed to be sensible and not get carried away.
Ethan leaned close, catching a hint of a honey-like fragrance that instantly became his favourite. “Is it too soon to say I’m really glad you’re back?”
“It might depend on why you’re saying that.”
His lips curved. “How about that you’re my hero, and you’ve saved the day?”
“How so?”
“Jason was boring us all silly with talk about his exploits. Ruby”—he nodded to the woman across from them—”was the only one who kept listening, while Chris and I got to know each other some more. Did you know he received a medal for bravery?”
“Really?” She turned to Chris, who was once again looking pensively at Katie. “Did you receive a medal for bravery?” she asked him.
He studied her a moment. “Did Ethan tell you?”
She nodded. “What was it for?”
He shrugged. “I helped someone escape a swollen river during the floods a few years ago.”
“Wow. A bona fide hero, huh?”
“Who’s a bona fide hero?” Katie demanded.
“Chris, here,” Ellie said. “He saved someone from a flood and has a medal for bravery.”
“Really?”
He nodded, and Katie smiled at him.
Ethan’s heart cinched at the way Chris’ face lit at her approval.
Did he do that too? He’d felt such an instant connection with Ellie that it might be perceived as wearing his heart on his sleeve too.
But he couldn’t help it. She was the first woman he’d met in a long time who made him feel this way.
Their mains—beef Wellington or chicken Marsala—were served alternately, just like at a wedding, while the actors continued doing their thing. Then it was time for dessert, when the final puzzle pieces were offered, and the tables were encouraged to solve whodunnit.
“So, Chris, in your professional opinion, who do you think ‘done it’?” Ellie asked, like she was hoping her sister might see him in a good light.
He shrugged, but when Katie turned to him, he offered his suggestion that the three large trunks in Mr. Jimmy T. Hugg’s cabin suggested there might’ve been more people than just the train’s official ticketholders on board.
“That’s ridiculous,” Jason sneered. Then when the emcee drew close, he offered his opinion without consulting the others.
Ellie rolled her eyes at Jason and Chris. Then, when Jason’s answer was announced as incorrect and a different table correctly guessed Chris’ response, she sighed.
“It’s just a game,” Ethan said quietly.
“I know. But I’ve always hated how the person with the loudest mouth always seems to win.”
“Except when they don’t.” He smiled.
She smiled back, sparking a warmth in his chest he didn’t recall ever feeling before. How funny that the evening he’d dreaded was now filled with so much unexpected joy. And nearly all of that was due to the peacock lady he sat next to. “Miss Peacock.”
She peered at him, eyebrows aloft. “I beg your pardon?”
“I was trying to remember if in the Cluedo board game it’s Miss or Mrs Peacock.”
“I think she’s a Mrs.”
“But you’re definitely a miss?”
Her cheeks pinked as she nodded.
Good. “So, are you going home tomorrow too?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Then that settles it. We’re going to have to make the most of tonight then.”
Her eyes widened, and he realised how that sounded.
“I don’t mean anything like what used to happen here a hundred years ago,” he said quickly.
He’d heard the tales of the bell that would ring at dawn and guests would scurry back to their assigned bedrooms. “I just mean that I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, and it would be fun to continue this over coffee. ”
“I don’t really do coffee at this time of night.”
Oh. Didn’t she want to? Ever since she’d returned from the restroom, she’d appeared a little more distant. Maybe she wasn’t feeling this like he was. “Never mind then.”
“I could do tea, though.”
His spirits soared as he nodded quickly. “I’m definitely more of a tea man. Or a hot chocolate man. Or an anything man.”
She laughed. “Tea sounds good. Anything that doesn’t have much caffeine works.”
“And in this hotel, I’m sure there are plenty of places where we could go and talk. If you’d like.”
Her smile was shy. “I’d like.”
Again, that moment happened when they looked at each other, entwined in each other’s gazes with the rest of the world shut out.
He’d never felt this way with Lucinda. He was always conscious of appearances, aware of his father’s oft-spoken mantra that “appearance matters,” rather than relaxing and being himself.
But with Ellie, he’d only been himself. He was grateful to be seen for once as himself, not someone with a famous last name, even if some, like Chris and that Jason fellow, seemed to recognise him.
And he was glad she hadn’t even asked about it.
He wasn’t the son of Neville John Ferris.
He was simply Ethan. A guy sitting next to a girl, wanting her to like him.