Lies and Weddings(29)
“Freddy was doing his best Patrick Swayze impersonation, just to see if anyone noticed.”
“When I first saw you seated next to Freddy at dinner, I was worried. Now I’m very worried.”
“You needn’t be. Underneath all that stubble Freddy’s quite tolerable. How were things on your end?”
“All right.”
“Looked more than all right to me. Solène’s a gorgeous dancer.”
“She’s been doing ballet since she was three.”
“Of course she has. There’s no other way to get a body like that.”
“I hadn’t really noticed,” Rufus replied, as he found his mind drifting to the body just inches away behind the rock wall.
“Okay, where’s the shampoo?”
“It should be right in front of you—the blue one on the right labeled ‘shampoo.’?”
Eden giggled as she felt around for the bottle. “It’s pitch-black in here! You could be showering next to me and I wouldn’t even see you.”
For a moment, he almost felt like saying, So you won’t mind if I join you in the shower?, but he stopped himself. Instead, he said, “That’s the whole point of how I designed the shower. You don’t want to see anything except the stars.”
Rufus was about to leave and allow her to enjoy her shower in peace when Eden suddenly called out, “So what do you think of her?”
“Who?”
“Solène!”
“She’s okay. What do you think of her?”
“She seems smart, ambitious, and very self-assured.”
“Translation: you think she’s a total bitch.”
“I never said that! I like her, but she has that French veneer of formality that takes time to penetrate.”
Rufus lay back onto the bench, staring up at the stars himself. “You don’t think she seems a bit…self-involved?”
“Show me someone that beautiful who isn’t.”
“You’re not.”
Eden snorted. “Next to Solène I am a little squirrel. A very wet one.”
“Rubbish! You can hold your own next to Solène any day.”
“You’re being much too charitable. Freddy certainly thinks she’s a goddess. Didn’t you feel his longing stares from across the dance floor?”
“Not really. But you know who I could feel? Mum. She was fixating on me and Solène like the Eye of Sauron. It ruined the whole dinner for me. I swear I could feel every wave of her anxiety—it’s as if it’s connected directly to my gut.”
“I’m sorry. Why do you think she’s so anxious?”
“She’s obviously fretting that the princess of Thailand still hasn’t shown up, and worried that Solène might try to steal me away in the meantime.”
Eden smiled in the shower. Was Rufus really that clueless about his mother’s true intentions? “So where is the fabled princess?”
“Apparently at a jam session with Willie Nelson in Maui.”
“Can you blame her? I’d rather be jamming with Willie Nelson!” Eden turned off the shower reluctantly and began toweling off.
“I’m dreading her arrival. I’m glad Solène’s been hanging out with us, but I just can’t get a proper read on her…”
“Then stop trying. Just relax and have fun and you’ll probably get to know her much better that way.”
“Well, I’m taking you all to one of the most amazing surf spots on the planet tomorrow.”
Eden came out onto the deck with a towel wrapped around her. “If we’re going surfing tomorrow, I really need to get some sleep. I’m absolutely knackered!”
“It’s only twenty minutes to your hotel,” Rufus said, getting up from the bench and jangling the keys to his Jeep. He opened the sliding glass door and Eden stepped inside the house.
“That bed looks awfully comfy.”
“Why don’t you spend the night? I’m picking you up in about six hours anyway, it’d be silly to go back to your hotel now.”
“You know what, that hot shower turned me into an absolute puddle. I’m ready to crawl right into bed! Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”
“But wait—I have no clothes except this ball gown!” Eden laughed.
Rufus opened a nearby cupboard and gestured to the neat stacks of pouches inside. “Voilà! My stash of airline pajamas. Take your pick, we’ve got Hawaiian Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, these fun kangaroo ones from Qantas. Oh, these ones are from Emirates—they actually hydrate you while you sleep.”[*]
“Sold,” Eden said, grabbing the packet and disappearing into the bathroom to change. She emerged a few moments later and jumped straight into the bed.
Rufus bustled around the house for a few moments, locking up and turning off lights, before getting into bed.
“Good night,” he said as he slipped under the sheets next to her.
“Night,” Eden murmured, already half-asleep. Rufus thought back fondly to all the times they’d shared a bed over the years, from the treehouse they had built together on the grounds of Greshamsbury Hall to the tents and campers and odd little B & Bs up and down the Cornish coast. The moon came out from behind the clouds, casting a gossamer light onto Eden’s face as she slept. Rufus gazed at her for a few minutes, listening to her soft breathing. He turned to face the other side and fell into a deep, contented sleep.