the octopus marinara. I urged Alice to try it, but she assured me she was only there to get pissed on wine.” He smiled as if savoring the memory. “Seemed to be a bit out of sorts, really, so I was happy to drink with her.”
My molars threatened to crack under the pressure of my clenched jaw. “Nolan!” I’d have been unsurprised had flames come shooting from my nostrils.
His eyes flicked to me, going comically wide. “What?” And there went his hand to his chest again in that overly dramatic manner. “Wait. Are you… interested in Alice romantically?”
When all I did was growl like a stray dog, he continued his drama. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” He settled back and sipped his drink again while every muscle in my body primed itself to jump over the coffee table and give him a good thrashing. “So, that’s a yes, is it?”
“You damn well know it is, you bastard!”
He dropped all pretense and set his glass on the table with a clunk. “No shite. You’ve only spent the last five months whinging about how much you missed her. I swear, if I had to hear one more time about the special way Alice spreads clotted cream on her sodding scones or folds note paper into perfect thirds, I was going to throw myself from the Nary River bridge.”
My muscles relaxed a bit. “Wait. So you knew all this time?”
He threw his hands out. “Of course I bloody knew!”
I considered him for a moment, trying to wrap my mind around this revelation. “How’s that possible when I didn’t even know?” Of course I’d missed Alice when she’d been gone. Why else would I have continued to text and email even as she ignored each one? But I hadn’t been interested in her in any sort of physical way until the other day, had I? I mean, we’d always worked together seamlessly in a sort of partnership, I thought. I enjoyed her company and found it endlessly comforting, but in a professional, platonic sense until now, right? Or had this been inevitable the entire time and I’d been blind to it?
“Because I’m clearly smarter than you.” Nolan picked his whiskey up again and finished it off. “Now, if I can give you a piece of advice.”
I frowned at him, but he continued anyway.
“Fix whatever it is that you broke because that woman has runner written all over her.”
“Right.” I stared blindly at the rug under my feet. I had a lot of thinking to do. “Thanks, mate.”
Nolan crossed over to me and patted my shoulder. “All in a day’s work.”
I heard the door open and close, but I was too lost in my head to utter so much as a goodbye.
Me: Is she with you?
Ruby: Who?
Me: Don’t play coy. I just saw Nolan.
Ruby: I just left her.
Damn.
Me: At the bistro?
Ruby: Why should I tell you? I said if you hurt her, I’d hurt you.
Christ. Even Ruby had known before I did. Clearly, I was an idiot.
Me: It was just a misunderstanding.
Ruby: So you didn’t lie to her?
She had me there.
Me: Only a little. But I can fix it.
Ruby: I hope you’re right.
Me: So, will you tell me where she is?
Ruby: Nope. Sorry.
Me: Very funny.
Me: Ruby?
Me: ????
What was it with women refusing to text me back?
I shoved my phone back in my pocket and hurried to Alice’s office again, but it was dark and there was no sign of her. Perhaps she’d gone to see Trevor. I’d forgotten how he’d taken notice of her distress earlier, so perhaps he’d followed up with her. I turned to head for the courtyard, but I was so distracted, I almost ran right over Victoria.
“I apologize.” I steadied her with a hand to her arm.
“That’s quite all right, Your Highness.” She readjusted the folios in her arms and smiled. “Is there anything I can help you with? You seem in a hurry.”
My instinct was to continue on my way and apologize later for my rudeness, but I knew deep down that I’d been unfair to Victoria. “Just a bit. But, no, I don’t believe I need anything right now.” There. I’d been polite and now I could go.
“All right.” She nodded, her mouth pulling downward before she moved to step by me. But then she stopped. “Sir?”
Patience, Malcolm.
I turned to face her again. “Yes?”
“Have I done something to offend you?”
“Have you…” I repeated and then shook my head. “No. Certainly not.”
“Then…” She worried her lower lip. “I know