Page 101 of Angel Eyes

“… acting like a spoiled brat,” she finished. “And hanging all over him when he brought you to meet James and Nora. I was jealous, horribly jealous. And instead of accepting the truth of the situation, I behaved like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away. But you never folded. The whole time you never let your true feelings show. Even after you left, no one suspected you weren’t ill, except for me.”

“So, when you saw us together at the gala, when you pulled me away from him …”

She dipped her head. “I’m sorry, Juliet. I was wrong to try to come between you two. Not that it would have worked. He only has eyes for you.”

“Do you still love him?” My question was barely more than a whisper.

She blinked slowly. “I’m not sure I ever did. It was more of a childish infatuation, I think. I was always happy to see Gabe when I came to visit, and I even considered moving to Paris one day just to be close to him. But I never missed him when I was home. I had his number and never called. Never texted him to let him know I was thinking about him because I wasn’t. I even casually dated other guys from time to time.” She tucked a few haphazard strands of hair behind her ear, her eyes settling somewhere over my shoulder.

“You know how people say, out of sight, out of mind? Well, I don’t think that’s true when it comes to love. When you truly love someone, you’re never not thinking about them. They could be across the country, across the world, but a part of them stays with you. It’s like a piece of that person becomes embedded in your soul, and no amount of time or distance can break the bond love forges.” Her eyes returned to me. “I’m glad Gabe has that with you. He deserves to be happy, deserves to have someone like you in his life.”

She reached across the coffee table, placing a hand on my arm. “I know we got off to a bad start, but I would like for us to be friends. Gabe will always be like family to me, and I couldn’t bear it if I spoiled things between me and someone so important to him. Can you forgive me?”

I swallowed before bobbing my head. “Yes, I can—”

Lily sprang out of the chair and flung her arms around me, caging me in with her floral scent and pressing her cheek to mine.

“Thank you, Juliet. You won’t regret this.” She pulled away, a smile unfurling from the corner of her mouth. “Well, I should get going—” She paused, her eyes widening into saucers. “Is that Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake?” She crossed over to a bookshelf near the window, running her fingers over a row of vinyls I’d never noticed.

“Oh, my God, it is.” She plucked the album from the stack, staring at it with a look of reverence. “And it looks like a limited first edition too. Your professor must have paid more than a few euros for an original pressing.”

“Yes, well, he does seem to have a fondness for collecting old things,” I said dryly, but Lily didn’t seem to hear. Her eyes scanned over the album cover before flipping it over to read the track list.

“My parents took me to see a performance of Swan Lake at the Birmingham Royal Ballet in Southampton when I was eight. It’s what made me fall in love with ballet. The ballerinas, the costumes, the music. It was all so captivating.” She ran one finger along the edge of the cover. “Hearing the score performed live by an orchestra was incredible, but I bet it sounds amazing on vinyl too.”

I joined her at the window. “Why don’t you ask Benoit if you can borrow it?”

“Borrow what?”

Our heads snapped up in unison to find Benoit hovering in the doorway, his hair looking unkempt, as though he had been running his fingers through it. He crossed the room in three purposeful strides, his eyes settling on Lily, who was still clutching the album.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was just admiring your album collection.”

His eyes raked over her slowly, his jaw tightening, and I could have sworn I heard Lily gulp as she shrank beside me.

I frowned.

What the hell was his problem?

I snatched the album from Lily’s rigid fingers and replaced it on the shelf, opening my mouth to tell him no harm had been done to his precious album, but he spoke before I could. “You can borrow it. Take whichever one you want.”

Lily shook her head. “Um, thanks, but I don’t have a record player.” Turning to me, she said, “I’m glad we could talk, Juliet. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon.” She rushed out the door before either of us could say anything else.

I glanced up at Benoit. “Since when are you such a Grinch?”

He ignored me and returned to his desk, flipping through the stack of lesson plans. Seriously? I watched as he uncapped a fountain pen and scratched out a note, his brow furrowing in concentration as though whatever was written on the page held the secrets to the universe.

Why was he acting like this? And why had he looked at Lily like he wanted to take a bite out of her? A thought niggled at the back of my mind, and my lips curved into a slow smile.

“Where’s your coffee?” I asked coyly.

“Don’t you have a draft to revise, Ms. Chandler?” he snapped, pink tinging the top of his ears.

I huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that, sir.”

Thirty-Five

Gabriel

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