Page 65 of Angel Eyes

Gabriel winced, throwing me an apologetic look. “Actually, Lily—”

“It’s fine,” I said with a stiff smile.

Nora opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again, reaching up to pry the salad bowl from my fingers instead.

Once we were all seated, I poured myself an oversized glass of wine, polishing it off in record time as I tried to ignore the way Lily dominated Gabriel’s attention.

Not that I was jealous …

She laughed at something he said and inched her seat closer to his. My stomach clenched.

Okay, maybe I was a tiny bit jealous.

“So, Juliet,” Nora said, distracting me from the green-eyed goddess pitching a tent in my head, “how is the writing going? Are you enjoying your classes?”

“Juliet is in the creative writing program at the American University of Paris,” Gabriel explained to Lily, and she gave him an appreciative smile.

I sawed my bottom lip between my teeth, a flicker of annoyance sparking in my chest. Did he have to spoon-feed her information about me? Couldn’t she just ask me herself or, I don’t know, follow the conversation and engage whatever deductive reasoning skills she possessed?

“How ambitious of you,” she said, turning to me. “Better late than never, right?”

Nora coughed into her wineglass just as Gabriel dropped his fork with a loud clatter.

I stiffened. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand your meaning.”

She shrugged, her face the picture of innocence. “I only meant it’s great you’re going to university. Our mum is a teacher and is always going on about how the key to success is an advanced education. Even if you don’t go straight out of secondary school, it’s still a big achievement. You should be proud.”

A heavy beat of silence passed. Then, James burst into laughter, the raucous sound of it like a volcanic eruption.

“Oh, my God,” he said, wiping the corners of his eyes as he peered gleefully at Gabriel. “This is so much better than any prank I could have planned.”

Lily’s smile faltered. “Have I said something wrong?”

Nora gave her husband a stony look as Gabriel pressed his eyes shut. “Lily, Juliet isn’t—”

“Thank you, Lily,” I said, cutting across him. “It certainly is better late than never.”

Nora’s and James’s eyes snapped in my direction, surprise etched on their faces, and Gabriel stared at me open-mouthed. I looked away from all of them, studying my plate. Lily’s misplaced congratulations was a bit humiliating considering I’d graduated cum laude from Columbia University, but I wasn’t going to win points with her family by acting snotty about it.

“What about you?” I continued, swallowing a bite of potato along with my pride. “What do you do with your time?”

She smiled in relief, not seeming to notice the others exchanging glances. “Well, I’m in between jobs right now. I was teaching at a ballet school in London for about a year, but they were a small company and had to make some budget cuts. So there went my gig. Anyway, I moved back in with my parents, but after a while, I felt like I was crowding them out.”

James’s mouth curled into a smirk. “So, she decided to come and crowd us out instead.”

“Nonsense,” Nora said. “You’re welcome to stay with us as long as you want.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” James muttered under his breath.

“That’s too bad about your job, Lil,” Gabriel said as Nora pinched James’s arm under the table. “I know how much you love to dance. Have you ever considered applying to teach in Paris?”

She gave him a look of such obvious adoration that I completely missed her response over the sudden rush of blood in my ears. Gabriel grinned at her, and they laughed, an easy intimacy passing between them as she tucked a few cinnamon strands behind her ear.

Hold on. Oh, my God—why hadn’t I thought of this before? In all the time I’d spent trying to understand why Gabriel didn’t want a relationship, it never occurred to me that maybe he did.

Just with someone else.

Now that I’d seen it, I couldn’t unsee it. It was so clear she was the type of woman Gabriel should be with. Gorgeous and carefree, no demanding job, and his best friend’s little sister. On top of it all, she obviously had feelings for him, and she could give him things I never could, like time and attention.

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