Page 115 of The Invitation

“Oh my God,” I whisper, shrinking into the plush velvet fabric chair.Kill me now.I throw Charley and Abbie a death stare.I told them!But ... wait. I sit up straight. “I called the next day, and your colleague said the bill was settled.”

“By a couple sitting a few tables away,” he says, waggling a condemning—slightly playful—finger at us.

“Wait.” Charley frowns. “Someone paid our bill?”

“Yes, after you’d staggered out, and I realised you’d gone.” He pouts as he pours our water. “I think they took pity on me.”

I look between the girls. They’re thinking what I’m thinking. It isn’t cheap here. Who on earth would pay the bill of three drunken women? “Did they leave their details?”

“Nope.” He smiles. “I’m Fendy—in case you forgot my name—and I’m your server this evening. Please don’t leave without paying again.”

“It was an honest mistake.” I’m mortified. “We had one too many and assumed each other had paid. Like I said, as soon as we realised the next morning, I called.” With a raging headache.

“I know.” He whips out his pad. “Cocktails?”

“Yes, but if we ask for shots, please, please, please refuse us,” Abbie says, and Charley laughs. “I’ll have a Porn Star.” Fendy’s plucked eyebrows hitch. “The martini variety,” she confirms on a coy grin.

We all put in our order and Fendy disappears. “A couple paid for us?” I glance around the restaurant. “So weird.”

“What’s everyone having?” Charley chimes, uninterested.

Me, though? I’m stumped by that.

An hour later, we’ve picked our way through some sharing plates, and none of us have dared have more than two cocktails. Fendy has watched us like a hawk.Soembarrassing. I drag my clutch purse off the table and stand. “I need the ladies’,” I declare, leaving the girls.

I use the toilet and stand at the sink washing my hands, my mind naturally wandering. What’s he doing tonight? Damn it, I miss him. I bite at the corner of my lip, feeling the tenderness between my legs, and top up my lipstick, smacking my lips and leaving the ladies’.

I’m halfway across the restaurant when I spot someone I really don’t want to see. “Oh shit.” I pick up my feet and divert around the other way, hoping she doesn’t see me. I dump my arse on the chair. “Get the bill,” I order, making Abbie and Charley recoil. “Katherine is here.” Both their jaws go lax, and they automatically start scanning the restaurant. “Don’t look!” I wave Fendy over. “The bill, please,” I say, smiling, trying to make myself small.

“Who’s she with?” Abbie asks.

I keep my body blocked by Charley’s and peek around her. “I don’t know.” She’s with another woman. “Where’s the bloody bill?”

“She’s pretty,” Abbie muses, and I gape at her. “Sorry. Total troll.”

I shove my phone at Fendy when he holds out the machine, and as soon as it pings the payment has been authorised, I’m up. “Let’s go.” But the moment I stand, the universe fucks me over, and Katherine looks this way. “Oh God,” I whisper as she sits up straight in her chair, interested.

“Does she have an Amelia radar?” Charley stands too, as if showing a united front. “We’ll fight her to the death.”

“Where’s my war paint?” Abbie adds, joining us. “Fuck, she’s coming over.” She lowers back to her chair, but I remain standing, bracing myself for whatever venom she’s going to spit my way.

Kind of.

“Amelia,” she purrs. “How lovely to see you.”

Is it? The last time I was near this woman, Jude nearly had to drag me off her. It takes every effort to smile, and I try so hard to make it genuine, but I know it’s tight.

Katherine’s friend joins her. “Chardonnay, this is Amelia,” she says, eyes still on me.

“Oohh, Amelia?”

“Yes, Jude’s latest plaything.”

“Okay, we’re leaving.” I give wide eyes to the girls.

“Plaything?” Charley laughs, moving in front of me protectively.

“Charley, leave it.”

---