Page 131 of The Hookup
Savannah was getting changed. “Don’t leave me alone with Millicent,” she begged. “The last thing I need is for that woman to be standing over me and watching while I feed the babies. She’ll be here any moment now and guaranteed, one of them will wake up and need a feed.”
Kay’s face twisted in shock. She couldn’t imagine letting anyone see her do that, if she ever miraculously found herself in the position of having a baby.
“I’ll make sure I herd her out,” Kay promised.
Tobias was the gracious host, and there was plenty of food and drink. Arnold, who now worked for them, moved around the house as if he was the head butler.
She stayed in the background, talking to people, being a second-hostess of sorts. Jacob seemed to hang around her more, until Xavier and Izzy turned up. They made polite talk, baby talk, and they commented on how they hadn’t all gotten together like this since Tobias and Savannah’s wedding.
“We were just talking about you,” said Xavier suddenly, when she turned around to look.
Luke appeared from out of nowhere, and the unexpected sight of him made her heart stop.
Because Izzy was there, and because he greeted her with an affectionate kiss on the cheek, he did the same to her. “Hey,” he said softly. She hadn’t seen him for almost two months. He looked the same, but not the same. His face seemed thinner, and his eyes were gaunt, and lined. He seemed to have aged five years in the last month. He didn’t seem as strong, or as vibrant as the man she remembered, and the sight of him wreaked havoc with her emotions. They continued making small talk. Continued as if nothing was amiss. Nobody apart from Savannah knew about her and Luke, though everybody now knew about his cancer.
A couple of times she caught Xavier looking at her, not in his usual flirty manner, but as if he was watching her. Assessing.
Later, Izzy and Luke wandered away to get some food, Xavier didn’t.
“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” she asked, starting to get irritated.
“Where’s the doctor?”
“What doctor?”
“Luke’s consultant.”
Somewhere in the distant depths of her mind, she tried to work out how he knew about Dr. Santini. And why that had even come up in a conversation between Luke and Xavier.
But it was enough for her to know that it had.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You’re not together anymore?”
She scowled, annoyed by the line of questioning. “I was never with him.”
Xavier invaded her personal space, and it made her take a step back. Lowering his voice, he said, “Luke’s never opened up to me about his girlfriends before, but he told me about you. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
She blinked.
And then Izzy returned with a plate of food, and the two of them got talking again. She noted that Luke hadn’t returned to the group. Feeling uneasy, and as if she was eavesdropping, she suddenly remembered to check in on Savannah, and excused herself.
Grateful to escape, she rushed upstairs, and headed off towards the direction of Savannah’s room, when she saw Luke standing at the top, his hands resting on the bannister, looking at the sparkling crystal chandelier that was in the hallway. It was so big, that it was visible from the landing where they stood. She stared at him, hesitating, her feet forgetting how to move.
She had to get past him to get to Savannah’s room, and it was too late to do anything but walk straight ahead. Even though she knew he had seen her bounding up the stairs, he didn’t look her way.
“What are you doing up here?” she asked, finally speaking.
“It was getting noisy down there.”
Kay agreed. “They invited a lot of people.”
“Brave of them,” he replied, still leaning over with his hands resting on the bannister, his gaze on the floor below. It was the perfect place from which to people watch.
“They probably wanted to get all the visiting out of the way in one go. They’re going back to their island for a long vacation.”
“Smart move.” He looked up at her then. Straightened his body, and leveled his gaze at her. “You look well.”
