Page 91 of Save Us
I stand on tiptoe to kiss him back, but then the doorbellechoes through the house again. Graham laughs softly, while I narrow my eyes guiltily and finally turn to the door.
When I open it, at first all I can see is an enormous present that, on closer inspection, looks suspiciously like a gigantic teddy bear. There’s a bow around it, and I bet the ribbon would wrap three times round my head. It moves a fraction left, and Alistair’s face appears. He grins at me. “Delivery for Lydia Beaufort.”
Kesh is standing next to Alistair, and he giggles. I look down and see that they’re holding hands. My stomach skips in surprise. The question must be written right across my face, but he just smiles and steps through the door. Then he hugs me tight.
“Thanks for the invitation, Lydia,” he says in his deep voice.
“It’s lovely to see you,” I reply, beaming at him.
He moves away to shake hands with Graham. Meanwhile, Alistair is trying to fit through the door with the massive parcel, and once he’s finally managed it, he lets it sink to the floor and wipes his brow with the back of his hand as if he’s just finished a hardcore training session. Then he takes me in his arms and hugs me even harder than Kesh did.
He holds out his hand to Graham. “Hi, Mr. Sutton.”
“Graham, please,” Graham replies at once.
Alistair nods. “Sure.” He looks curiously around Ophelia’s front hall. “I’m dying to know what this is going to be like. I’ve never been to a baby shower before. Are you going to unwrap your presents right away, or…?”
“If only.” I snort.
“Ophelia has a jam-packed schedule for us,” Graham says with a chuckle. “Presents don’t come until after we’ve eaten. If it were me, I’d dive into them right away. That looks intriguing,” headds, nodding toward Alistair’s gift. I’m about to pick it up for a closer look, but Alistair snatches it away.
“No way, José,” he says, his voice somewhat muffled.
“I think Wren and Cy just arrived,” Kesh remarks. He looks over his shoulder to where a bashed-up car is coming down the drive.
“Why didn’t you all come together?” I ask.
“Wren said his car could do with a proper run. But we couldn’t all fit in it,” says Keshav.
“Especially not with that,” Graham quips, pointing to the present.
“Do I, by any chance, smell cake? I think I can smell cake,” says Alistair out of nowhere, trying to peek at me around the cuddly toy.
I fight back a smile. “Why don’t you all just go through? You remember the way, right?”
Alistair murmurs his agreement. He and Kesh walk down the hall, and my heart leaps for joy as I see Kesh rest his hand on Alistair’s lower back and stroke it for a moment. I knew they were close, but I was never expecting them to get together—which it certainly looks like they have. I look up at Graham as he watches them walk away too, then he smiles at me.
“We hear there’s a party going on somewhere around here?” says Wren’s voice, and I turn just in time to see him and Cyril on the steps up to the front door. Like Kesh and Alistair, they’re wearing button-up shirts, and I’m wondering if they planned their outfits together.
My heart is pounding in my throat as I look at Cyril. The first time you see someone face-to-face after a big argument is alwaysweird. I haven’t been in touch with him since that phone call, and I don’t know how to act around him.
“Wow,” says Wren. He pushes his sunglasses up into his hair and eyes my bump. “I didn’t realize it wasthatlong since we last saw each other.”
“I got good at hiding it,” I say.
“So I see,” he replies. Then he looks past me down the hall. “Are the others already here?”
“Yeah, in the garden.”
He nods and walks past us, down the hall.
So now it’s just Cyril, Graham, and me. An awkward silence fills the air between us.
“Hello,” Cyril croaks in the end. Like Wren, he’s wearing sunglasses, so I can’t see his eyes.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m glad you came.”
Cyril gulps hard and forces himself to smile. “Thanks for inviting me.” At last, he takes off the shades, folds them, and slips them in his shirt pocket.
