Page 106 of Just Say Yes
‘I know. And I promise we’ll tell you everything from now. OK?’
‘Good. Thank you.’
‘But don’t you go scaring this lad away. I like him and he’s good for Aoife.’
‘Fine.’ He looked up. ‘What?’ he asked as his mum peered at him.
‘I mean it.’
‘I said fine.’
‘I know you did. Just make sure you mean it. Maddie, love. Give him a kick for me, will you, if he starts on anything? I can’t reach from my chair.’
‘Will do.’
‘Oi.’
‘Behave yourself, then.’
Lorcan let out a long-suffering sigh.
* * *
As it turned out, the evening was fun and full of conversation and laughter. Aoife, of course, was interested in the wedding plans.
‘I heard that photographer they hired is an old college boyfriend of Peyton’s.’
Lorcan and I exchanged a look. I knew they went back a way but Peyton had omitted to mention that they’d dated.
‘Really?’
‘You shouldn’t listen to gossip,’ her brother cautioned.
‘It’s not gossip, actually,’ Aoife said, pointedly. ‘I saw them just this afternoon. Mark took me for lunch at the hotel. They were on a corner table cosied up together, giggling away.’
Lorcan’s body was tensing beside me and, without thinking, I rested my hand on his leg. His hand slid to mine and covered it. OK, that was unexpected but, if it kept him calm, it wasn’t the most unpleasant feeling in the world. If I’d had more time to think about anything other than the wedding, I might have thought it was a very pleasant feeling indeed.
‘They’re old friends and she hasn’t seen him for a long time. I’m sure they were just catching up.’
‘I guess.’ Aoife’s expression didn’t match her words.
‘Does Patrick know they dated in college?’
‘Not that I’m aware of,’ Lorcan replied, his brows lowered, thoughts clearly running through his mind on behalf of his friend. ‘I can ask.’
‘No!’ Aoife, Maria and I all replied.
‘What?’
‘It’s not our place to ask questions like that.’
‘I’m his best mate. I can ask what I like.’
‘And say what?’ I questioned him.
‘I don’t know. How about “Did you know that louse of a so-called photographer, who has seemed entirely unenthusiastic about this whole wedding from the start, used to date your fiancée and has been getting cosy with her?”’
‘You do that and I will do something extremely unpleasant to parts of your anatomy I imagine you’re very fond of. Do you understand?’ My voice was calm but my words were sincere.
