Page 117 of Just Do It
‘That’s true.’
There was the whisper of a smile around his mouth but those stunning blue eyes remained serious.
‘Where was I?’
‘Saying I was beautiful,’ I reminded him, desperate to see the smile spread. It did, for a brief moment.
‘So beautiful. And all the other stuff I mentioned just makes you more so to me.’
I felt the tears threaten again and heard them in my voice when I spoke. ‘You can see why I’m confused.’
He nodded, swallowing audibly.
‘Firstly, can I just say that I never, ever intended to make you or your parents feel out of place when we went to dinner. They’re great and I’m really sorry if they did.’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no if. I know that. I know they, and you did and I let it happen. I have no idea why. I guess I just got caught up in the fact that, for once, I was the one that felt comfortable.’
‘So you made us uncomfortable to make up for it?’
‘No! Not intentionally but what I didn’t do was call out that arsehole of a maître d’ when he spoke to you like that. I’ve been to Mel’s restaurants so many times that it’s like going to Pizza Hut to me. It didn’t occur to me to pay attention and realise that not everyone else was as comfortable as I was.’
‘I see.’
‘And for that I can only apologise to you all. When I finally picked apart what the hell I was doing and what had gone wrong, I told Mel that actually, the atmosphere at the restaurant is pretty intimidating.’
‘Oh!’
‘Yeah. She was pretty upset. It’s kind of her baby.’
‘You didn’t need to do that, Finn.’ In all the emotion, I’d forgotten about Mel.
‘I did. I don’t want other people to feel like that. I like to get involved in projects where everyone can benefit. That’s why I was so excited about the job here at the museum.’
‘I can see how a seven-star Dubai resort would slot nicely into that mission statement.’
He ran his free hand across the back of his neck.
‘Yeah, I know. I kind of lost my way there for a bit. But I’ve found it again now. Because of you. At least I hope so.’
‘So how’s life in the heady world of reality TV?’
He gave a sharp shake of his head. ‘Ridiculous and awful. I don’t know what I was thinking. Actually, I do. I wasn’t thinking at all. I was being an idiot. I should have talked to you about things rather than just take Friedrich’s word for—’
‘What? What’s Friedrich got to do with any of this?’
Finn’s brows drew together. ‘I heard his message, Elizabeth. I know he wanted you back and that you’re a good match, operating in similar worlds and both being scarily intelligent.’
‘Finn, what message are you talking about?’
‘The one he left on your parents’ answering machine when we were down for New Year. You were out watching the lifeboat in the bay and I’d nipped in to get my camera. The phone was ringing and eventually switched to answerphone. I know I shouldn’t have listened to it, that I should have gone and got you but… stupidly I just stood there.’ He paused. ‘And for some reason what he said about you two being a perfect match made sense. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb at that book launch we went to together so when he mentioned that—’
I shot up from my seat. ‘I am going to kill him!’ I looked down at Finn, who’d remained seated, his brows still raised in mild shock. ‘My parents never, ever use their answerphone. It just came as part of the phone and they haven’t worked out how toswitch it off. Their view is that if something is that important, the person will ring back. The fact that my phone was off would have given most people the hint that I didn’t want to be disturbed but, of course, that wouldn’t apply to Friedrich! And then the opportunity to give a brief, uninterrupted lecture on his view of things? Well, that was a chance not to be missed, clearly!’
Finn gave a shrug. ‘It wasn’t all that brief, actually. And then I saw you at the station…’
I could practically hear my blood boiling in my veins and guessed that my face now probably matched my lipstick. ‘I’m going to bloody mummify him. Alive!’
Finn winced. ‘Remind me not to get on the wrong side of you.’
‘You.’ I pointed a long, red, entirely fake nail at him. ‘Are most definitely not off the hook so don’t get too cocky over there.’
