Page 48 of Never Too Late
The still dark brows raised momentarily. ‘Ah, yes!’
His hair was short but still thick, silver touching his temples which only added to the air of distinction he’d always had about him.
‘I took up my place as my parents wished me too. Not for a couple of years after…’ He cleared his throat. ‘After I finished my degree, but yes, eventually, I did go back to be crowned “King of the Vineyard”.’ His words suggested amusement but the tone of them spoke otherwise.
‘So you paint in your spare time?’
‘No.’
It was like getting blood out of a six-foot three-inch rock.
‘Mon dieu!’ Gabby threw up her hands. ‘We will be here all night at this rate. Not that I mind.’ She squeezed my hand but I didn’t miss the fleeting look thrown Ashok’s way too. ‘It is a good job you paint and not write, Tomas. The books would be thousands of pages long!’
Tomas gave his sister a look only a sibling could which she shrugged off, raising her right shoulder for emphasis, just as she always had. Some things never changed.
‘Basically, Tomas was shit at running the family business.’
I had always been jealous of how, whichever language my friend swore in, she still sounded chic and elegant! Yet another thing about her that I’d loved and was glad to see hadn’t changed.
‘Which, in my defence, I had always told my parents I would be,’ Tomas said, before taking another sip of coffee.
‘That is also true. Unfortunately, they refused to listen until it was too late.’
‘Too late?’ I asked.
Tomas drained the strong black coffee he’d poured and replaced the cup onto its saucer, the china looking even more delicate in his large hands.
‘Nearly bankrupted us.’ He spoke the words with the shadow of a smile playing on his generous mouth, before turning to Ashok. ‘Not all of us have your obvious talent for business.’ There was no meanness in the words. It was merely a statement of fact. Tomas had been romantic in many ways, but entirely pragmatic in others. Whether the romantic side still lived on was unknown, and also none of my business. But clearly the pragmatism still survived.
‘On the other hand, drawing a stick man is stretching my artistic talent. There’s a reason we all have different strengths.’
Gabby turned to me but pointed at Ashok. ‘Why aren’t you married to this man? Or at the very least engaged? Something?’
‘Too perfect.’ I shrugged.
She looked back at my friend, resting her chin on steepled fingers, pretending to study him for a moment before returning her attention to me. ‘I can see that.’
‘Oh, I definitely have faults.’ Ashok leant into the conversation. ‘Which I’m more than happy to go into at length over lunch tomorrow?’
‘I thought you were leaving tomorrow?’ I said.
His handsome features took on an impish grin. ‘It might have to be an early lunch.’
Tomas glanced towards me. ‘I have a feeling you and I aren’t invited.’
Ashok blushed and I laughed before turning to Tomas. ‘Luckily, I have plans tomorrow, otherwise I might have been offended.’
His gaze hooked mine. ‘That’s a shame. I was hoping you might be free for dinner. That way, we could both be snubbed together.’
I wanted to look away but I couldn’t. Thankfully, my friend’s perfect manners came to the rescue.
‘I apologise.’ Ashok’s hand was on his chest. ‘I never meant to imply that you, either of you, weren’t?—’
‘Ignore them,’ Gabby instructed him, laying her hand on his forearm. ‘My brother thinks he is soooo funny. All these years and still he believes it, despite me reminding him on a regular basis it really isn’t so. I would love to have lunch with you. At any time.’ Ashok’s discomfort disintegrated and Gabby turned her chair ever so slightly towards him.
‘I guess that told me,’ Tomas said, a faint smile on his face as I looked away from the other two, back towards him. ‘The gallery hosting the exhibition is just around the corner. I…’ He hesitated, appearing to momentarily second-guess himself.
‘I’d love to,’ I replied. The words fell out of my mouth without consulting my brain, likely knowing that the answer would have been a categorical ‘Absolutely not’.
