Page 61 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
He stilled. “Aren’t your parents coming home this week?”
“In a few days, yes,” I replied, then motioned to the other side of the table. “You might as well join me, seeing as you don’t look like you’re going anywhere.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“I’m not making any promises either way.”
He put his beer bottle down on the table. “Give me two seconds. I’ll be right back.”
He disappeared before I could say another word, and I watched as he approached the bar, grabbed the bartender, and had a quick conversation with him.
If he was putting his tab on my table for me to pay, I was going to be very glad that I hadn’t promised not to kill him.
Thomas Castleton had far more money than I did.
I just had a bucketload of misery.
Welp.
Maybe a third glass of wine was a bad idea.
“You weren’t putting your tab on my table, were you?” I asked as he sat back down.
He smirked as he reached for his glass. “No. I was putting your table on my tab, if you must know.”
“Oh.” I sighed heavily, letting my shoulders sag with the exhale. “They were small glasses of wine, I swear.”
“What’s wrong, Sylvie?” He leant forwards on the table. Genuine compassion shone in his eyes, but I turned away and shook my head slightly.
“Wedding drama,” I replied.
“That involves an HGV driver and his phone?”
I stared at him for a moment. The desire to unload on him was almost overwhelming. He was completely removed from the situation, and as much as I didn’t want to, a part of me knew that he would be completely impartial and just let me unload as I needed to.
Not that I had any desire to involve him in my life any more than I needed to.
Which was zero.
Not at all.
Thomas did notneedto know about any part of my life. At all.
But he was all I had right now.
He was the only person sitting in front of me, willing to listen to my yammering on about the problem I was facing.
So, I told him everything about the blasted veil that was currently the bane of my existence.
When I was done, Thomas grimaced, and I could swear he even winced a little. “The wine makes sense now.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “Usually, I can fix every problem that comes my way, but I don’t think I can fix this one.”
“Sylvie… Have you considered that you really can’t fix it?” he asked, somewhat gently with a softness in his gaze. “As in there is no humanly possible way of fixing it and Hazel has to accept something else. It might not be as special or as personal as what she originally wanted, but if there’s no time to have it remade, then she’s going to have to get over it, as cruel as it sounds.”
“I know,” I said honestly. “Trust me, I do know that. But it’s still my job to find a replacement, and I don’t even knowwhere to begin to start. She hasn’t stopped crying all day, so it’s not even like she’s in a state to help me right now.”
“It’s just a veil. It’s not the end of the world.”
