Maybe marriage is a possibility down the line. Wow. He really knows how to woo a girl.
“Well, I’m afraid you’re too late.” I feel a sweet, sadistic pleasure at saying the words. “She’s married.”
“What?” Richard frowns blankly, clearly unable to process my words.
“She’s married.”
“What do you mean, she’s married?” He still looks baffled.
For God’s sake, what does he bloody think I mean?
“She’s married! She’s taken! In fact, she’s just flown off on her honeymoon to Ikonos.” I check my watch. “She’s in the air right now.”
“What?” A thunderous scowl buries itself in his forehead. Definitely Gordon. He’ll throw his laptop at me in a minute. “How can she be married? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She split up with you, practically had a nervous breakdown, met up with an old flame, who proposed on the spot, and said yes because she was in shock and desperately miserable and fancies him rotten. That’s what I’m talking about.” I glare at him. “Get it?”
“But … but who is he?”
“Her gap-year boyfriend. She hadn’t seen him for fifteen years. First love, all that.”
He’s gazing at me suspiciously. I can see the cogs of his brain working, the realization dawning: this isn’t a windup. I’m telling the truth. She’s married.
“Fucking … fuck.” He bangs both fists to his forehead.
“Yup. That’s how I feel about it too.”
There’s a dejected silence. A light flurry of rain patters against the window, and I wrap my arms around myself. Now that the exhilaration of punishing Richard has ebbed away, all I can feel is sore and miserable. What a mess.
“Well.” He exhales. “I guess that’s it.”
“I guess so.” I shrug. I’m not going to share my plans with him. The last thing I need is him interfering or offering stupid suggestions. My priority is to get Lottie off the hook with Ben, for her own sake. If Richard wants to make some fresh salvo afterward, that’s up to him.
“So … what do you know about this guy?” Richard suddenly emerges from his trance. “What’s he called?”
“Ben.”
“Ben.” He repeats the word suspiciously. “I’ve never heard her talk about a Ben.”
“Well.” I shrug again.
“I mean, I know about her other old boyfriends. Jamie. And Seamus. And what’s-his-name. The accountant.”
“Julian,” I can’t help supplying.
“Exactly. But she’s never even mentioned a Ben.” Richard’s eyes rake the room, as though he’s trying to find clues, then they fall on her diary, which is lying half open on the ground. He lifts his gaze to me incredulously.
“Were you reading her diary?”
Damn. I should have known Richard would pick up on that. He always notices more than you think he will. Lottie used to say he’s like a lion half asleep under a tree, but I think he’s more like a bull: one minute peacefully grazing; the next charging, head down.
“I wasn’t exactly reading it.” I try to stay poised. “I was just doing a little research about this Ben.”
Richard’s eyes focus on me alertly. “What did you find out?”
“Nothing much. I’ve only just got to the bit where they met on Ikonos—” He makes a sudden grab for the diary. With a lightning reaction, I reach for it too and seize a corner. We’re both gripping it, trying to pull it out of the other’s grasp. He’s far stronger than I am, but I’m not letting him have her diary. There are limits.
“I can’t believe you’d read your sister’s diary,” says Richard, trying to wrench it out of my fingers.
“I can’t believe you’d read your girlfriend’s diary,” I retort breathlessly. “Give. Give.”
At last I manage to yank it away from him and cradle it protectively in my arms.
“I deserve to know.” Richard is glowering at me. “If Lottie’s chosen this guy over me, I deserve to know who he is.”
“OK,” I snap. “I’ll read you out a bit. Be patient.”
I flip through the pages again, fast-forwarding through France and Italy to Ikonos. OK. Here we are. Pages and pages full of the word “Ben.” Ben this. Ben that. Ben, Ben, Ben.
“She met him at this guest house they were all staying in.”
“The guest house on Ikonos?” Richard’s face jerks in recognition. “But she’s told me about that place a million times. The place with the steps? Where they had the fire and she saved everyone? I mean, that place changed her life. She always says it’s the place where she became the person she is today. She has a photo of it somewhere.…” He looks around the room, then jabs a finger. “Here.”