Something from Tiffany’s Read online

‘Nothing major, thank goodness,’ she confirmed. ‘Really, you’re so good to be concerned, but luckily it all worked out OK.’

  ‘No head damage?’ Ethan persisted. ‘Memory problems? Anything like that?’

  ‘No, nothing at all like that.’ Now Rachel sounded a bit taken aback. ‘According to the doctors he’s fine. Why do you ask?’

  ‘I just wasn’t sure. I thought he might have had a bit of a bump on his head when I found him, but maybe I was mistaken,’ Ethan said, thinking fast.

  Damn, what the hell was going on here? Was the guy that much of an immoral crook that he would seriously try to pass off Ethan’s ring as his own? It was obvious that he had no such proposal in mind before the accident, seeing as his Tiffany’s purchase had consisted only of a simple charm bracelet.

  Ethan’s heart hammered. What on earth should he do now?

  Or, more pertinently, what should he say?

  Yet how could he burst this poor girl’s bubble now by telling her the truth? Rachel seemed way too nice to be marrying someone so obviously thoughtless and devious. To think that the guy would be so barefaced . . .

  Then a sudden anger flared up within him. Damn it, the time for talking was well and truly over. This was definitely something that needed to be sorted out in person, Ethan decided determinedly. He would go straight to Dublin and pay this Gary Knowles a visit. He’d sort out this entire situation face to face, man to man.

  Realising that the line had gone quiet, he snapped back to reality. ‘Well, congratulations.’ Given what Rachel had just told him, it was the obvious response, although the word tasted like bile as he forced himself to say it.

  ‘Thank you very much. Everything has happened just so fast, and of course there’s so much to do and plan and . . . oh listen to me! I’m Bridezilla already! You don’t want to hear about this.’

  You can say that again, Ethan thought wryly.

  ‘Actually, now that I have you,’ she continued cheerfully, ‘can you let me know your address so I can send your lovely daughter those cookies I promised her? I would have done it before now but, as I said, things have been so crazy since Christmas. I’ll bake a fresh batch and send them over to you by courier today.’

  At this, Ethan had an instant flash of inspiration. ‘No, don’t do that. I’ll come and collect them actually.’

  ‘Collect them?’

  ‘Yes. You’re in Dublin, aren’t you? Well, as it happens, I actually have some business there next weekend, and you mentioned something about having a café? So if you let me know where you are based, I could pop in and pick them up. Perhaps catch up with your fiancé while I’m there.’

  He knew it was a weak story but in all honesty he didn’t care. What business would he – an English language lecturer – have in Dublin? He held his breath, almost waiting for Rachel to call his bluff or at least question his motives. However, if anything seemed amiss to her, she pretended not to notice.

  ‘Oh. Well, it’s a bistro, not a café, and it’s called Stromboli. We’re just on the quays, not far from the Ha’penny Bridge. Do you know the bridge? The building is painted deep purple and our sign is bright orange so you really shouldn’t have any trouble finding us. We’re hard to miss,’ she laughed. ‘Yes, it would be lovely to see you and I’ll let Gary know you’ll be in town.’

  ‘Actually, probably best not to arrange anything too concrete for the moment, just in case I’m caught for time.’ Ethan didn’t want to give the fiancé too much of a heads-up about his arrival, in case the guy decided to do a runner. With a man like that, who knew? ‘If I do have some free time, I’ll pop in for lunch or something. Would that be all right?’ He sincerely hoped he could get a weekend reservation at the Westbury, the only hotel he knew in Dublin that was centrally located.

  ‘Yes, absolutely. But are you sure you don’t want me to send over those cookies, just in case? I really wanted to do something, however small, to thank you. And it goes without saying that if you do have the time to see us while you’re in Dublin, then lunch is on us!’

  ‘Thank you, but really no thanks are necessary. With luck, perhaps I’ll see you at the weekend.’

  ‘Looking forward to it. Oh and tell Daisy I said hi, won’t you?’

  ‘I certainly will. Goodbye, Rachel.’

  His brain hammering in his head, Ethan hung up the phone and exhaled deeply.

  Daisy was using the famous squinty-eyed look on him. ‘Why didn’t you tell her about the mix-up with the bags, Dad?’ she asked.

  Ethan felt his mouth go dry. Yes, why didn’t he? After all, he didn’t know this woman, and it wasn’t up to him to protect her feelings; he should really have just said something there and then. He looked at his daughter. ‘Her boyfriend seems to have used our ring to propose,’ he told her and Daisy’s eyes widened.

  ‘What? Oh no!’

  ‘So I thought it might be better to say nothing just now, so as not to hurt Rachel’s feelings.’

  ‘That is really nice of you, Dad,’ his daughter said, patting his hand. ‘So that’s why you’re going to Dublin?’ she asked. ‘To sort everything out with that man?’

  Ethan nodded tiredly. ‘Yes.’

  Yes, that was him, he thought irritably: too bloody ‘nice’ for his own good. Brian would have an absolute field day with this. Ethan knew his friend would have no compunction about telling it straight on the phone, especially considering the circumstances. But Rachel seemed like such a sweet person, and sounded so deliriously happy about her supposed fairy-tale engagement that he just couldn’t bring himself to break the poor girl’s heart by coming clean.

  Well, come the following weekend, Ethan decided grimly, it remained to be seen how nice he would remain when Gary Knowles’s thieving mug was in front of him.

  Chapter 17

  ‘Who was that?’ Terri enquired when Rachel hung up the phone.

  They were in the kitchen prepping for the bistro’s evening sitting and she was up to her elbows in chopped peppers and red onions. ‘Did I hear you say something about making cookies? I checked earlier and we’ve still got loads.’

  Rachel was rolling out fresh pasta. ‘No, it’s fine. I was going to send some to Ethan, but there’s no need.’

  ‘Who?’ Terri asked. The name sounded familiar but she just didn’t know why.

  ‘Ethan Greene. The nice English man who helped Gary after he had his accident in New York. Remember I told you about him before?’

  ‘Of course.’ She had forgotten about this so-called Good Samaritan until Rachel explained about him again when Terri had passed on the guy’s New Year’s Eve phone message. ‘Didn’t Gary phone him back afterwards?’

  Her friend coloured a little. ‘It seems not. It was a bit embarrassing, actually. I thought Gary would have got in touch with him in the meantime, considering . . . Still, I suppose he’s been busy with work and everything.’

  Some stranger saves Gary’s life and he doesn’t have the courtesy to pick up the phone and thank him? And even worse, the man who helped him was clearly anxious to hear about his condition and make sure he was OK. Not only that but poor Rachel was being saddled as go-between. Well, romantic proposal aside, this sounded very much like the Gary of old, Terri thought uncharitably.

  ‘You shouldn’t feel bad. It’s not your fault that Gary hasn’t bothered to call him back.’

  ‘Oh no, it’s not that; I’m sure it just slipped his mind. Anyway, it turns out he might be here on business at the weekend, so hopefully the two of them will get a chance to have a good catch-up chat then.’

  ‘Who might be here at the weekend?’

  ‘Didn’t you hear me on the phone just now? Ethan Greene, of course.’

  Terri frowned. Didn’t Rachel say that this guy was some kind of professor or something? ‘What kind of business would a professor be doing in Dublin?’ she queried dubiously.

  Rachel shrugged, her body language indicating that, unlike Terri, she was completely uncurious about it. ‘A university lecturer, and
I have no idea. Maybe he’s organising some kind of field trip or something.’

  ‘I don’t remember any field trips to other countries when we were in college, especially at weekends, do you?’

  ‘Well, who knows? And besides, what does it matter? If it weren’t for him, Gary could have died or been robbed or something even more horrible than what happened. I’ll be only too happy to get the opportunity to thank Ethan again in person.’

  ‘And he said he’s coming here to the bistro – to see Gary?’

  It seemed very strange to Terri, or not entirely coincidental, that this Ethan Greene person, whom Gary had met in New York but lived in London and was a university professor, was suddenly about to appear in Dublin at the weekend.

  ‘Yes, if he has the time.’ Rachel paused and looked at her. ‘Why all the questions?’

  Terri stopped what she was doing and put one hand on her hip. ‘Well, it just seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? For someone who doesn’t even know him, this guy seems very interested in Gary’s condition. You said yourself he called the hospital in New York and he’s been phoning here too.’

  Rachel laughed lightly. ‘Such a suspicious mind, as usual! I don’t see how someone being interested in Gary’s well-being is such a big deal. You weren’t there, Terri; you didn’t see how banged-up he was.’

  ‘I know, but if this Greene guy is a stranger, why would he care?’

  ‘Of course he’s a stranger. What else would he be? He’s a really lovely guy; you should have seen all the nurses mooning over him,’ Rachel said.

  Terri cocked an interested eyebrow. ‘So he’s good-looking too?’

  ‘Yes.’ Rachel looked sideways at her. ‘Actually, if he does appear this weekend, maybe I should introduce you two,’ she said with a knowing grin. ‘Granted, he has a daughter, but for some reason I get the impression that he’s single.’

  Terri stiffened. ‘Cripes, just because you’re Miss Loved-up Bride-to-be, stop trying to foist me onto every male specimen in sight. I’m grand as I am, thank you very much.’

  Still, if this Greene guy had the New York nurses mooning over him like Rachel said, maybe he might be a worth a look?

  ‘OK, OK, you’re right. I’m sorry.’ Rachel laughed, Terri’s love life (or lack of it) being a well-worn argument between the two of them. ‘But, honestly, he’s lovely: very English, all manners. He even offered his congratulations on my engagement earlier, which I thought was nice of him.’

  Terri looked again at her friend, who’d continued calmly rolling out pasta, and couldn’t believe why Rachel wasn’t wondering more about this impending visit. But that was Rachel, wasn’t it? Happy to take everything at face value, irrespective of the circumstances. Terri shook her head. Maybe her friend was right; perhaps she was too suspicious and sceptical about things for her own good.

  But with Justin’s suggestion on New Year’s Eve that there was something ‘off’ about the engagement – as well as their long-held mutual misgivings towards Gary – she just couldn’t help it.

  The two settled back into their work, and were making idle small talk about this and that, when the door leading from the dining area burst open, and in strode the man himself.

  Gary was dressed in his biking clothes, and Terri wrinkled her nose at the smell of leather and exhaust fumes drifting off him. She hoped Rachel would shoo him out quickly, as she didn’t like having him around the food-preparation area dressed like that.

  But that didn’t happen, because as soon as Gary walked in Rachel’s face lit up with a smile. ‘Hey there! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?’

  He shrugged indolently. ‘Nothing much doing, to be honest, only a few jobs to price and I’ve done that, so I took the rest of the day off.’ He stepped back a little as Rachel reached forward to embrace him. ‘Hey, babe, watch that flour on my jacket,’ he chided.

  ‘Oh, of course,’ Rachel said, pulling back. ‘Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.’ She grabbed a dishtowel and began to wipe off the flour spots she had left on Gary’s precious leather jacket.

  Terri sighed inwardly. Yep, the dashing Romeo from New Year’s Eve had now well and truly disappeared, only to be replaced by the Gary they all knew and . . . didn’t love. What on earth did Rachel see in him?

  She watched Gary just stand there and let Rachel fuss over him. Then a thought suddenly popped into her head, and she bit her lip, deciding to see if this particular cat might upset any pigeons.

  ‘Gary, you’ll be interested in this. Rachel just got another phone call from Ethan Greene,’ she said, watching him closely.

  ‘Who’s Ethan Greene?’ Gary enquired blankly and Terri could almost picture the wheels grinding slowly in his mind.

  ‘The man who helped you, silly – after the accident?’ Rachel reminded him. ‘He and his little daughter made sure you got to the hospital safely.’

  A strange look flitted across Gary’s face, and instinctively Terri felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention. Something else was going on here, she was sure of it. The problem was that she couldn’t figure out what.

  ‘He called here?’ he asked, his voice catching just a tad on the word ‘here’.

  Terri nodded. ‘Yes, just a couple of minutes ago.’ She kept her eyes glued to Gary’s face; he was like an open book in situations like this. Probably because he wasn’t smart enough to hide anything that might betray him.

  ‘What did he want?’ he asked, looking at Rachel.

  She shrugged easily. ‘He just wanted to check up on you, see if you were OK. It was a bit embarrassing actually, love. I thought you would have phoned him by now.’

  ‘Yeah, I was going to but I – I lost the number.’

  Yeah and I’m Nigella Lawson, Terri thought sardonically. Hmm, there was definitely something up here. But what?

  ‘Yes, I thought it must have been something like that,’ Rachel replied. ‘Naturally, I told him you were fine. He’s so nice really, but, to be honest, I think he was more worried than was strictly necessary.’ She laughed lightly. ‘Then again, I suppose I wasn’t the one who picked you up off the street, was I? But thinking about it again, it truly was a wonderful thing he did for you, Gary, and you a complete stranger too. We should be very grateful to him.’

  ‘Right,’ Gary grunted, not having the look of a grateful man, Terri thought.

  ‘Yeah, it was very nice of him,’ she said, nodding in agreement. ‘Of course, it doesn’t matter that you lost his number because you might be able to thank the guy in person soon anyway.’

  ‘What?’ His head snapped up.

  ‘Oh yes, I almost forgot,’ Rachel told him. ‘Ethan said he might be in the city this weekend and was thinking of popping in for a visit.’

  ‘Here? In Dublin, you mean?’

  Was it Terri’s imagination or had Gary’s face turned grey?

  ‘Yes. Strange how it goes, isn’t it? I’m glad, though; it means we might get the chance to repay him a little with lunch, or maybe even dinner, depending on how much time he has.’

  ‘You mean, he’s calling here – to the bistro?’ Gary blustered and Terri noted his eyes were shifting from side to side at a very quick rate.

  Now Rachel looked up, finally noticing the edge in his voice. ‘If he has the time, yes. Why? Don’t you want to thank him in person?’

  ‘Well, of course I do but . . . Did he actually say he was coming here?’

  ‘Not exactly. He just said he might be in town, and that if he had any free time he’d give us a call to see if we were available to meet up for a chat. It sounded like a very loose arrangement really, so I wouldn’t worry about it; it’s not as though he expects us to get the welcome wagons out or anything. Anyway, why so touchy?’

  ‘I’m not touchy,’ Gary said, sounding decidedly so. ‘Just . . . surprised, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, don’t be. As I said, we might see him, we might not. But either way, it would be good for you to give him a call. It’s been me he’s been get
ting all the time, and I hate having to keep making excuses.’

  ‘OK, OK, stop nagging me, Rachel.’

  Terri harrumphed. Nagging him? The cheek of it!

  But Rachel didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered. ‘So tell us, what brings you all the way over here? Missing your fiancée already?’ she teased.

  ‘Yeah. I was going to ask if you wanted to get a bite to eat? I haven’t had lunch yet, so . . .’

  ‘Sounds lovely. Where would you like to go?’

  ‘Oh. Well, I thought we could just stay here,’ he replied lamely.

  Again, Terri felt like choking him. Of course, stay here so you can get it for nothing, she thought, gritting her teeth.

  ‘I suppose that makes sense,’ Rachel said. She turned to Terri. ‘OK, if I take off now?’

  ‘No problem,’ she replied. ‘Justin will be in at two, so I’ll take lunch myself then.’

  ‘Great! Let me just wash my hands and I’ll be right with you,’ she said to Gary.

  ‘Hey, where’s the rock?’ he asked, frowning at her hand.

  ‘Oh I usually have to take it off when I’m working,’ Rachel explained, sounding a little guilty. ‘It’s so big it tends to get caught up in everything, and I wouldn’t want to damage it, you know?’

  He nodded, seemingly satisfied with this explanation.

  Gary and Rachel went through to the dining area, and Terri watched them go, wondering yet again why her friend stood for such egotistical behaviour. And the way he was going on about the ring – like some kind of overprotective father or something! Granted, it was obvious he’d spent a fortune on it so perhaps he was entitled to be concerned, but at the end of the day it was Rachel’s now, wasn’t it?

  Something was tugging at the back of Terri’s brain, pulling at the edges, and telling her to pay attention to some important detail, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

  Moving the tray of vegetables aside, she set about making puff pastry and thought a little more about Gary’s reaction to the mention of Ethan Greene. He looked a bit thrown by his upcoming visit to Dublin, that was for sure, but seemed content when Rachel admitted that a meeting wasn’t set in stone.