“Uh, I did,” I replied, unable to work up a more coherent response. My throat had clamped up.
The light turned green and we continued on our way.
“You said you were going to quit?” I asked, the word quit actually sticking in my throat. “Did you decide not to?” I braved a glance at him then.
He looked mysterious and aloof.
I wished I could pull him to me and turn him back into that passionate man who burned kisses down my body.
His mouth twisted. “Why? Do you wish I had?”
I swallowed hard. “Of course not.”
“Good.”
It seemed clear he didn’t want to talk so I decided to say no more until after I’d met Christine, Mandy and another acquaintance of ours, Natalie.
We walked into the restaurant together and found the girls were already seated at a table. Angelo walked towards a window table that gave him a good view of both entrances and the road car park.
Once we had all kissed and hugged, then placed our orders the conversation turned to the difficulties the girls were facing in the job market. I listened with a certain amount of sadness. This should have been me too. I wanted this struggle. It was part of the journey of life. Instead, I was being forced into a lie of a marriage with a man I actually couldn’t stand.
“I thought you would invite me over for the celebration at the vineyard,” Christine blurted out suddenly. “But the call never came.”
“It was a private ceremony,” I said quietly, unable to meet her eyes. “And my dad was the one who set it up. It was full of people connected with the establishment than anything else.” I could feel her staring at me with hurt eyes. One day, I would tell her why and she would understand.
“No problem, but Charlotte was here for just a week and you never even once brought her to meet me. Not even an invitation for a visit to your house. She’s my friend too, you know. I love her too.”
I felt horribly guilty. I knew exactly how she felt. If Charlotte had come to see her and they had not invited me to join them even once, I would have been devastated. If Angelo hadn’t said what he had about her, I would have invited her for more than one sleepover. In fact, the three of us would have gone everywhere together. “It was a flying visit, Christine. I thought we had loads of time, but before we knew it she was getting on the plane. But guess what? She’s coming back next month and this time, why don’t you come over and stay at my place for the whole time she is here?”
“Really?”
“Why not?” I said with a confident smile. By then, I hoped any suspicion about her would have been cleared up. Before she could ask more questions or get a firm conviction from me about it, I had to divert attention away from that topic. “By the way, I have news. I got engaged.”
The entire table went silent, as the girls stared at me with dropped jaws.
“What?” Mandy exclaimed.
Christine seemed shocked. “To that guy? They still forced him on you?”
I nodded.
Her face fell and I knew then Angelo was wrong. She wasn’t the Judas in my camp. She truly cared about me.
Natalie wasn’t aware of anything, so Mandy quickly brought her up to speed.
“I didn’t even know that arranged marriages were still a thing in this day and age,” Natalie said, her voice full of wonder. “Can’t you sue or something? Isn’t there a law against this?”
“They’re my family,” I said, “I’m not going to sue family.”
“Well, you can if they’re being unreasonable. I would,” Mandy said.
“Me too,” Natalie concurred.
“He didn’t give you a ring?” Christine asked, as she noted my empty hand.
I had the damn thing in my purse. “He did.” I pulled out the massive oval-cut solitaire diamond, and tossed it carelessly across the table.
Their gasps made the other heads in the restaurant turn towards us.
“It’s goooooooorgeous. Why the hell aren’t you wearing it?” Mandy screamed.
“Whoa! Is that real?” Natalie asked, her eyes wide and shocked.
Christine reached out to pick it up and inspect it. “A hundred percent real,” she announced confidently. “This should be at least 10 carats, but I would think more, right?” She looked at me expectantly.
I shrugged my shoulders. It honestly didn’t matter to me. I wanted nothing to do with it.
“Okay,” Natalie said, ‘it’s either you’re so rich this ring means nothing to you, which by the way should be nothing less than a million dollars or—”
“It costs more than two million,” Mandy interrupted. “I used to work at a top-notch jewelry store after I dropped out and that ring is at least two million and a half.”
Natalie collapsed dramatically into the back of her chair. “Why don’t you like this guy again?”