“Shall I tell the story or would you rather tell it, my love?” Elonzo was almost purring as he turned to Laura on his right. They both stared into each other’s eyes for a nauseating amount of time before I had to cough to break their little rendezvous.
“You tell it,” Laura hummed.
“Okay,” Elonzo said, and he turned back to acknowledge everyone else in the room. “Well, I still had those tickets to Brazil from the honeymoon that never happened. When was it? Last weekend?”
“It was,” Laura giggled.
“Last weekend,” Elonzo repeated. “And I was just there, sunbathing, minding my own business when an angel appeared.”
“Oh, you.” Laura play-punched Elonzo.
I rolled my eyes. This was excruciating to listen to and even more painful to watch.
“An angel in need of rescuing. What was it that you needed me, a mere mortal, to help you with?” Elonzo’s puppy-dog eyes were back on Laura.
“My cat was stuck in a tree. My beautiful Bertie had climbed the tree beside the pool and I couldn’t reach him to get him down,” Laura explained, placing her small hand on top of Elonzo’s. “And of course, Elonzo, the gentleman, rescued him, risking his own life because the palm tree wasn’t quite stable. But he did it, and now here we are.”
“Here we are.” They were doing it again, staring into each other’s eyes. I glared at my plate. I hadn’t even touched my food. I had no appetite whatsoever.
“Oh, how lovely.” Mom clapped, and would have come around to give each of them anabrazoif the cook hadn’t come in with the main meat dish. Instead, she gifted her excitement in passing out portions to each member of the table.
“I have an announcement, too. Well, we do,” I called out, once the rest of the table were busy forking morsels of chicken onto their dinner plates.
I stood up and planted a wide smile on my face. Elly raised her eyes to me but she didn’t stand. Was she ill? Her color did look a little off.
“Elly and I have decided we don’t want to have a long engagement. We have picked a date. The tenth of September.” I raised my glass of champagne.
“But that’s less than a month away!” Mom said, raising her glass though her expression showed a little concern.
“It is indeed,” I said.
“But how are we going to get everything ready? All the catering, the decorations… We don’t even have a venue or a dress. Elly, do you have a dress? Or the bridesmaids? Or your side of the family?”
Where before it could have been just a trick of the light, it was clear now that Elly looked slightly ill. The color of her cheeks was a hue of green and I could see her lip trembling. Without thinking, I half-ran from my place and over to her, opposite me. I took her body in my arms, feeling the shaking of her arms against my own.
“I think we need a minute,” I said and guided Elly slowly out of the room, out into the gardens. We sat on a bench outside, my arms still wrapped around Elly and her head leaning against my shoulder.
The crickets made up for a choir out there and I let my mind wander.Just think. Elly and I. This could be us. Sitting in our gardens, taking in the songs of nature, the sound of a fountain in the distance, the smells of roses closing up for the night. What we would have wouldn’t be like Elonzo’s telenovela. Ours would be…
Fake.
“You can let go of me now, Sebastian,” Elly whispered, slowly wriggling herself free from my grasp. “Sorry about that. I just…it was a little too much in there, wasn’t it?” She reached up to smooth her hair.
“It was. My brother…” I shook my head.
Elly shrugged. “He has found love.” At that word, she pushed herself up, off the bench, and at a distance from me.
“It’s hardly love. They’ve known each other for what, a week?” I rolled my eyes and raised myself off the bench too.
“Not much different from us, then, huh?” Even in the dimness of the night, her eyes glowed. Like the glare of headlamps in the darkest of nights.
Touché.
CHAPTER31
ELLY
We returned to the house, where Sebastian’s mom immediately came around to give me a hug and ask how I was. She took my hand delicately from Sebastian’s and gently guided me to my seat as if I were a sickly patient. Emanuel stood up to slap Sebastian on the back. Once, twice.