“Don’t start!” Gabriella huffed, finally relinquishing her hold on the leaf. “There’s nothing wrong with liking houseplants.”
The brunette slid her gaze from me to Gabriella. “You have enough house plants to start an indoor jungle, and I’m not taking any more babies from you. Mum is wondering why there are twenty spider plants in the hotel!”
“Twenty? Only twenty? Try two hundred,” said another voice with a similar lilt. Another woman walked up behind the one who’d spoken originally, and I blinked.
They were identical.
Was I seeing things?
“There are not two hundred spider plants in your hotel! Oh, my God. Be quiet.” Gabriella shook her head. “Miles, this is Adelaide and Evangeline, my best friends. Addy, Eva, this is Miles.”
“Pleasure to meet you, ladies,” I said, taking each of their offered hands and dropping a kiss to their knuckles.
What? My mother raised a gentleman.
Evangeline—I think—blushed. “I’ll say.”
Adelaide—maybe—elbowed her. “Shut up.”
Gabriella sighed. “Their parents own The Fox and Hound. It was Addy I texted the other night.”
A wave of gratitude washed through me. “You’re the ones who helped my grandfather and his demon cat?”
“That’s us!”
“Eva, stop flirting,” Adelaide said.
Right.
Adelaide was in the blue, Eva the pink. I just had to remember that.
“Yes, we did. Since the power is sorted, we took him back home on our way here—he and Mars are absolutely fine. We checked his house over and there’s no damage.”
Eva nodded. “We left him with his fire going and a crisp sandwich. Apparently, he was sick of soup.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. That sounded just like my grandpa. “Thank you so much for looking after him. I really appreciate it. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, please let me know.”
“Well.” Eva grinned playfully. “I can think—”
Adelaide clapped her hand over her sister’s mouth. “We’re good but thank you. We don’t mind helping out when it’s needed.” She looked at Gabriella. “I’m going to take this one before she gets herself in trouble.”
“Probably wise,” Gabriella mused, her gaze drifting back to the monstera.
“No,” I said sharply. “I am not answering to your father because you bought that bloody plant.”
She huffed again and gripped her cart. “You’re so mean. Let’s go before Eva suffocates.”
Adelaide removed her hand with an impish grin. “Sorry.”
Eva glared at her. “Not likely. Say, Miles.”
I paused. “Yes?”
“Our parents are having their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary party at the hotel this weekend. Perhaps you and your grandpa would like to attend?”
Gabriella visibly stilled. “I’m sure he’s too busy.”
“Oh, that’s a shame. After all, he did say he’d be happy to repay us for our kindness.” Eva tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “Right?”
She wasn’t wrong.
I had.
“I’ll have to speak to my grandpa, but I’m sure I can make it.” I returned her smile and stepped back. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“We’ll put an invitation through your letterbox.” Eva winked. “Come on, Addy. Let’s go before Mum has a fit. Bye, Miles, Gabi.”
Addy smiled tightly and grabbed her sister’s arm, dragging her away. She leaned in and whispered something in her ear that Eva laughed off, and I caught Gabriella staring after them.
I nudged her. “Are you all right?”
She shook off whatever was bothering her and tried to smile at me. “I’m fine. Sorry. I just didn’t think the party would be your thing. It’ll be quite formal.”
“So I’m going to need a suit?”
“Yes. A bow tie, preferably. At least for dinner. Things relax a little after that.” She looked back at me. “You don’t have to come. It’s very… stuffy,” she finished.
“Hey, they invited me, and it would be rude not to come. Although I’m really not sure if that is my grandpa’s thing. Then again, he does love a good party, so it’s a good guess.”
Gabriella made a small noise that was neither here nor there. “Shall we keep going? I was hoping to pick some plants for the garden, including the climbers, if you don’t mind helping me.”
“Of course not.” I took the handle of the trolley, eyeing her speculatively. Something was bugging her. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – GABRIELLA
“You’re fidgeting,” Aunt Cat said. “You’ll crease your dress if you keep that up.”
I huffed and looked out of the window. I wanted to be anywhere other than here—I hadn’t been looking forward to this party ever since we’d run into Adelaide and Eva in the garden centre.
Which was a shame because Lady Vic could throw one hell of a party.
“Whatever is wrong with you?” Aunt Cat pressed, leaning over in the car. “Gabriella!”
“I’m fine,” I said sharply, giving her a look that was hot enough to melt metal.
That’s how I felt, anyway.
I didn’t want her to know how frustrated I was… Especially since it was with Evangeline.
Granted, I had no right to be annoyed with her. Miles wasn’t mine to be annoyed over—we barely had anything more than a friendship, and Eva was single, footloose, and fancy-free.
She could flirt with whoever she pleased.
As could Miles.
That didn’t stop the bitter taste in my mouth, though.
I desperately wanted not to be here. It didn’t matter than many of my contemporaries would be here, both friends and…not so friends… alike.
There was a very large part of me that had no desire to watch Evangeline flirt with Miles.
I knew it would happen tonight. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t expressed her interest in him before, and now they’d been officially introduced, I knew they’d hit it off.
They were far more similar than he and I were.
Not that there was such a thing as he and I, of course.
I stared out of the window as we approached The Fox and Hound. It was a miracle the road had been fully cleared and everything restored in time for the party, but at the same time, I wasn’t terribly surprised.
Lady Victoria was a force to be reckoned with.
The car we were in pulled up in front of the hotel. The driveway was grand, with a large, circular fountain in the centre, making it a vast, sweeping journey from the bottom to the steps that lead up to the front doors.
The Fox and Hound was an old manor house that once belonged to an Earl. After the ancestral line had died out in the late eighteen-hundreds, it was bought and sold several times until it was finally left unoccupied in the nineteen thirties. A few decades later, Lady Vic purchased it after she married, and the rest is history as they say.
The chauffeur opened the car door, and I took a deep breath and stepped out into the evening air. It wasn’t quite warm, but it wasn’t quite cold, either. Pleasant, if I had to describe it—just the right temperature, especially given the storm that had just passed.