Hate to Love You(6)

My breath joined the film of condensation covering the window and I smiled faintly, swirling my initials onto the glass with my finger. Art had been my favourite subject in high school and my creative use of calligraphy techniques had earned me an A. I embellished my P with a small star but when my B grew a distended belly I wiped out the letters.

Crap. Our exalted family priest would sit his arse down at our table, smile at Caroline and James and fill his gut with rioja. He would extol on Caroline’s virtues and sermonise at my expense. It was bad enough listening to his prattle at St. Albert’s every Sunday. At home I couldn’t bait Father Martin with comments about Mary Magdalene getting it on with Jesus or taunt him about that closet full of disciples. Neither could I escape his thoughts.

Liar.

Marriage wrecker.

Slut.

And my personal favourite, lost soul.

When the church secretary phoned to say he had to attend an old widower for last rites, I couldn’t contain my grin. Caroline was aghast, her eyes big as she reproached me.

“Somebody is dying, Paisley. How can you be happy?”

I hid my embarrassment with a shrug. “He’s going to paradise. What’s not to be happy about?”

Shit, I sounded callous even to my own ears. I offered up my silent remorse to the dead guy and asked him to forgive me. When my parents disappeared into the kitchen I got my revenge.

“So Caro, I saw the picture of your wedding dress. It looks like something out of The Great Gatsby. I never thought you’d want to go slapper style for your wedding.”

James stiffened. “I think you mean ‘flapper’ not ‘slapper.’”

The brief connection we’d shared had disappeared and the look in his eyes was hard enough to slice through steel. My layer of I-don’t-give-a-shit was harder.

Caroline managed to look injured and spiteful at the same time. “Paisley’s vocabulary is limited. She failed her GCSE English so what can we expect?”

I did not fail. I just... Well, I deferred the successful completion of my course. I didn’t get a chance to explain that to James though. My mother fluttered into the sitting room with a tray of sparkly stuff and four tumblers.#p#分页标题#e#

“Nothing but the best for Caroline and James,” she said brightly.

The cork hit the ceiling and James caught it in his hands. I smirked at Caroline’s face as she watched our mother pour out Aldi’s finest cava. Only champagne in crystal flutes would have been good enough for my sister. How our working-class parents would fit into her life after her marriage was no mystery—they wouldn’t.

My ruddy-faced, beefy father made the toast. His perpetual frown had been replaced by an expression that was open and eager to please.

“María and I are chuffed to have you as a son-in-law, mate. May you and Caroline always be happy.”

Caroline flashed the huge rock on her finger, telling us yet again of how James had taken her to Hatton Gardens and she’d had it made to her specifications. I looked at the ring dispassionately. Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but I’d engage the enemy if it meant I could have rubies or sapphires. Gems that were colourful and warm, that expressed passion and desire.

Diamonds were as boring and insipid as Caroline herself, as was the story of James’s proposal. Hearing it I felt disappointed somehow. It was so clichéd I laughed.

“Let me guess, all the other diners at the restaurant burst into applause. Very original, James,” I mocked.

“James knows I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Caroline simpered. “We both believe strongly in tradition, family values and morality. It gives our love a special flavour.”

“Like vanilla?”

My mother gave me an irritated look. “Vanilla indeed. What are you talking about?”

James shrugged and I got another whiff of his spicy aftershave. “The adolescent mind works in mysterious ways.”

I didn’t trust myself to speak out loud. <<I’m eighteen today, actually.>>

He raised an eyebrow. <<Could’ve fooled me.>>

I blinked. He had not shot a mental comment at me, had he? Nobody I’d met could do that, see what I was thinking and answer back. James turned away, leaving me to bite my lip in confusion.

I gave myself a mental shake down. Meeting James was screwing with my head and it was time to screw with his.

I flirted discreetly when my parents were in the room and more blatantly when they weren’t, much to Caroline’s tight-lipped irritation. James ignored me so I contrived to touch him in some way. A graze of my fingers on his knee, a bit of thigh against his leg. Not getting anywhere I brushed my breast against his arm. Yes! He stiffened so I did it again and he fixed me with a steady stare.