Someone Like You(54)

'It's my job. I notice stuff.'

When she raised her eyebrows at him playfully, he replied, 'Oh, fuck off.'

Lizzie found all the toilet cubicles in the ladies empty, except for one.

'Hello?' she called, to no answer. 'Anyone in there?' She dropped to her  knees on the cold ceramic tiles and peered under the small open space  where the door didn't quite meet the floor. Sure enough, two  leopard-skin stilettos pointed back at her, one leaning at a crooked  angle against the other.

Lizzie stood and leaned back against the basin to give herself a moment  to think about how to handle this situation. She didn't really know Anna  and had spent most of the time since they'd met believing she was  sleeping with Dan. She'd instinctively tried to hate her but couldn't.  And now, she was standing in front of a locked toilet cubicle worrying  about her. This woman she barely knew.

She also knew that no one ran into the ladies crying for no reason.  Nope, Lizzie decided, she couldn't leave a suffering sister to wallow in  misery. It just wasn't in her DNA.

She reached over and tapped on the door. Two times to be polite. 'Anna, it's Lizzie.'

There was a muffled cry from inside the cubicle and the distinct sound of someone scrunching cheap toilet paper in their hand.

'I know it's you, Anna. No one else in Middle Point has the balls to wear shoes like that.'

'Hi Lizzie,' came a small, sad voice from behind the door. 'Go back outside to the wedding. I'll be fine.'

Lizzie took a deep breath. She knew herself. She could no more leave a  woman in trouble than she could pull up stumps and move to the city.

Damn it. She was Middle Point's guardian angel, after all.

'Anna, why don't you open the door? I can sneak you a glass of champagne  from the bar if you need one. Or … ' What the hell, she thought, and let  the cheeky idea travel from her brain to her lips. ' … I can make that a  vodka if you want something stronger.'

There was a giggle and then a loud sniff from inside the cubicle. 'I'm never going to live that down, am I?'

'Probably not. Middle Point's a small place, you know.'

'And a beautiful place, Lizzie.'

'You're preaching to the choir here, Anna.' Lizzie waited and listened.  Anna sounded like she was trying to catch her breath. There was a click  of stilettos on the floor and then the lock slid open.

'Hey.' Anna appeared from around the door.

Lizzie found a smile. 'Hey yourself.' She lowered her head to look  directly into Anna's brown eyes and could see that she wasn't fine at  all. 'God, what's happened?'

Anna's mouth twisted and a string of Italian flew out of her mouth.  Lizzie didn't need a Berlitz course to know what she meant. Anna's big  eyes glistened with tears as she clickety-clicked on her heels to the  hand basin and leaned over it, her hair a shiny curtain around her.

'You might not believe this, Lizzie, but I'm an educated, professional woman. With skills.'         

     



 

'Of course you are.' Lizzie smiled, grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and passed it over.

'Thanks.' Anna widened her eyes and dabbed underneath them to blot the  tears. 'I swear, Lizzie, I don't spend my whole life shit-faced or  crying. I can't imagine what you think of me.'

'I've worked in this pub a long time. You're not the first person to  hide out in the ladies loo. And you know what I think? I think something  big happened to make you so upset. Am I right?'

Anna's face hardened. 'Absolutely right. My husband is what's happened.  Four weeks ago, I found out he's been having an affair with one of the  other partners at his firm.'

'Oh no.' Lizzie now understood the tears and the swearing.

'For a whole fucking year.'

'How awful, Anna.'

'So, three weeks ago I kicked his sorry arse out of the house. A rather  nice house it is, too. Fortunately, it was already mine before we got  married. That's one benefit of having Italian parents.' Anna seemed to  regain some composure relating that particular part of the story.

'You mentioned you had skills. You go, girl.'

'And today I'm here. At a fucking wedding. Excuse the French.' Anna  sniffed and tried to wipe away her tears. 'Don't get me wrong. I'm  thrilled for them and I hope they'll be deliriously happy, I really do.  But it's all just a little too much to bear, to be honest. I tried to  hold it together as long as I could, but that big kiss at the end, when  Ry dipped Julia and kissed her?' Anna held a hand to her heart and fresh  tears welled in her eyes. 'I saw that look on his face, like he would  never let her go, and well … I had to get out of there before I made a  complete fool of myself.'

Lizzie felt an ache in her heart for this woman she barely knew. 'That's a terrible thing to happen to anyone. Beyond terrible.'

Anna looked at her reflection in the mirror, shook her head ruefully.  'God, what a mess. I should go home. I can't go back out there looking  like this.'

Lizzie wished her mess was half as gorgeous as Anna's.

'Go home? Absolutely out of the question. What you need to do tonight is  have fun. When's the last time you let loose? Danced until your feet  were sore?' Lizzie glanced down at Anna's kick-arse shoes. 'Probably  more recently than I think. Wouldn't having fun, celebrating the first  day of the rest of your life, be the ultimate revenge?'

As Anna considered it, Lizzie had already picked the perfect person to  dance with her. Someone else she knew who was in desperate need of a  little no-strings-attached fun.

'Revenge, I can do. But fun? I'm too old for fun.'

'Oh you are not. C'mon Anna. Stay here, with us, and have a party. You  can hang around in here until you feel ready to face the world again.  Space to think. Do your make-up. You're safe here in the man-free zone.'

Anna looked at Lizzie with a wistful expression. 'God, I haven't had one  of those since forever. I like that idea. A man-free zone.'

Lizzie heard familiar footsteps and the entrance door to the women's toilets swung wide open.

This wasn't a man-free zone anymore.





CHAPTER


30


It was Dan.

Tall, sexy, ten kinds of handsome Dan McSwaine. When he found Lizzie, he  stopped and threw her a big time, happy, heart-breaker of a grin. In  return she kept her mouth in a straight line, trying not to respond to  him, because out of the corner of her eye, Lizzie noticed Anna turn away  from him and begin excavating in her enormous handbag.

'Dan McSwaine!' Lizzie blurted, trying to distract him. Clearly Anna  hadn't wanted Dan to see her tears, and Lizzie knew her job was, first  and foremost, to protect the sisterhood. 'This is absolutely, positively  a man-free zone. What the hell do you think you're doing in here?'

He shrugged his shoulders. 'Seen one, seen 'em all. Although this is a  little bigger than some I've been into. Want to try it-' Then he stopped  talking. Maybe it had something to do with the fast shake of her head  and the air stabbing motion Lizzie was making with one pointed finger.  In Anna's direction.

'Oh. Hey Anna,' Dan said with a nod of awareness to Lizzie.

When he looked like he was about to strike up a conversation, Lizzie  leapt in front of him, pushing a finger to his lips and a hand onto his  chest. His pecs felt like rocks, even with a crisp layer of white cotton  stretched across them, and when he parted his lips, she wished she'd  planted her mouth there instead of a single finger. He didn't miss the  flare in her eyes and he took a step closer. Damn it if there wasn't a  sudden gleam in his.         

     



 

'I'm just helping Anna with a … a wardrobe malfunction.' She pushed him  backwards. 'Girl stuff. We'll be back out there in a minute.'

'Hey Dan.' Lizzie wondered where Anna had found the cheery voice so quickly, but she didn't turn to face him.

Dan checked his watch. 'Lizzie, you don't have a minute. I've been  looking for you everywhere.' He encircled her waist with his big hands,  pulling her close. His lips were a breath away from hers. 'Let's go.'  His hands were so strong around her that it felt like he might pick her  up and actually drag her away.

How Neanderthal, she thought. How goddamn sexy.

'Why have you been looking for me? What's happened?'

His sexy eyes answered her with a smile and a cocked eyebrow and he  pulled her so close her breasts squeezed up against him, hardening her  nipples. 'What do you think? I'm here to drag you away from this circus  so we can be alone.'

'Now?'

He suddenly laughed and his eyes crinkled adorably in the corners. 'I'm  joking, Lizzie. While that is a brilliant idea, and one I definitely  want to do something about later, we're in the middle of a wedding  celebration here and I have certain best man obligations.' Dan's hands  moved from her waist to her wrists, sliding down to entangle his fingers  with hers. The simple move had her belly tumble-turning.

'Ry and Julia want us down on the beach for the happy snaps.' He checked  his watch. 'Five minutes ago. And you'd better come now or Ry will  start at Julia with the bridezilla gags again.'

Lizzie shot him a knowing smile. 'Give me two minutes. I'm sure I need  new lipstick.' His eyes flickered to her lips and he leaned down,  crushed them with a wet kiss.

'They probably do now,' she managed to say. 'Two minutes. Go.'