Feeling a little worried, I asked, “What is it?”
Tammy nervously darted her eyes and paused for a moment before she spoke. “I was kinda hoping we could have the wedding at The Castle. I understand it would be a big deal, and I know it would mean hiring it out for the day and the evening, but you would be highly compensated for it. John is rather wealthy, you see.” Taken aback by her request, I hesitated for a moment. “I told John it would be a bad idea.”
Shaking my head, I found my lucidity. “No, of course it isn’t. I’m just surprised; that’s all. I thought you wanted John well away from The Castle.”
“Well, I know it carries a certain risk, but I also know that I trust everyone there not to blab. It’s just that I talk about The Castle a lot to John, and he knows how much the place—and all of you—mean to me.”
Tammy smiled sweetly, and it caused my heart to flutter a little. Giving her a reassuring squeeze, I looked her dead in the eye. “Of course you can have your wedding at The Castle. It would be my pleasure.”
For a solid half an hour or so, we made plans for the wedding and figured out how much it would cost. I would normally charge quite a bit for hiring out The Castle exclusively, but this was Tammy. I wasn’t going to charge her and her husband-to-be the going rate. She wanted some of her guests to stay as they were travelling a great distance, so I worked it all out in my head and came up with a figure. She was stumped.
“That sounds way under-priced to me.”
Smiling, I kissed her hand. “It’s for you.”
“But, I can’t. That’s too much.”
Shaking my head, I knew I had to get through to her. “Let’s just consider it a wedding present from me to you.” I was still going to buy her a present of course, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.
She suddenly jumped up squealing. “Come here! I need to give you a hug.”
Bouncing out of my chair, we hugged each other, and soon after, we were on to other subjects and getting well and truly tipsy.
“I love this song!” Belinda shouted as we all rose out of our chairs.
The booming sound of “Get Down On It” was blasting through the speakers down below.
Standing up, we all started dancing forwards and backwards and singing our arses off. All in sync with our dancing, we sang, “Get down on it, suck my helmet. Get down on it, suck my helmet.” I was laughing so hard, I thought I would wet my knickers.
“You can’t sing that song without those lyrics.” Belinda flopped her drunken self back in the chair and tried to calm her giggles.
“I’ve got something funny for you to try.” Sitting up in their chairs, I had Belinda and Tammy’s full attention. “Say, ‘I work for Cunard.’”
“I work for Cunard,” they both said, looking confused.
“Now, say it over and over again really fast.”
“I work for Cunard. I work for Cunard. I work forkin ard.”
When they realised what it sounded like, they stopped dead and looked at me. “You’re telling me you work fucking hard!” I shouted.
Erupting in laughter again, I realised it had been a long time since I had been out, having a good time with my girls.
“That’s so funny. I’ll have to try that one on Jeffrey.” Looking timidly towards me, she pouted. “He misses you.”
Not wanting to dwell on it, I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing lasts forever. I’m sure with Mr. Arsehole out of the picture, we could get back to some sort of normality.”
“Over my fucking dead body!”
I looked up and found Luca hovering above me like the proverbial lion that he was. Behind his sexy glare, he looked tired and somehow anxious. It didn’t stop the anger from rising within me, though.
“Oh, look who it is. The one and only. Tammy, you haven’t met the arsehole yet, have you?”
Blushing, Tammy shook her head and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Luca looked as excited about shaking her hand as an eight-year-old would be about going to the dentist. He took her hand nonetheless, but I could tell what his main agenda had been all along. Me. “We need to talk.”
Sighing, I stood up to face him. “I don’t want to talk to you now. I’m out having fun with my girls.”
Exasperated, Luca glared at me. “Okay, listen. I got your message loud and clear. Now, stop being childish and let’s talk.”
“What the hell are you on about? What message?”
“You ignoring me and coming here.”
Sitting back down in my chair, I thumped the arms in frustration. “I’m not a plaything. You can’t just up and leave without a word and then come back thinking that Little Miss Obedient will be sitting at home with her knitting, waiting on the infamous Luca Belatoni to return. I’m not like that. Haven’t you got that through your thick skull yet?”