Page 46 of Lie For Me

Jack backed off and held his hands up in appeasement.

‘Okay, okay, so long as you’re all right.’

Jack held her gaze, but she couldn’t read the expression in his dark eyes. He turned and started sorting through clothes.

She knew letting too long pass without them speaking would turn things awkward.

‘Nice singing,’ she offered and smiled. ‘Didn’t know you were a country music fan.’

Jack, shaking faint creases out of his neatly folded shirt, glanced at her.

‘I’m not,’ he shrugged. ‘Dad was.’

Lucy sat, mascara wand in hand and felt the breath catch in her throat. Jack turned and gave a half smile. She wanted to say something, but before the words came to her, he said, ‘Now come on. You need to shake a tail feather, or we’ll be late. Again.’

His eyes didn’t quite match the cheer of his words, but he disappeared back into the bathroom humming, ‘New York State of Mind.’

Lucy turned back to the mirror. Her elegant yet effortless hairdo that had taken three attempts and thirty minutes and was held together with twenty-three pins was hanging down on the left side. Her right eye was red and puffy, and she was blinking uncontrollably.

Her face had gone slightly blotchy and there were still mascara streaks down her cheek. She sighed and emptied her makeup bag, hoping there was a miracle in there somewhere.

***

‘So, who’s at this thing tonight?’ Jack asked, as they picked their way down the ancient staircase back to the function rooms.

‘This thing is the rehearsal dinner, and it’s pretty much everyone you met at brunch today, but I think my Aunt Renee and Uncle Rich will be there too, with my cousins, and a few more of Ollie and Sophie’s friends who are arriving early.’

Lucy ran her fingers through her hair, hanging loose around her shoulders. After the left side of the effortlessly elegant do had collapsed, Lucy cut her losses and pulled the rest of the pins out.

‘Your hair looks nice,’ Jack remarked, his eyes moving admiringly over her face. ‘Nicer like that than when you had it up.’

Lucy ducked her head.

‘Mm, thanks.’

She fiddled with a strand of hair and held onto the bannister.

At the entrance to the restaurant, her parents were greeting arriving guests. As per tradition, the groom’s family paid for the rehearsal dinner, and Lucy’s father took his responsibilities as host seriously. Dressed in a suit with a lavender pocket square and cravat, he was beaming and shaking everyone’s hand vigorously.

His grin grew even wider when he saw Lucy. ‘Hello, Lucy-Lou,’ he wrapped her in a bear hug before planting a kiss on her cheek. ‘You look lovely.’

Lucy sank into her dad’s comforting embrace and squeezed him back. ‘Thanks, Dad,’ she mumbled in his ear.

She pulled back and took in her dad’s attire for the evening. ‘Dad, why are you wearing a cravat?’ she asked.

Valerie rolled her eyes and her head simultaneously, making her look like she was possessed.

‘I’ve said this,’ she said, in the tone of a woman who has exhausted all efforts and been ignored. She threw her hands up and muttered, ‘He looks ridiculous, never worn a cravat in his life and I doubt he’ll wear it again after—’

‘I will,’ James interrupted. ‘In fact, this is just the first in my collection. You’ll have to get used to it.’

He reached out to pat Valerie’s bottom.

‘James, for goodness sake,’ she hissed, batting his hand away. ‘We’re in public. Come here, you haven’t even tied it straight. It looks like a bib.’

James submitted happily enough to being trussed up by his wife, whose lips were pressed into a thin pink lipstick slash. He whispered into Valerie’s ear, and she broke out into giggles.

Lucy dragged Jack away before she could hear what they were saying and be scarred for life.

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