Page 115 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘You make a salient point, Mr Fellows. But he’s so out of touch, it didn’t even come up. Anyway,Pennywill be back in London this Friday and she told him to book a suite at the Langham.’

‘Nicely done, darling,’ he says, giving me a quick kiss. ‘And now that we’re staying in, what do you say to one of your fancy-pants antipasto platters and a bottle of Chianti?’

‘And the new romcom with Florence Pugh?’ I ask with a wide grin. Ilovea good romcom, but Tristan would rather a thriller or a gritty crime drama any day.

His mouth twitches. ‘Since you’ve had a less-than-ideal evening so far, all right.’

‘Woohoo,’ I shout, waking Saffron, who glares at me from the bed. Then I go into the kitchen to start assembling a platter for dinner.

* * *

Kate

It’s after 7p.m. and Willem still hasn’t returned.

Lucia and Margot have gone to get ready to go out with Adriana, who’s in her studio getting dressed, and I’m sitting here like a numpty waiting for him.

The others invited me to join them, but I won’t be able to enjoy myself unless things are right with Willem. Not even Poppy’s news that she convinced Jon to donate £150,000 to our chosen charity has made a dent in my I’ve-behaved-like-an-arse-and-maybe-ruined-things-forever blues.

Eventually, Adriana comes back into the house, gorgeous in a sparkly mini-dress and four-inch heels. ‘You look smashing,’ I tell her.

‘Thanks!’ She points one toe to show off her shoes. ‘I could never wear these with Jon – they make me taller than him and he didn’t like it.’

‘That sounds about right,’ I say with a wry laugh. ‘Why is it that all his flaws suddenly seem so obvious, especially his vanity? Is it like that for you as well?’

‘God, yes. It’s what’s keeping me sane. Any time I miss him, I remember the red flags – so many!’

‘Precisely! Yet we didn’t notice them at the time. I asked Poppy about that and she answered with “love is blind”.’

‘Hmm. She’s probably right. It was easy to ignore his faults when he was being charming.’

‘Exactly.’

‘So… I should go meet Margot and Lucia,’ she says, looking hesitant.

‘Oh!’ I say, realising she probably doesn’t want to leave me here alone. ‘I should go too – sorry.’ I give her a tight-lipped smile, then go over to my case and extend the handle.

‘Kate, I don’t mind if you wait here. But I’m not sure Willem?—’

‘No, no, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to upset him further – or get you into trouble with your big brother,’ I joke, only it’s not funny and we both know that.

I start rolling my case across the wooden floor, the sound echoing ominously throughout the large room. And right as I swing my handbag onto my shoulder, a key sounds in the lock. My eyes fly to meet Adriana’s.

‘Perfect timing,’ she says with an ironic smile. She comes over and leans down to give me a hug, which I return one-handed. ‘See you in London,’ she says, stepping back.

With a pang, I note that she doesn’t say ‘see you tomorrow’, so it’s unlikely she thinks I’ll be here in the morning.

I don’t think I’ll be here either.

I look over and Willem is standing there, watching us. My heart starts racing. Why does he have to be so bloody handsome – even with that troubled look on his face?

Adriana stops to give him a cheek kiss. ‘I’m staying with Margot tonight. See you in the morning.’

He grunts his reply, then she goes, and the sound of the door closing reverberates around the room like a death knell – the death knell of our fledgling relationship, if Willem’s scowl is anything to go by.

‘I didn’t expect you to be here,’ he says gruffly.

‘I gathered that,’ I say with an embarrassed smile. ‘I was just leaving.’

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