Page 46 of Three's a Crowd
‘Sure,’ she heard him say, in his low, gravelly voice behind her, as she scrambled out of the car. ‘Night.’
Not looking back, she walked quickly through the hotel’s reception and straight into the lift that was fortuitously waiting there for her.
As it made its smooth journey upwards, she allowed herself to reflect on the events of the night. She’d probably had the most fun she’d ever had in her entire life tonight. This thought produced a pang of something like guilt – because Adam hadn’t been a part of it – which she quickly banished. It had been his decision not to come, after all.
Back in the suite, she found Adam had crawled into bed and flung all her neatly laid-out clothes onto the floor in a heap.
Sighing in annoyance, she picked them up and laid them carefully on the chaise longue at the end of the bed, then went to get washed and undressed, before climbing in next to him, preparing herself for a disturbed night as a loud, shuddering snore came from his direction.
11
Daisy awoke groggily the next morning to find that Adam was already up and out of bed.
She looked blearily over at her phone on the night stand and was shocked to see that it was already quarter past ten. She was supposed to be meeting Zach in the lobby in forty-five minutes and she really needed a shower and some breakfast before setting out on their promised shopping trip.
‘Adam?’ she shouted, jumping out of bed and desperately searching around for one of the complimentary bathrobes.
Adam appeared from the adjoining room and watched her hunting for the errant piece of clothing, an inquisitive smile on his face.
‘Morning, sleepyhead. Good night, was it?’ he asked, coming over and pulling her to him. He smelt sour from all the alcohol he’d consumed the previous day.
‘Ugh! You stink!’ she muttered, without thinking, struggling out of his embrace. Finally managing to locate a dressing gown, she pulled her arms into it and secured it at the waist. ‘I mean, yes, it was fun,’ she said distractedly, turning to clock the look of hurt on his face.
She didn’t have time to soothe him right now, though. She needed to get a move on if she was going to be ready for eleven o’clock.
‘Where did you go?’ he asked, obviously hurt at her rejection and watching her in consternation as she flapped around the room, choosing an outfit to put on after her shower. All her clothes were creased after Adam’s disrespectful handling of them.
‘We went for steak frites at some little back street restaurant Zach knows,’ she replied, uncomfortably aware of how much work she’d need to do to tone down the events of the previous evening, so as not to make Adam resentful.
She didn’t want him to think she’d had more fun without him, even if it was true.
He’d annoyed her with his antics the day before, sure, but looking at him now, standing there with his hair tousled and all his boyish charm on show, she felt a sting of guilt at her blatant disregard for his well-being the previous night.
No. He was the one who decided to get so drunk he couldn’t even manage to go out for dinner.
She didn’t need to pander to him; he was a grown up and she wasn’t his mother.
‘How glamorous,’ he muttered, with a sarcastic smirk. ‘I would have thought old superstar Zach could have done better than that.’ He seemed pleased with his cutting wit.
Daisy’s blood started to boil.
‘And then he took me to Monaco and we raced around the Grand Prix track before winning thousands of euros at roulette in the casino,’ she countered, unable to resist the urge to get back at him for his spiteful tone.
Adam’s face fell.
‘Huh,’ he said, looking suddenly much less pleased with himself. ‘I hope you didn’t gamble with any of our money?’
Daisy sighed in exasperation and shook her head at him. ‘No, Adam, I didn’t. We played with Zach’s money. We don’t even have any money in our joint account at the moment,’ she added, only just managing to control the annoyance in her voice. ‘Anyway, we don’t have time for arguing this morning. Zach’s meeting us in the hotel lobby at eleven. He’s closing a store for us so we can go shopping for clothes for his film’s premiere,’ she added, willing him to respond positively to this announcement.
Unfortunately, it was not to be.
‘Shopping!’ he said crossly. ‘I’m not spending my precious holiday time in some nobby shop trying on bloodyclothes.’
‘Adam, we need to get you a dinner jacket for the premiere and party tonight. It’s black tie, apparently,’ she said, unable to keep her exasperation with him out of her voice.
‘Daisy, no,’ he stated vehemently. ‘I brought my suit. That’s going to have to do.’
‘Argh!’ she shouted in frustration. ‘Listen, why don’t I just pick you one up then? You go and do whatever it is you want to do this morning and I’ll meet you somewhere for lunch? How about the Petite Majestic? Someone at work told me that’s supposed to be great,’ she said hopefully.
