Page 52 of Three's a Crowd
They’d be able to work it out afterwards – hopefully when he’d sobered up.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, holding both hands up in apology. ‘I lost track of time, then got really lost on my way back and by the time I got to the bar, you must have gone,’ she lied, hoping desperately that he hadn’t been at the Petite Majestic all afternoon and had just come from there. ‘I would have called but I forgot to take my mobile with me.’ At least this part was true.In her haste to leave that morning, she’d forgotten to pick it up from the nightstand.
‘Humph,’ he muttered. From his lack of reaction, he obviously had been somewhere else.
Where would that have been? Daisy wondered, before pushing the thought to the back of her mind. It didn’t matter right now; what mattered was persuading Adam to get ready, sobering him up and jollying him out of his bad mood so that they could enjoy the evening.
‘What have you been doing all afternoon?’ she asked, tentatively.
‘Just hanging out with some guys I met in the bar. When you didn’t show, they took me to some place on the edge of town,’ he muttered noncommittally. Daisy decided to ignore the blatant lie for now. ‘I can’t believe I got stood up by my own girlfriend,’ he continued, clearly not willing to let her transgression go without making her feel really shitty about it.
She decided she wasn’t going to let him do that to her though, especially when she’d seen him with that woman, so she ignored this. ‘I’ve ordered some sandwiches from room service. We need to eat quickly and get going. The doors open at six thirty and we can’t be late,’ she said, hoping against hope he’d be reasonable about it.
‘I’m not hungry,’ he replied, sinking further back onto the sofa.
Daisy tamped down her annoyance. She was determined to get him dressed and out of the door without causing a row.
‘Okay,’ she said reasonably. ‘Just jump in the shower and get dressed then.’
‘In a minute,’ he said waving her away like she was some pesky nag.
Her blood started to boil.
Keep calm, Daisy.
She glanced at the clock, her stomach lurching when she saw it was now eight minutes past six.
They weren’t going to make it at this rate.
‘Adam, we have to be there in twenty minutes so you need to get dressed now!’ It was impossible to stop the anger pervading her voice now.
He looked at her with a scornful expression. ‘Okay, keep your hair on,’ he said, rousing himself and sloping off into the bathroom.
As he passed her, Daisy caught a whiff of perfume in the air around him. It was sweet, like honey, with an undertone of roses. She could guess where he’d picked that up.
She paced whilst waiting for him, munching on the odd sandwich, her appetite now very small, and watching the clock tick down until the time the film started.
Finally, he came out of the bathroom and pulled on the dinner jacket and trousers that she’d hired for him, grumbling the whole time about how his suit would have been perfectly fine. Luckily, it all fit. The collar on the shirt was a bit tight, but at that point, Daisy didn’t care one bit.He should have come with me to get it, she thought angrily to herself,instead of chatting someone up in a bar.
‘You look good,’ she told him once he was dressed. And he did. He looked dashing in his get-up and for a second, Daisy remembered why she had fallen for him in the first place.
He did up his cufflinks, not reacting to her compliment.
‘Right, we’re good to go,’ she said, hurt at him blanking her, but relieved that they were finally ready.
She called down to reception and asked them to arrange for a car to take them to the Palais de Festival, even though it was only a short walk. She didn’t think she’d be able to manage it in her heels. Plus, they were running really late now and wouldn’t make it otherwise.
She checked she had the tickets, then put her shoes on, wobbling slightly at the height. After one final check in the mirror, she grabbed her bag and ushered Adam out of the room.
He was still clearly drunk and finding it a hard to walk straight.
Daisy cursed him silently. Why was he doing this to her? He’d never acted like this before. It was as if a doppelgänger had taken his place.
With no time to dwell on it, she pressed the button to call the lift. It occurred to her as they swooped downwards that Adam hadn’t made any mention about how she looked. This realisation stung. In the past he’d been really attentive and sweet when she made an effort to get dressed up.
Still smarting, she led him through the foyer and out into the balmy night air. The concierge had found a car for them and they jumped in it. The driver made slow progress down the Croisette, due to the large numbers of people making their way towards the red-carpet show before the premiere, so they were able to clearly see the Cinema de la plage, a large screen set up on the beach, where crowds were already assembling to watch a movie that evening under the stars, with the gentle lull of the sea rolling faintly in the background.
The car finally drew up to the side entrance of the red-carpet walkway and Daisy and Adam got out.
