Page 39 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“Zoe, don’t worry about him. If he has his own race car, he knows how to behave on track. It’s no one’s fault but his own if he acts that dumb.”
Reassured, Zoe smiled. How had Julie known that that’s what she was thinking? She was right, of course. If not for Julie’s little plot, who knows what nonsense she’d be enduring at this moment?
“Thank you so much. Now I can head back to my hotel and never see him again.”Zoe would have hugged Julie with all her strength if she’d been there.
“Anything for you, Zoe.”
Chapter 18
Julie pulled into the villa parking lot. The main building was a huge old farmhouse that had been renovated with a contemporary feel. One side was made of the original bricks and stones and the other looked like a pile of enormous glass cubes, overlooking a vast field going off into the distance. Julie hadn’t been told how much this wedding venue cost, but she knew enough about these things to know that it would be astronomical. She parked her Golf and took a breath before stepping out. Zoe was already there. She knew it. Because Zoe had texted her this morning saying she couldn’t wait to see her.
Julie still couldn’t believe that she had pulled off that stunt the other night. She recalled her sweaty hands as she masked her number before calling the castle. Then how her entire body was trembling when she spouted French nonsense at a famous actor. She didn’t know where her bravery had come from, but imagining a sleazy good-looking man all over Zoe made her uneasy. She was tired of finding handsome British actors between them. At least she’d been able to do something about this one.
A sound took her away from her thoughts. A text from Claire.
“Hey pal, how’s everything going? Did you survive the hen do? Are you at the wedding yet?”
Julie sighed and answered her friend with a string of skull emojis. Another text came in immediately.
“Does that mean you’re head over heels for your famous friend?”
“You’ve no idea… She said that she also had a crush on me in college and now my brain won’t shut up.”
“What??? Whoa Julie that means that you could’ve dated a famous person before they got famous! Maybe you’d even be married to her by now!”
Julie lightly hit her head against her steering wheel. How did she always forget that Claire was the absolute worst friend to get advice from? “Thank you, Claire! This isn’t at all what I’ve been thinking about 24 hours a day for the past week!”
“Really? You didn’t think about that?”
“That was sarcasm. Anyway, I just arrived in the Ardennes for wedding preparations.”
“OK! Keep me updated!”Claire punctuated that message with three popcorn emojis.
Julie hesitated but at the same time, who else was she going to keep updated about the situation? Yasmine? She texted back.
“I will. Stay tuned.”
After taking a long breath, Julie braced herself and left her car. She was promptly greeted by an excited scream. Yasmine had just walked out of the villa into the front yard and was running towards her. She gave her a big tight hug.
“How was the drive? Are you hungry? Zoe made pancakes for breakfast and she has this amazing Italian coffee.” Yasmine grabbed Julie by the arm.
“Wait, I have some stuff in my trunk for the wedding preparations.” Julie dragged her feet. It was a desperate attempt to put off seeing Zoe for a few more moments.
“It’s alright, we can take care of that after pancakes.”
Julie let herself be hauled inside the villa. The entirety of the house was absolutely opulent, with stylish exposed beams and a coat of white paint that seemed like it had been applied just lastweek. Everything was a trendy open space, with the living room, the dining area and the kitchen all mixed up in a huge room. It was all furnished with the latest high-tech equipment.
Julie heard a sizzling sound coming from her left and turned to see Zoe, standing behind the stove, with a cute white blouse and faded blue jeans. A casual outfit that somehow seemed like the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. Julie was already unimpressed with herself and tried to gather her thoughts as Yasmine took her over to the kitchen island where she plopped her into one of the tall chairs before sitting next to her.
“Look who I’ve found in the parking lot!” Yasmine gently patted Julie’s shoulders, who did her best to smile but only managed to do a weird grimace. Luckily, Zoe didn’t seem to mind and smiled back at her.
“Can’t believe Julie isalmoston time for once.”
“Wait, I’m not that late?”
“We told you to show up at 10 am and it’s now 10:10. I’m proud of you, champ.” Yasmine grinned at her.
Indeed. Julie looked at her phone. She didn’t want to admit that she was too excited to see Zoe that she had actually managed to leave her apartment almost on time. Oh well.
