AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I dragged Diana off into the dining room where she opened the white envelope and I investigated the elegant buffet of tasty nibbles, hoping to find someone else to talk to, and inevitably we found ourselves face to face with Raphaël.
‘Good evening,’ he said.
‘Hello,’ Diana replied airily, still scanning through the message.
Then she picked up a little bruschetta and the prawn fell off the top of it and onto the floor. Hoping he hadn’t noticed, I nudged it under the table with my foot.
‘Are you both having a pleasant evening?’ he said, bending down to pick it up.
We dithered about the stray prawn for a few seconds, until he wrapped it up in a paper napkin and left it on a plate.
‘Yes, very nice indeed,’ Diana said. ‘You?’
That’s my girl. Play it cool. Pretend nothing happened.
‘I was just leaving, I have all the pictures I need,’ he said, ‘and there is always editing to do in my studio.’
He gave us a polite smile and turned as though leaving. Feeling I needed to make myself scarce I went to the far end of the table and pretended to examine some cheese straws.
‘I’m terribly sorry,’ I heard Diana say suddenly.
‘What for? The prawn?’
‘For last night. I didn’t mean to – you know.’
No, Diana. I thought we talked about this?
‘Kiss me? Trust me you don’t need to apologise.’
‘But after everything I said, about not wanting to – about you being too charming. And then to do that. I don’t know what I was thinking.’
‘Diana, no man needs an apology when a beautiful woman kisses him.’
Oh goodness, that was a great line.
‘Um,’ she said.
‘Please don’t give it a second thought. I enjoy your company. I like talking to you.’
‘I won’t,’ Diana said, taking a bite of the bruschetta to show how unconcerned she was. It was unexpectedly spicy, and she huffed a bit, I moved on to look at a china bowl of olives and stabbed about with a cocktail stick, trying to spear one.
Eventually I picked one up and popped it in my mouth, not realising it still had a stone, and I bit into it, my teeth jarring with the impact. Not wanting to distract my companions from their increasingly interesting conversation, I stifled a yowl of pain, pulled a silent face of despair, mouthed bloody hell silently, and turned away, spitting the olive into a paper napkin. And then I checked my teeth with my tongue to check I hadn’t broken anything.
Diana was still talking. ‘I’ve had a note from Dick Dainty. He says there is a space in the itinerary tomorrow morning before we reach Naples. He wants me to give a talk. In the Debussy conference room. He’s going to put up notices around the ship to publicise it.’
Raphaël’s face lit up. ‘But how wonderful. I will be sure to come along.’
I didn’t think it was physically possible for my ears to actually twitch like Jill’s part-time cat, when he heard a tin being opened, but I wouldn’t have bet on it. It would give away the fact that I was shamelessly eavesdropping.
How did she feel about that? I bet she was secretly pleased to think he would be there, but at the same time understandably nervous in case the talk didn’t go well. What if no one turned up but me, Diana, Dick Dainty, and him? That would be mortifying. Perhaps I should go around the ship nagging people?
Then Betsey and Charles, who were now apparently her new best friends, came into the dining room, laughing, also looking for the buffet.
‘My talk is going to be at eleven o’clock,’ Diana said, ‘and I’m really nervous. What if no one comes to listen?’
‘They will,’ I said, hurrying up to join in. I grabbed Betsey’s arm as she went past, nearly knocking a mini quiche and half a tomato which had been cleverly carved into a rose off her plate. ‘I’m sure our new Texan friends will be there won’t you, Betsey. And I’m sure Dick will announce it this evening in the Ocean Spray theatre. Before the Songs from the Shows event. And probably on Dick’s Diary tomorrow morning.’
‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ Betsey said, anchoring her tomato with a cocktail stick.
