“Oh, Sean.” Tears shimmered in her eyes and she covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s just— It’s perfect. I couldn’t be happier.”
“You don’t have any reason to be happy because she doesn’t feel the same way, Mom. Now can we move on? We’ve talked about this for long enough.”
“Doesn’t—” Elizabeth exchanged glances with Alice, perplexed. “Well, of course she does.”
Sean clenched his jaw, wondering what he had to do to move the conversation onto a different topic. “So how are bookings for the winter, Jackson?”
“Slightly up.” His brother came to his rescue. “All we need now is plenty of snow, but overall I’m optimistic.”
“I may not know anything about mending broken bones,” Elizabeth said stoutly, “but I know when a woman is in love.”
Alice smiled. “I knew straight away.”
Sean breathed deeply, looking for an escape. “My phone is buzzing,” he lied. “I’ve had it on silent.” That was true, but when he pulled it out of his pocket and surreptitiously turned it on he saw that it really had been ringing.
He had twenty missed calls.
Exactly twenty. All from Élise.
“I have to—” Shit. Twenty? “I have to get this. I have to make a call.”
Tyler sighed. “Of course you do. Lives to save, people to heal. Don’t mind us. It means we can all talk about you behind your back.”
Walter frowned. “Can’t you tell them you’ll call them back when you’ve finished your food? A man has a right to eat a meal.”
Tyler reached across. “I’ll eat his meal. Shame to let it get cold.”
His grandfather slapped his hand. “He’ll be coming back. Is there any problem that can’t wait five minutes?”
Right on cue his phone started ringing again and Sean glanced down at the screen and saw Élise’s name again. His heart lurched. She’d never called him before. Not once. And she’d been calling him and calling him and he’d had his phone switched off. What could have happened?
He told himself that twenty missed calls didn’t mean anything except that something bad had happened.
Was it Pascal?
He never should have left her there alone.
The phone was still ringing but he didn’t want to answer it in front of his family.
Sweating, he stood up quickly, knocked his wineglass over and sent wine flowing over the table. “I need to—”
“Go.” Tyler stood up and threw his napkin on the table, watching as the cream fabric slowly turned red.
“Those napkins were a wedding present.” His mother sighed as Tyler piled another one on top.
“Glad to have finally found a use for them.”
Sean slammed the door behind him and answered the phone. “Élise? Are you all right?” His hand was shaking so badly he almost dropped the phone. “Where are you? Is something wrong?”
ÉLISE PACED ALONG the lake path, wondering if she’d misjudged. Wondering if he’d come. And then finally she saw him, sprinting through the rain, his shirt glued to his chest and his hair plastered to his head.
“I can’t believe you’re here! I thought you were in Paris.” He grabbed her arms and pulled her under the shelter of the trees. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
“I didn’t intend to, but then you left and I did a lot of thinking and, merde, why is it raining again?” She was shivering and he dragged her into his arms, holding her close.
“My phone was switched off and when I saw the missed calls from you I almost had a heart attack. I thought maybe Pascal had shown up at the apartment or something. You’ve never called me before. Never.”
“I know.” Her teeth were chattering but she knew it was nerves, not cold. “I needed to talk to you. I took a chance that you’d be here. It’s family night.”