Plus One is a Lucky Number

“Ah yes, your boyfriend – the one you haven’t told us enough about.”

Veronica spoke as if she’d heard about him, as if Sophie had been dating him for a while. They’d only agreed to this last Friday. He needed to talk to her. She wasn’t telling him everything.

Adam didn’t like being lied to and if this was to work …

A knock at the door broke his train of thought. He looked towards the bathroom where the shower was still running.

As the knock repeated, harder, he shook his head, hurrying to open the door.

“Oh, you must be the boyfriend.” A young woman grinned, looking Adam up and down as she leaned against the doorframe. She looked similar in age to Sophie, with short, black, bobbed hair and a pretty face. In her arms she held a long, burnt orange, satin dress wrapped in clear plastic. “She wasn't letting on much about you, when we spoke the other week.”

Adam’s eyebrows knitted. The other week?

“Adam,” he replied, holding out his hand. The young woman shook it, moving a little closer towards him, her large, blue, confident eyes fixed on him. He smiled.

“Cassie.” The woman grinned back. “I’m a friend of Sophie’s, although technically we are related in some way, but it’s far too complicated to explain.” Cassie spoke fast, rolling her eyes. She tried glancing over his shoulder. “Is Sophie there?”

“She’s in the shower at the moment. Do you want to come in?”

“Oh, no, no, so much stuff to do, being the chief and all. Janice – the bride‘s mother – is sending me on all sorts of errands.”

“Chief?”

Cassie laughed. “Hey, not as in Indian,” she did a little impression patting her hand over her mouth, “but as in bridesmaid.”

Adam nodded. “Ah, I see.”

Cassie held out the dress in both arms. “Okay, well, as I said, busy, busy, busy. So this is Sophie’s dress. Tell her Aunt Rose will adjust it further if it needs it.”

More aunts. Adam needed to keep up.

He took the satin dress from Cassie, looking at it, frowning.

“She didn’t tell you she was a bridesmaid?”

Adam’s eyes widened as he looked at her, but he shook off the surprise.

“Probably slipped her mind,” he said, shrugging calmly. “She’s been under pressure at work lately.”

“Bloody hell, where’d she get you?” Cassie playfully nudged him, giving him an appreciative glance up and down. “Please tell me you have a brother.”

“Sorry, only child.”

“Bum!” She snapped her fingers, then gave a wicked smile. “Sophie’s far too modest for her own good. I approve already.” Cassie winked at him and Adam couldn’t help but smile. “Boy, you'll knock the socks off Simon.”

“Simon?”

“Simon. You know, her ex-boyfriend?”

Adam stared at Cassie blankly. His expression sobered and his stomach dropped into his gut. Cassie cringed.

“She didn‘t tell you about Simon, either? Okay, Cass, you've said enough.” Cassie backed away. “Shit! Okay, tell Soph I said hi, and I’ll see you both later.” She called out as she walked down the corridor, “We’re all meeting downstairs in the bar at eight.”

Adam closed the door, shaking his head. Bubbly girl, although he had the impression there was a screw loose. He hung up the dress in the wardrobe with the rest of Sophie‘s things.

So she’s a bridesmaid? And there’s an ex-boyfriend.

James, what have you got me into?

“Who was it?” Adam turned to find Sophie in one of the hotel bathrobes, with her hair wrapped up in a white towel. Her face shone, her cheeks were rosy from the steam. He swallowed, imagining her body moist, fresh and naked underneath.

“I heard voices,” she said.

“Cassie.”

“Ah, yes, sorry. Should have explained about Cassie. She’s completely off her rocker, but a really sweet friend.” Sophie chewed her lip, then hesitant, she asked, “What did she want?”

“She came to drop off your bridesmaid dress.”

“Oh, um, I was going to tell you. Honestly, I was.”

“You were coming to this wedding with or without me,” Adam said, frowning with confusion. A shot of anger pulsed through him. Had she tricked him into coming away with her? James had been the one who’d talked him into it – so he couldn’t get mad at her. Not yet.. “You were never going to cancel, were you?”

Sophie met Adam's gaze and then quickly looked at the floor, shoving her hands into the robe’s pockets.

“And I’ve been trying to work out something your aunt said earlier, about you mentioning a boyfriend but not going into detail. Then Cassie said she’d talked to you over a week ago about me. We only arranged this last week. So how do they know about us already?”

Sophie sighed and dropped onto the chaise longue, wrapping her arms around herself. “They all assumed from the beginning I had a boyfriend, so I played along with it. I thought, by the time the wedding arrived, I might have found someone to come with me, and then I wouldn’t have been lying.”

“But you didn’t find a boyfriend, did you?”

“No, because I didn’t even try. Hardly going to find him down The White Lion on a Friday night.” She looked up at him and then shrugged her shoulders. “Which I’m fine with. I don’t need or want a boyfriend. If they hadn’t jumped to conclusions …”

“It seems a bit much to cancel, especially as you're part of the wedding party. They’re your friends and family. They’d understand. You don’t seem the type of person to let people down.” James always spoke highly of Sophie – she was always the one who was there to the end, getting a project finished. She’d had a nerve to call him a workaholic earlier.

She didn’t look at him, staring out the balcony window. Any anger he had been feeling vanished with the devastation he’d seen in her face. Adam sat beside her.

“That’s not all of it, is it?” He rested his hand on her shoulder and resisted pulling her into him, fighting the desire to inhale the scent of soap lingering on her. “Simon is the real reason you didn’t want to come to this wedding?”

“How’d you know –?” She instantly turned to meet his eye. “Oh, let me guess, Cassie and her big mouth?”

Adam watched her closely. He squeezed her shoulder. Something was eating away at her. He had a knack of knowing when someone wasn’t telling him everything – usually applied to sales negotiations. He was also good at keeping his own secrets. But he needed some answers for this weekend to be effective. And he certainly didn’t like seeing her this anxious. They’d come a long way today, and he’d only just started seeing her relax.

“Sophie, for this to work, I need to know what’s going on. I can’t play along if I don’t know everything.”

Sophie nodded. “I wanted to tell you. I needed to find the right moment. It felt so …” Sophie sighed, met his gaze and then stared at her hands in her lap.

He waited patiently.