Chapter 153 THE WRONG CONCLUSIONS - 36

Chapter 153 THE WRONG CONCLUSIONS - 36
COLE

Dinner somehow turned into a two-hour affair.

Partly because Dev had apparently decided that cooking for seven people required the sort of commitment usually associated with military logistics, and partly because nobody at the table seemed capable of letting a conversation end before someone else had dragged it in an entirely different direction.

Marcus was halfway through explaining how he'd accidentally convinced a client he played golf professionally.

"You told him you owned golf shoes," Priya said.

"I do own golf shoes."

"You bought them because they were waterproof."

"That doesn't make them less like golf shoes."

"It does when you've never played golf."

"I played once."

"You drove the buggy into a hedge."

"It was a very aggressive hedge."

Jordan nearly choked on his drink.

"I forgot about the hedge."

"I've been trying to."

"I've got pictures by the way."

"Delete them."

"I've backed them up."

Marcus sighed the sigh of a man who knew justice wasn't real.

"I hate all of you."

"We know," Dev said cheerfully. "Pass the potatoes."

Somewhere between dessert appearing and Jordan insisting that apple crumble was technically breakfast food if you reheated it correctly, I realised I'd stopped thinking about whether being here was awkward.

It wasn't.

Or at least, it wasn't in the way I'd expected.

Vivienne was exactly as she'd always been around people she cared about. She teased Priya mercilessly when Priya admitted she'd forgotten olive oil, listened properly whenever Maya spoke, and laughed so easily that I found myself looking in her direction before I even realised I was doing it.

At one point she caught me. Just for a second though.

She smiled, not a loaded smile, nor an uncomfortable one. Just... a smile.

Then Jordan started arguing that garlic bread should count as a vegetable because garlic was technically a plant, and the moment disappeared into the general noise of everyone loudly explaining why he was an idiot.

By the time the plates had been cleared away and somebody had produced a bottle of wine from somewhere, the evening had settled into that pleasantly aimless rhythm weekends seem to invent for themselves.

Marcus had somehow stretched out across one end of the sofa.

Priya had claimed an armchair and was scrolling through something on her phone while occasionally reading particularly ridiculous headlines aloud.

Dev and Maya disappeared into the kitchen under the suspicious excuse of making tea, although the amount they whispered suggested tea wasn't really the point.

Jordan looked around the room.

"Right."

Nobody paid him much attention. He clapped once.

"Right!"

Seven heads turned.

"I have announcements."

Marcus didn't even open his eyes. "I'm already against them."

"You haven't heard them yet."

"I don't need to."

Jordan reached into his pocket with the sort of theatrical flourish usually reserved for magicians and produced... a folded sheet of paper.

I frowned.

"Is that a seating plan?"

"It's the room allocation."

"You printed it?"

"I like organization, sue me."

Vivienne looked across the room.

"I've known you for years and that's the biggest lie you've ever told."

Jordan ignored her.

"Dev and Maya obviously have the master bedroom."

"Correct," Dev said.

"Priya has the room overlooking the lake because she threatened all of us."

"I negotiated."

"You weaponised eye contact."

"It worked."

"It really did," Marcus admitted.

Jordan continued.

"Marcus gets the room at the end of the hall."

Marcus opened one eye.

"On my own?"

"Luxury accommodation."

"I've peaked."

"The bunk room is mine."

"So far," Vivienne said, "everything seems... remarkably sensible."

"I thought so too."

Jordan nodded at the paper with exaggerated seriousness.

"Unfortunately..."

There it was. That fucking word, unfortunately.

"...there appears to have been a slight mathematical complication."

Nobody said anything.

Jordan frowned thoughtfully at the page. "I've checked it twice."

"Have you?" Maya asked.

"I have."

"And?"

"And unless the house has quietly grown another bedroom in the last five minutes..."

He looked up.

"...the final room has two single beds."

Another pause.

Jordan looked around the room as though waiting for somebody to volunteer.

Nobody did.

"Which means," he continued brightly, "the only people left without a room are..."

He glanced at the paper again.

"Cole." Then at Vivienne. "And Vivienne."

Silence.

Marcus sat up.

"Oh."

Priya looked from me to Vivienne and back again with absolutely no attempt to hide her amusement.

Dev scratched the back of his neck.

"That's... unfortunate."

"It really is," Maya agreed, sounding not remotely devastated.

Jordan folded the paper. "I know."

He actually had the nerve to sigh.

"I tried everything."

"You printed the list," Vivienne said.

"I did."

"So you've known this all evening."

"I've known it since Wednesday."

"You've what?"

He winced.

"...That slipped out."

I couldn't help laughing.

Vivienne looked at him as though she was deciding whether murder could reasonably be argued as self-defence.

Jordan recovered almost immediately.

"The important thing," he announced, "is that there are two beds."

Marcus nodded solemnly.

"That is technically important."

"They're very nice beds," Jordan added.

"Have you inspected them?" Priya asked.

"I believe in due diligence."

Vivienne looked at Maya.

"You knew."

Maya lifted both hands innocently.

"I knew there were two beds."

"Mm-hm."

"I may also have known who was sleeping in them."

"Mm-hm."

"But only because Dev showed me the spreadsheet."

"There was a spreadsheet?" I asked.

"There didn't need to be," Marcus muttered.

"There absolutely did," Dev replied. "Logistics matter."

Vivienne pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I've been ambushed by administrative planning."

"It does feel on brand," Priya admitted.

Everyone looked at me. I looked at Vivienne.

She let out a quiet breath before laughing to herself.

"I mean..." She shrugged. "They're only beds."

"Exactly," I said before I'd really thought about it. "It's one weekend."

She met my eyes.

For just a second it felt like the rest of the room disappeared into the background. Then she smiled.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Jordan slapped his hands together.

"Excellent! I love it when problems solve themselves."

"You created the problem," Marcus said.

"I created an opportunity."

"For what?"

Jordan considered that.

"I'll let history decide."

A chorus of groans followed him as he headed towards the stairs looking entirely too pleased with himself, and I caught Dev trying, and failing, to hide a grin behind his mug.

I had a feeling the two of them were going to be absolutely insufferable by the end of the weekend.

The worst part was...

I wasn't entirely sure I minded.