Saving Wishes (The Wishes Series) (24 page)

“This is Marseille, my home,” she announced proudly, patting the cover with her hand.

I turned each page, studying each picture for as long as I could without appearing weird. The third page held a photograph of the most incredible house I’d ever seen – if it could be called a house. It was more like a castle straight out of a fairy-tale.

“Who lives there?”

“It’s our family home. I grew up there.”

My jaw fell open in shock. Gabrielle was a secret Snow White after all. Her cousin was keeping a few secrets of his own, and if I was being truthful, I’d say I suspected that too.

“What has Adam told you about our family Charli?” she asked, twisting her head to look at the page I was staring at.

“Not very much,” I admitted. In fact he’d told me nothing, and it was getting harder to ignore.

“I’m not surprised. He is very modest,” she said, smiling the same smile that Adam used to stun me.

“Will you tell me?”

Gabrielle hesitated. “The Décarie family is centuries old, Charli, practically aristocratic,” she explained.

“Like royalty?”

“Not quite, just very wealthy. I think it’s referred to as old money.”

I sat silently for a long time, trying to process what she was telling me. “Does Adam live in a castle?”

If it was a stupid question, she didn’t let on. “No. His family lives in New York.”

I tapped the picture of the castle with my fingertip. “Are you excited about going home?” I asked.

“I have Alex now.” She smiled like he truly was the best thing in the world. “But I miss my family terribly.”

“Alex will go with you.” I said it with too much certainty. It wasn’t a statement I was qualified to make.

Gabrielle looked down at the cup of tea she was cradling. “Time will tell.”

“He told me so. When I leave town, he’s going to go to Marseille with you.”

She frowned as if she’d lost the ability to comprehend English. “He hasn’t told me,” she uttered quietly.

I leaned back in my chair, dragging in a breath like I was drowning. I did feel like I was drowning – artificially calm on the surface and frantically treading water underneath.

“I think he’s saving it for the weekend. He wants to tell you when the time is right.” I spoke slowly, which was a mistake. I ended up sounding like I was lying.

“You’re not coming back here, are you?” she asked. “You’re going to New York.”

“I need to be with him. I know you understand that,” I said, sounding much stronger.

She looked at me for a long moment but didn’t speak. Her reaction or lack thereof, confused me. We were both getting what we wanted. I thought she’d be jumping for joy, breaking out the French champagne or doing whatever it was that arty French beauty queens did when they celebrated.

“I see,” she mumbled finally.

“Alex’s decision has nothing to do with me. He loves you, that’s why he’s going to Marseille,” I said.

“And how do you feel about it?”

It wasn’t a question I expected her to ask and I had to think about my answer. “I want Alex to be happy. You make him happy.”

Finally she smiled, just enough to be slightly reassuring. “Isn’t love a dreadful thing?”

I nodded, feeling the anguish twisting on my face.

“What is it, Charli? I can tell there’s more to this.”

I shifted nervously in my seat before edging into the real reason I was there. “Alex has cut me a huge amount of slack by leaving me at home this weekend and I don’t want to ruin it by lying to him.”

“Okay.” She drew out the word.

“I want to stay here. And I want you to help me tell him.”

“Oh, Charli.” That was the only part of her sentence I understood. A long French monologue followed, complete with hand gestures and over-the-top facial expressions.

“Yes or no?” I asked as soon as she paused. I saw a flicker of pity in her green eyes. Maybe she knew how Alex would react. Perhaps they’d already discussed it. “I’m not asking you to tell him, Gabrielle. I’m just asking you to be there when I tell him,” I clarified.

It seemed an eternity before she spoke.

“Okay. Dinner tonight. Here. We’ll tell him over dinner. I’ll cook.” She spoke absently, as if she was trying to string a plan together in her head.

“Thank you,” I breathed. I made my way around the table towards the door.

“One more thing, Charli,” she said, reaching for my hand as I passed her. “You need to talk to Adam.” She tapped her Marseille diary. “He’s only perfect for you if you know everything about him.”

I knew exactly what she meant. “Do you think Alex is perfect?”

“Except when he calls me Gabs.” She pulled a face. “What a ridiculous appellation to bestow on someone you claim to love.”

I burst into a fit of giggles. Sometimes I felt as if I needed a French
and
English dictionary on hand to understand what she was saying.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I told her, still laughing as I made my way to the door.

19. Confusion

My school day dragged, and its slowness was compounded by the fact that I was stuck in detention until five.

For once, Mademoiselle Décarie had nothing to do with it. Mrs Young had sentenced me for the crime of failing to return two library books by the due date. Until then, I wasn’t even aware that she had that kind of power. I got no sympathy from Alex when I called to tell him. Adam was slightly more understanding, although disappointed that I’d managed to cut into another of our afternoons together.

By the time I arrived at Gabrielle’s, Alex was already there. His red Ute stole three quarters of the narrow driveway. My heart thumped mercilessly as I made my way up to the porch.

“They’re in the shed, working on the boat,” Gabrielle told me, obviously not concerned.

The thought of them spending time alone together was disturbing. Adam didn’t always understand the complications between Alex and me. He thought for us to spend the weekend together while Alex and Gabrielle were away was logical, unable to grasp that Alex saw it as leaving a child in a brushwood house with a can of petrol and a box of matches. If Adam mentioned it before I did, anything was possible – and every scenario I played out in my head as I walked the short distance to the shed ended badly.

Spying on them felt criminal but I was powerless to stop myself. I stood motionless, peeping through the crack in the door. Alex stood near the stern with his arms folded. I couldn’t see Adam, but heard the very sound of sandpaper scraping along wood. Mercifully, the conversation was light. They were talking about the boat, debating the million dollar question – was it Huon or run of the mill pine? Adam had no clue. Alex was undecided.

“Norm will be able to tell you,” said Alex. “Are you sure you want to sell it?”

“I have no use for it,” replied Adam casually. “Besides, Charli could use the extra travel money.”

“That’s very generous of you.” Alex’s tone was strange. “But I guess thousands of dollars is just a drop in the ocean for you, right?”

The sandpaper sound stopped.

“It bothers you, doesn’t it?”

“It wouldn’t bother me if Charli knew about it,” Alex replied.

“You know as well as I do, it wouldn’t make any difference to her.”

“How do expect her to adjust to your life in New York, Adam? She’s pinning everything on this working out. That
does
bother me.”

Adam laughed but it was somehow wrong. It was sarcastic and hard.

My thoughts drifted to the French castle that Gabrielle called home. Alex had some adjusting to do too. I wonder if
that
bothered him.

“Do you even see her when you look at her?” asked Alex. His arms were still folded across his chest.

“I see
everything
.” Adam spoke without hesitation. His answer couldn’t have sounded any truer if he’d had time to rehearse it. “She’s stronger than you think she is.”

Alex finally uncrossed his arms, moving both hands to the back of his head like he was warding off a migraine. “Everything is fine then. I’m worrying unnecessarily,” he said.

“You don’t like me very much do you?” asked Adam.

His question floored me. Considering it took Alex a long time to speak made me think it staggered him too. I’d never heard either of them say a bad word about the other. How had I not seen the tension before now? Part of me didn’t want to hear the answer. A bigger part of me was too cowardly to move. So I stood, waiting for his reply.

“I don’t like the effect you have on her.”

The sound of tools crashing into the metal toolbox made me flinch. When angry, Alex liked to chop wood. Adam liked to make noise.

“Why do you have such a strong hold on her?” Adam asked. “I don’t understand it. You need to let her go. She’s more than capable of making her own decisions.” He spoke calmly but the frustration in his voice was undeniable.

“In case you haven’t noticed, she’s capable of getting in to a lot of trouble too,” replied Alex.

Through the tiny gap in the shed door, Adam walked into view carrying the box of tools, dumping it on a shelf. “So you’ve made it your life’s work to keep her on the straight and narrow? How’s that working out for you, Alex?” he asked, glancing back at my brother.

“Pretty well, until you showed up.”

“I don’t buy that for a second. Charli has never toed the line. That’s why you’re having such a hard time letting go of her. She was impossible to hold in the first place.” His words were abnormally harsh. Adam was usually much more low-key when it came to telling people off.

Alex’s response confused me. I expected an angry comeback. I held my breath, waiting for the ranting to begin but it didn’t happen. Instead, he relaxed. “Charlotte has a high tolerance for risk, she’s a slave to the sea and she takes pictures of time,” he said, ticking off my list of weird character traits on his fingers, making them sound more bizarre by the tone of voice he used.

I was glad that I couldn’t see Adam’s face. I imagine he looked horror-struck. There was no way Adam could ignore the list when it was being spelled out for him. I could see Alex’s face clearly, though. His smugly calm expression hinted that he thought Adam was about to come to his senses and make a run for it.

At last Adam spoke. “Those are the things I see when I look at her,” he stated. “They’re not faults or flaws. That’s who she is and I love that about her.”

“That’s what you see?” Alex sounded incredulous.

“That’s exactly what I’ve seen from the minute I met her.”

There was an extremely long pause.

My heart wasn’t sinking any more. In fact, there was a fair chance it was going to float right out of my chest. Adam walked out of view again and I leaned closer to the gap.

“You weren’t expecting to find her, were you?” asked Alex quietly.

“No. I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s changed the way I see everything. Have you ever felt that for someone?”

“Once,” he vaguely admitted.

“Gabrielle is hoping that you’ll go back to France with her,” said Adam, connecting the dots.

Alex tried to sound offhanded an unexcited. “That’s my plan.”

“Maybe you should fill Gabi in, put her out of her misery. Do you love her?” quizzed Adam.

“Completely.” He finally spoke with the fervour that a statement like that deserved and I was relieved.

“So why did you keep her a secret for so long?”

“You’ve been here long enough. You’ve seen how the rumour mill works.”

“So it comes down to you not wanting to be talked about?”

“No, it’s even more selfish than that. I never believed someone like Gabi could ever want me for very long. There was no point going public if was going to be short-lived.”

“So what changed your mind?”

Alex’s hands moved behind his head again. “Gabrielle knows everything about me. Every. Last. Thing.”

“And yet she still loves you?”

“Yeah. Imagine that. Perhaps you should give Charli the same chance.”

Adam walked into view again, dragging his arms through his coat sleeves. “I’m going to tell her everything this weekend… while she’s staying here… with me.”

The thought of Adam finally coming clean about his prince charming status now seemed trivial. I stopped breathing. Waiting for Alex’s reaction (and the lack of oxygen) was killing me. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Adam had told him about our plans. He’d seen no point in making a big deal of it in the first place.

“That’s what this dinner is about, isn’t it?” asked Alex. “She’s planning to break it to me using you and Gabrielle for moral support.”

“That’s about the gist of it,” replied Adam calmly.

“Fine. Consider me told.”

“That’s it?” asked Adam, sounding understandably cautious.

Alex held both palms out before slapping them against his sides. “What do you want me to say? I’m loosening my grip.”