Waylaid in the Ladies

Chantal managed to annoy us into coming to dinner at the restaurant and despite the myriad of excuses Jojo tried we wound up agreeing to go in the end. Chantal had a huge table set when we got there and we discovered to our dismay that she was planning to have us all there in a big welcome to the family dinner. Jazz and Braith turned up which was good as it sort of meant that Chantal was accepting their marriage a bit more and to my dismay seemed that everyone in town decided not only to go out to dinner tonight but to go to Sedero’s.

We arrived to find Jago and Liselle eating in a corner as I guess Jago couldn’t take her to any of the places he usually went with Taryn. Lynx and Osric popped in for a usual public display of being celebrities and I tensed up at the sight of Lynx. The second Jojo saw her he put a possessive arm around me and was all attentive. I remembered how it was seeing him with her and jealous rage filled me until I wanted to slap his face as even thinking about him and her made me feel all sprackly. Instead I held his hand and he was so relieved that he melted me with little kisses on my cheek leaving me to realise that not giving into my cranky feelings paid off as Jojo was lovely all night and I couldn’t have asked for a more loving or sweet smoochies.

The surprise of the night was seeing Bianca Sangu come in with non other that Mr. Sangu who was not a person who made many public appearances. I had never seen him before and expected him to be some weenie gray faced guy with a cigar hanging out his mouth and stained ill fitting clothes. Instead he was this big, good looking guy in his early forties with wavy brown hair and piercing dark brown eyes that took in the entire room in seconds. You could see him appraising and categorizing everyone the second he entered and in his mind he had already assigned levels of importance to the staring diners. The surprise was not so much that he came out to dinner, but his effect on Chantal as she went all fizzing and fussed over them as if they were her most important customers which gave the suggestion that here was her new interest now Tony was off with Astrid.

At some time Caspar slunk in with Cameo hanging off his arm and this was a strange association if there ever was one, business rivals, off and on lovers these two made no sense but then neither did half of Bishop Vale. The surprises of the night were not quite over yet for when I went to the ladies room I found myself cornered by Liselle Dubois and if being with Jago was her happiness then it suited her well as her frozen eyes had thawed enough to show the glints of gold gleaming through the green. She was a strikingly beautiful woman and I always wondered why someone had not braved the Dubois compound long enough to marry her.

Liselle was not there for chitchat but then I was not stupid enough to think she would be as she had placed herself directly in front of me and her face was urgent with determination. At first she offered me condolences but I had enough of these skirmishes with Liselle to know that was only surface inquiry and she got the point soon enough. She asked if Jojo and I were serious and I told her it was not her concern as I never knew if she was asking out of interest of me or on behalf of her smirking travesty of a brother Gervais. I saw her twitch slightly, an imperceptible motion that betrayed the conflict within her and then I knew she was asking after me on her own.

She continued that Gervais had got wind of my relationship and was not amused. Knowing Gervais, not amused meant he was bathed in his usual icy anger and was currently plotting my demise and I told her this adding that he was no longer going to jerk my strings. She shook her head saying “I wish you would stop taking his presence so lightly. He has an interest in you which means he will not leave your life until he is ready and he can make your life or the life of those you love a misery.” I folded my arms and told Liselle that she had already given me this exact warning and so far all he had managed to do was nearly rape me, spy on me, cause me to lose jobs, break up two of my relationships, intrude upon the death of my mother, threaten the happiness of my friends and ruin the business of two friends.

I smiled brightly asking her when the real fun was going to begin as I considered all these skirmishes nothing but foreplay. She narrowed her eyes and a smile almost touched her lips as she said “Now I understand why he is so smitten by you, no other women in town would dare to be so flippant.” With this she retired from the ladies room leaving me to lock myself in a cubicle and dry heave into the toilet. She had no idea just how much fear and angst her brother caused me or that we were in a battle to the bitter end.

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