Upside Down(65)

Hennessy squeezed my thigh, and Merry fanned her eyes. “Jesus, what is it with the tears today? You’re all arseholes.”

I laughed, and Angus gave me a shy smile. “I’ll speak to them and let you know.”

“You also have to meet Michael and Vee, and Saffron and Siobhan,” Hennessy said, giving me a nudge. “But maybe friends first, then family. I don’t want to throw you in the deep end.”

Angus tilted his head and studied Hennessy. “How did you know their names? I never said their names.”

“Who?” he asked. “Michael and Veronica? Or Saffron and Siobhan?”

“Well, Michael and Vee.” Now he looked confused. “The couple I’ve been seeing…”

My eyes almost popped out of my head. “What?”

Merry gawped. “What?”

Hennessy’s eyebrows almost met his hairline. “Michael and Veronica Hawke. They live on King Street.”

Angus nodded, a mix of disbelieving and stunned. “Darling Harbour Apartments.”

Hennessy sat back in his seat and a slow smile spread across his face. “You’re the one.”

“The one what?” I asked.

“The one Michael’s been talking about. He was being all weird, and a few weeks ago he asked me if it were possible to love two people. At first, I was like what the fuck, dude. You can’t be cheating on Vee. That’s not cool. And he laughed and said he wasn’t cheating. And the whole conversation was weird, but then we got busy, and then I met you,” Hennessy said, looking at me. “And I’ve been kinda absorbed with that. And not to mention work’s been crazy and stressful.”

“He’s been stressed,” Angus said, nodding slowly. “That’s why I’ve been seeing them so much. It… helps—” He shrugged. “—relieve stress.”

“Wait,” I said, putting the pieces back together. “Your best friends Michael and Vee are Angus’ couple?”

Hennessy laughed. “I think so.” Then he pulled out his phone and hit a number. It answered on the second ring. Still smiling, Hennessy said, “Michael, my dearest friend in all the world. … Yes, yes, it all worked out really great, actually. I’ll be in first thing in the morning to catch up. … Nah, it’s fine. I’m here with Jordan right now and his two best friends. … Yeah, me too. Hey listen, if I said to you right this minute I was sitting across from a guy called Angus, what would you say?” Hennessy grinned as he listened to whatever Michael was saying. “Well, he’s a painter by trade, brown hair, brown eyes, cute as hell.”

I snorted at that, and Angus blushed. Hennessy handed his phone over to him, then Hennessy laughed and nodded. “Turns out it’s a really, really small fucking world.”

“No way,” Merry whispered excitedly.

“You’re not kidding!” I cried. “Holy shit.”

Angus was smiling and blushing and whispering into the phone. “Okay.” He ended the call and handed Hennessy back his phone. He was three shades of red but his smile gave him away. “Uh, this um, meeting thing we talked about?” He cleared his throat. “Dinner at their place next weekend…” He bit his lip. “If you want?”

I was stunned. “And I thought today couldn’t get any weirder. Hell yes, I want to meet them.” Then I blanched. “Oh God. I’ll be meeting your best friends and his couple. At the same time.” I put my hand to my forehead, already about to panic. “I need to give them the ‘don’t fucking hurt him’ speech for Angus, and they need to give it right back to me for you. Fuck. This could be a disaster.”

Hennessy burst out laughing and slid his arm around my shoulder. “They’ll love you.”

“I need an invitation to this dinner party,” Merry said. “There is no way in hell I’m missing this.”

I squinted at her. “You really get far too much enjoyment from my anguish. But God, yes, you’re coming. I’ll need all the moral support I can get.”

Merry shook her head sadly. “I’m not going for moral support, honey. I’m going because if it’s an utter train wreck, I want first row seats. And if I have to hear about it for the next five years of my life, I’d rather be an actual witness so I will know if I have to be supportive or if I need to tell you to pull your head out of your arse.”

I considered arguing, but everything she just said was pretty much true. “Fair enough.”

Angus was positively glowing. “Well, I hate to bail on you guys, but I just had a better offer, so I’ll um… be heading into the city. I probably won’t be home till morning. Just so you know.”

“And as much as I’d like to inhale a bottle of vodka right now,” I said. “I think we need to go back to your place and talk, yeah?”

Hennessy smiled. “Yeah.”

I put my hand up to get the waiter’s attention. “Can we have the bill, please?”





As soon as Hennessy opened the door to his townhouse, my nerves were back. But it was different this time. I wasn’t nervous or anxious wondering what his expectations were on a physical relationship. I was nervous because I was about to tell him how I felt about him. But I was excited too. It wasn’t lost on me what he’d said in the group meeting, in front of everyone. He’d said he couldn’t hate me when he was in love with me.