Wedding Night

like telling yourself not to think about a rabbit. Before I can stop them, my eyes have darted to him again. This time, Richard follows my gaze.
    “What?” He peers at me in astonishment. “Him?”
    “Shhh.”
    “Him?”
    “No! I mean … yes.” I feel flustered. “Once.”
    “Him?”
Richard sounds mortally offended. “But he’s on the other side!”
    “There aren’t
sides
.”
    Richard is surveying Lorcan with narrowed, suspicious eyes. After a moment, Lorcan looks up. He seems startled to see us both gazing at him. My whole body floods with heat and I abruptly turn away.
    “Stop it!” I hiss. “Don’t look at him!”
    “You were looking at him too,” points out Richard.
    “Only because you were!”
    “Fliss, you seem hassled.”
    “I’m not
hassled
,” I say with dignity. “I’m simply trying to be an adult in an adult situation— You’re looking at him again!” I jab at his arm. “Stop!”
    “Who is he, exactly?”
    “Ben’s oldest friend. A lawyer. Works at his company.” I shrug.
    “So … is it a thing?”
    “No. It’s not a
thing
. We just hooked up and then …”
    “You unhooked.”
    “Exactly.”
    “He looks like a bundle of laughs,” says Richard, still surveying Lorcan critically. “I’m being sarcastic,” he adds after a pause.
    “Yup.” I nod. “Got that.”
    Lorcan looks up again and raises his eyebrows. The next minute he’s unbuckling his seat belt and coming over to where we’re sitting.
    “Great,” I murmur. “Thanks, Richard. Hello.” I smile sweetly up at Lorcan. “Enjoying the flight?”
    “It’s tremendous. I need to talk to you.” His dark eyes are opaque as they meet mine, and my heart jumps in trepidation.
    “Right. OK. But maybe this isn’t the place—”
    “Both of you,” he cuts across me, taking in Richard with his glance too. “I’m flying out to Ikonos for good reason. I have some important business to discuss with Ben. He needs to be focused. So if you’re planning to yell at him or beat him up or steal his wife from him, or whatever you’re going to do, I have a request. Please leave it till our meeting is over. Then he’s all yours.”
    I feel an instant surge of resentment.
    “That’s all you have to say?” I jut out my chin.
    “Yes.”
    “You’re only interested in your business. Not in the fact that
you
caused this marriage?”
    “I did
not
cause it,” he retaliates. “And of course the business is my priority.”
    “ ‘Of course’?” I echo sarcastically. “Business is more important than marriage? Interesting viewpoint.”
    “Right now, yes. And it needs to be Ben’s priority too.”
    “Well, don’t worry.” I roll my eyes. “We’re not going to beat him up.”
    “I might beat him up.” Richard pounds his palm with his fist. “I might just do that.”
    The elderly lady sitting next to me looks appalled. “Excuse me,” she says hurriedly to Lorcan. “Would you like to exchange seats so you can talk to your friends?”
    “No, thank you,” I begin, as Lorcan says, “Thank you so much.”
    Great. A minute later, Lorcan is buckling up his seat belt next to me while I stare studiously ahead. Just the sense of him so close to me is making my skin prickle. I can smell his aftershave. It’s giving me Proustian flashbacks to that night, which are
really
not helpful.
    “So,” I say shortly. It’s only one syllable, but I think it successfully conveys the message:
You’re wrong on everything, from who’s to blame for this marriage, to what exactly I meant that morning, to your priorities generally
.
    “So,” he replies with a curt nod. I have a feeling he means much the same thing.
    “So.” I open my newspaper. I’m hereby going to ignore him for the whole flight.
    The only trouble is, I can’t help glancing over at his laptop every so often and seeing phrases that interest me. Richard and Noah are listening to the iPod together while Noah makes inroads into his lollipops. There’s no one else to talk to, even if he is an arrogant bighead on the other team.
    “So, what’s going on?” I say at last, with a shrug to indicate I’m really not interested.
    “We’re rationalizing the company,” says Lorcan after a pause. “Expanding one part of our business, refinancing another, jettisoning another. It all needs to be done. The paper industry these days—”
    “Nightmare,” I agree before I can stop myself. “The price of paper affects us too.”
    “Of course. The