Holly’s eyes widened at that and Gia nodded.
“I hope you may be able to forgive yourself for the dreams you’ve had, because you did not know they were shared. But I know you will never forgive yourself if you return to the house tonight and knowingly have them again.” Meeting Holly’s gaze she added, “Trust me when I say that if you sleep in the same house as Justin, you will have them again, piccola.”
While Holly absorbed that, Gia reached down the front of her top and retrieved a wad of money that she had apparently tucked in her bra. Taking Holly’s hand, she pressed the money into her palm and closed her fingers over it. “Take a taxi to the bus station. One leaves at 1:45 in the morning which is in a little under an hour.”
“You know the bus schedules?” Holly asked with disbelief.
“I looked into it a -couple days ago. I knew you would not take it well when you learned that you were not having your dreams alone. I thought it best to be prepared,” she said gently, and then offered a crooked smile and added, “Fortunately, you did not find out until your training was done. I feared you would find out sooner and be forced to stay, in which case . . .”
“I’d have still had the dreams and have to deal with my feelings about that,” Holly guessed.
Gia nodded, and then hugged her quickly. “There is a slip of paper in amongst the money with the number to my cell phone on it. Call me if you need to, or even if you just want to.” Straightening, she smiled and added, “I like you, piccola. And I think we could be good friends if your marriage does not work out and you accept Justin as your mate.”
Releasing her then, she turned to move to the door. “Wait here for a -couple of minutes. I will get Justin to accompany me back to the table so that you can slip out.”
“You won’t get in trouble for this, will you?” Holly asked with concern.
Gia shook her head. “You are done with your training, there is nothing to be in trouble for.” Turning back, she offered a crooked smile and added, “Justin will be very angry at me at first, but he is not the type to hold a grudge. Safe journey, piccola.”
“Thank you,” Holly murmured and watched her walk out. She then paced the bathroom, silently counting slowly to 120 before moving to the door and easing it open. The hall was empty. Holly slipped out and let the door close silently behind her.
Justin tore his gaze from the hallway leading to the bathrooms, and glanced worriedly at Gia on the dance floor. She’d urged him away from the ladies’ room and back to their table some time ago, at least half an hour by his watch, and told him that Holly would be fine, she just needed some time alone. The woman had then gone out onto the dance floor and hadn’t returned to their table since . . . and neither had Holly.
He was about to go check on Holly himself when Gia suddenly waved at where he and the twins sat at the table and then headed for the hall to the washrooms.
She was checking on Holly, he thought and relaxed back in his seat. She’d bring her back, he assured himself. Hopefully, after smoothing everything over with Holly and reassuring her that shared dreams were perfectly natural between life mates and she had nothing to feel guilty—-or angry at him—-for.
That thought made him sigh unhappily. He’d known Holly would be angry when she discovered the dreams she was enjoying were shared. He’d just hoped . . . he didn’t know what he’d hoped. Justin supposed he’d simply not wanted to think about her being angry because the shared dreams were the only real connection he had to her and he hadn’t wanted to give them up. There had been no doubt in his mind that if she knew that he was sharing in the dreams she was having, she was stubborn enough to try to stop them from happening. She probably would have taken to sleeping out on the lawn or something ridiculous like that to try to prevent them. When that didn’t work, she no doubt would have demanded he sleep in a hotel on the other side of Los Angeles to avoid it happening again.
Justin peered at his watch and saw that another fifteen minutes had passed since Gia had gone in the washroom. What the hell were the women doing? And what was this proclivity women had to spend so much damned time in the bathroom together? Did they play poker in there? Have tea parties? Book club meetings at the sinks? Napkin--folding practice with the paper hand towels? What?
Just when Justin was about to lose all patience and storm after them himself, Dante poked his arm and pointed out, “Here comes Gia.”
Yes, here came Gia . . . alone, he noted grimly and stood up.
“Okay, let’s go,” the woman said brightly, breezing past the table, headed for the exit.
“Wait!” Justin barked, hurrying to catch her arm and stop her. “Where is Holly?”
Gia eyed him solemnly, and then said in a gentle voice, “She’s gone home, Justin.”