I put the arrangement very carefully on the seat, and did the seatbelt up around it. By now, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself about the whole thing. Matt had rung back and confirmed that he was okay for Saturday, I’d arranged the insurance and telephoned the bride to explain.
She didn’t mind in the least that the white limo had been replaced by a metallic blue Mercedes. Be more of a squeeze for the bridesmaids, but would go so much better with her colour scheme. Thank heavens for practical clients, I thought. In the stressed world of weddings, there were few of them around.
I filled Jan in on the details. ‘So everything’s okay,’ I finished, as we climbed in ourselves and set off for college. ‘All I have to do is dig out a chauffeur’s cap for him, and we’re done. Steve’s is probably in a gutter somewhere.’
‘Ah, yes, Steve,’ she said, adopting her “time to give you a lecture” tone of voice. ‘What’s going to happen about him?’
‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘He’s going to do all the bookings I have left in the diary and then I guess we’ll go our separate ways.’
‘And that’s it?’
‘That’s it. He’s offered to pay me for the bookings he did, and assuming the car comes back in the same state as it was when he took it, I’m happy with that.’
I had, by now, spoken to both the police and our insurers. Everything was covered and that was all that mattered. If the insurers wanted to sue any of Steve’s passengers, that was their business. It wasn’t my problem. In fact, I felt happily problem-free at the moment. I would be getting my own car back at the end of the day, I had two weeks left in college, and only another dozen bookings. Then, in September, I could start realising my dreams. Some of them, anyway, which was good enough for now.
But Jan, like most sisters, could sometimes read my mind. ‘And what about this knight in shining armour of yours? Matt, was it? Any action on that front?’
Typical. A bloke couldn’t come within ten yards of me, without Jan thinking he might be the man of my dreams. Not that I didn’t have the same dreams as any other divorced woman – that one day I’d meet someone lovely and live happily ever after – but I wasn’t in the same rush as she was about it. I’d been out on a couple of dates after the divorce, but it was still early days. When the right man – or, okay, dashing knight – came along, I was convinced that I’d know it. Till then I was happy to bide my time.
So, yes, she might well be right. Matt might be a very nice man. But one not on my radar.
‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘No action whatsoever.’
‘Ah, you say that,’ she said, in a tone that suggested she had forgotten who was the big sister. ‘But you never know when or where Cupid’s going to strike.’
Cupid, indeed. What planet was she on? ‘I already told you, Jan. He’s married.’
She looked disappointed. ‘No, you didn’t.’
‘Yes, I did.’
Chapter 9
There are all sorts of weddings. Big weddings, small weddings, grand weddings, cheap weddings. There are as many kinds of wedding as there different types of people. Though divorces, sadly, usually end up the same.
Saturday’s wedding was a medium-sized wedding, unremarkable in almost every way except, as sometimes happens, that it was themed. Funny business, I always thought, giving a wedding a theme. Shouldn’t the theme be simply ‘happy ever after’? Wasn’t that enough? But if that was what made them happy, so be it. Having been present at so many weddings over the years, there was little I hadn’t already seen and been aghast at, so if it pleased the bride to style herself on the Little Mermaid, as this one had, then who was I to pass judgement? I just hoped, as I always did at weddings, that theirs would last.
‘Unbelievable!’ muttered Matt, nudging me as the bridal procession – in various shades of bright blue and green – had got themselves into formation for a couple of quick photos before we left for the church. Even the bride’s father’s suit was a nasty shade of turquoise. ‘What’s that all about?’
I leaned in a little closer so I wouldn’t be overheard. ‘I believe the groom is a scuba diving champion, or something. She told me they met on a reef.’
‘On a reef?’
‘In the sea. If I remember right, she was in a snorkling group on some package holiday outing and he whisked her off to show her…well,’ I shrugged, stifling a giggle. ‘Some fish, I suppose.’
It was a big church, one I’d been to many times before, so I knew where to find the loo, at least. It also had sufficient room that we could park both the cars off the road, which meant we didn’t have to scoot off to some backstreet car park to wait, and could enjoy the sunshine from a bench in the churchyard.
It had already been a busy day. I’d had to get up, shower, get Josh off to some skateboarding event (for him to watch, not compete in – anything to get his fix) and then go over to the barn to check over and pick up the Rolls. After that, I’d had to find my way to Matt’s house, which was every bit as grand and imposing as I’d expected. (What did he do for a living, I found myself wondering? I really knew so little about him.) It made more sense to go to him than him come to me because it was closer to where the bride lived. We’d then had to decorate both cars with the blue ribbons she’d ordered and get over to her house in plenty of time for her to decide that she didn’t like the blue after all and could she have green ones instead?
‘So this is what you do full time, then, is it?’ Matt asked, once we’d parked the cars and were heading across the churchyard to wait. ‘Provide cars for weddings and so on? Seems an unusual job for a woman.’ He winked. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, that is.’
‘Not at all,’ I replied, as we made our way across to the bench, which was sited beneath a large, spreading cedar tree. The shade was a relief. It was getting very hot. Another day to be wearing something other than a suit. Oh, for a day off.
We sat down. ‘And you’re right,’ I added. ‘I only know of one other firm that’s run by a woman, so, yes, I am a bit of an oddity. But it’s only temporary.’ I explained about it having been my ex’s business, and about my real career plans.
‘And at least I won’t have to spend any more weekends hanging around graveyards,’ I observed. ‘I’m beginning to feel like one of the undead.’ I stretched my legs out in front of me and sighed. ‘God, it’s warm, isn’t it? What I wouldn’t give, right now, to be by a river somewhere. Sun sparkling on the water, chilled glass of wine, tartan blanket, some swans…’
‘Swans?’
I smiled wistfully. I had lots of time, in my job, to think about all the things I’d rather be doing. ‘Oh, ignore me,’ I said. ‘It’s just a little picture I keep in my mind. A few swans floating past. A dozing fisherman on the riverbank. A good book. Some strawberries. Possibly a few bees…’
‘Hmm,’ he said. ‘You can keep the bees. But the rest sounds pretty good. Mind you,’ he said, stretching out a little himself now, crossing his long legs and linking his hands behind his head. ‘Sitting here isn’t so bad, either. Beats grouting, for sure.’
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but then I remembered. ‘Of course. Your tiling. Decorating, eh?’
‘Putting in a new bathroom,’ he said. Which I realised would explain his dusty scruffiness the first time I saw him. ‘Well, I’m supposed to be. No matter. I shall crack on tomorrow.’
I felt guilty then, reminded that I really had no business invading his weekend. I sat up straight and turned towards him. ‘I really am very grateful for your help today,’ I said. I thought about the work that was waiting for him at home. ‘Are you sure your wife doesn’t mind?’
He looked confused for a moment. Then, suddenly, he grinned. ‘I doubt she’d care much either way. As far as I know she’s in Melbourne.’
Now it was my turn to look shocked. ‘Melbourne? Oh. Has she gone there on a trip?’ She might have, after all. I hadn’t seen her when I’d called that morning.
He grinned again. ‘Sort of, I suppose. Pretty long o
ne, though. She’s been there two years now and to my knowledge she’s not got any plans to come back. Not to me, at any rate.’
‘Two years?’ I took this in. ‘It wasn’t your wife I spoke to on the phone, then?’
He tipped his head back and let out another of his big booming laughs. ‘Oh, that is rich!’ he said. I didn’t know what was so funny. But something obviously was.
‘Good Lord, no!’ he said. ‘Marie? Perish the thought. Actually, no. I shouldn’t have said that. She’s lovely. But also fifty three and my sister-in-law. I don’t have a wife. Just an ex-wife. I’m divorced.’
I thought about Jan’s comment. And smiled to myself. ‘Now I am confused,’ I said, feeling quite jolly all of a sudden. ‘So you’re living with your sister-in-law?
He nodded. ‘But only temporarily. I’ve been staying at my brother’s for a few weeks. I’m kind of between jobs, between homes. And as he’s out of action right now, I’m paying my way by putting in –’
‘Their bathroom. I see.’ It was beginning to make sense. It was all starting to make more sense. A nice kind of sense. And then I had a thought. ‘You say your brother is out of action? How out of action?’
‘He broke his ankle a few weeks back. Had to have a plate put in his leg. He’s just had the op to remove it again. That was why I was at the hospital last weekend.’ He grinned and spread his arms. ‘And now I’m here! Funny how fate works sometimes, isn’t it?’
I was just thinking that myself (and my thoughts were pretty pleasant ones) when I became aware that Matt was suddenly not looking at me any more. Instead, his attention was now on the distant church door. I stood up, and saw one of the bridesmaids staggering out. Which, only ten minutes into the service, definitely shouldn’t be happening ‘Uh-oh,’ I said, with a familiar sinking feeling.
When you’ve attended as many weddings as I have, you see all sorts, believe me. The bridesmaid, who looked about twenty and was clutching her stomach, was being followed outside by a middle-aged lady, wearing a duck-egg blue, Mother Of The Bride frock.
She could have been the mother of the groom, of course. Either way, she was looking very stressed. Matt stood up too, and we hurried back across the churchyard.
‘Something wrong?’ I called as we approached. ‘Can I help?’
The older woman looked very pleased to see me. The bridesmaid just looked grey.
‘Do you have a phone?’ the older woman asked breathily. ‘I think we might need an ambulance.’
‘An ambulance?’ said Matt. ‘What on earth’s happened?’
The woman was about to tell us, but the bridesmaid got in first.
‘I’m about to have a baby, that’s what!’ she yelled. Or at least that’s what it sounded like. It was difficult to tell because she was almost doubled up, and talking mostly to her dress.
‘No, you’re not,’ said the woman firmly. She turned to me. ‘She’s only twenty two weeks.’ She shook her head. ‘Oh, dear. I do hope….’ She looked worried for a moment, but then seemed determined to try and keep calm. ‘You’re not,’ she said again, rubbing the girl’s back. Her daughter, I guessed. ‘You’ve just become overheated, that’s all. Calm down, love. Deep breaths. That’s it.’
‘I’m telling you, Mum, I am – ooohhhh! Oh, God! Ooohhh –’
She was beginning to buckle, so I grabbed her from the other side. ‘There’s a bench. Come on. Over this way. Let’s get you sitting down.’
‘I’ll call the ambulance, shall I?’ Matt already had his phone out.
‘Best you do, dear,’ the woman said. ‘And do you have any water?’
‘We do,’ I said. ‘Matt? It’s in the Rolls. Inside the cool box.’ I fished in my jacket pocket and threw him my keys.
The girl was boiling to the touch. And it was clear that the situation wasn’t helped by the tight bodice of her dress.
‘Oh, my stomach…’ she groaned, doubled over once again with pain, as we half dragged, half carried her over to the bench. I felt behind her and began to unfasten the buttons on the back. There were about twenty of them, fiddly and difficult to undo. Her mother, meanwhile, kept up a stream of bracing words. ‘That’s it, love. Deep breath. Come on. In. That’s it. Out. And then in, and then out…’
Matt was by now loping across the grass again towards us, nimbly jumping gravestones as he ran. He looked a bit like a curly-haired James Bond.
‘On its way,’ he said. He held a bottle out. ‘And here’s the water.’
The mother took it from him and began unscrewing the top.
‘Thanks so much. And we’d better get hold of Danny, hadn’t we?’
I took the top from her. ‘Danny?’
She nodded towards her daughter. ‘My son-in-law.’
Matt looked back towards the church. ‘He’s not here?’
‘He should have been. But he’s a policeman. He was called in this morning –’
‘Uuuugrhh!!!’ went the bridesmaid. She flopped back against the bench, groaning loudly. ‘I think –’ she gasped. ‘Uurgh… I’m…uurgh… going to faint.’
We gently pushed her forward and put her head between her knees. She’d only been there a second or so when suddenly she struggled, and then sprang up again. ‘No, I’m not,’ she moaned. ‘Oh, God. I’m going to be sick.’
And then she was. All over me.
Chapter 10
‘I thought she looked a bit off-colour in the car,’ Matt said, as we watched the wedding party re-assemble to start the service all over again. They’d been lucky. The next wedding wasn’t scheduled till four, so they still had just enough time to fit theirs in.
The ambulance had been and gone. Indeed, by the time it had arrived, the bridesmaid, having dumped her entire wedding breakfast on to me, had already announced that she felt much better. Not better enough to do her duty as a bridesmaid, but well enough that her husband could stay at work and that her sister could get married as planned. She watched from the safe distance of a pew near the back. Someone had even found her a bucket, just in case.
A stomach upset, they’d announced, when they’d examined her. Either that, or a bad bout of late morning sickness, made worse by the heat and the tightness of the dress. She’d been suffering from it all through the pregnancy, apparently, which made me feel sorry for her. I’d suffered like that, too. But no problems with the baby, which, the paramedics said confidently, was not on its way. She just needed plenty of fluids and – once home – lots of rest, and a visit to the clinic on Monday.
‘Lucky you, then,’ I observed to Matt, looking down at – and smelling – my damp and crumpled suit. I’d got most of it off, but, boy, how it lingered. ‘After all,’ I said. ‘She could have chucked up all over your car.’
But it was me who’d been lucky, I thought, even as I said this. Had she thrown up in the car, it would have been me who’d have had to pay for the cleaning. Which would have cost a lot more than my suit.
Matt took off his chauffeur’s cap and ran a hand through his curls. ‘Hey, you know that river?’ he said. His eyes glittered with amusement.
‘What about it?’ I asked.
‘Bet you’d quite like to jump in it now, eh?’
With everyone safely back in the church, there was nothing to be done now but wait, as before. There wasn’t time for me to go home and get changed, so we went back to another bench – a dry one this time.
Matt loosened his tie a little and flopped down on the seat. ‘This sort of thing happen a lot, does it?’
I positioned myself at the far end of the bench where the sun could help dry my skirt. I smiled ruefully. ‘Not this, exactly. But I’ve seen my fair share of dramas. Fainting – that’s common. Punch ups between parents. People falling out over where they’ve been sat. Even had a heart attack once –’
‘Really?’
‘An elderly guest. He lived to tell the tale, but then the marriage never happened. The groom decided he should take it as an omen.’
Matt laughed. ‘Maybe he
was right!’
I looked back towards the church. ‘Well, I’m glad this one is happening. Though it’s going to make us late getting back now –’
‘Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve nothing to rush back for. Well, nothing I want to rush back for, at any rate. I can get back to work in the morning.’
‘Is that what you do, then?’ I asked him. ‘Plumbing?’
He shook his head. ‘God, no. I mean I can tile and grout and graft with the best of them. But only under instruction. I’m probably not safe left alone with a wrench. No. Nothing like that. I’m a website designer. I only get my hands dirty on high days and holidays. The rest of the time I’m pretty much glued to a computer screen.’ He pulled a face. ‘Pretty boring, huh?’
‘Not at all,’ I said. ‘That sounds interesting.’ He sounded interesting. More interesting by the minute. Good-looking, charming, and now clever as well. ‘Really. I’ve never met a website designer before.’
‘Don’t you have a website for your business? You should.’
I smiled. ‘So my son is always telling me. I did think about it a while back. But there doesn’t seem much point when I’m selling it so soon.’
‘For your flower shop, then. You should have one for that. What are you going to call it?’
‘Sweet Peas.’
‘Peas? For a flower shop?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Sweet Peas are flowers,’ I said.
‘Really?’ He looked surprised. Not clever at everything, then. But then he was a man. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘You learn something new every day, don’t you? And look, if you’d like me to play around with some ideas for you, I’d be happy to.’
So would I, I thought. But then I had another thought. ‘You said you were between jobs. You’ve got a new one now, have you?’
A Day to Remember Page 4