Page 38 of The Wedding Cake
Tim returned to the finca with Hayley, his family and his friends in tow. The sweet, balmy evening air and the pinpricks of stars grew ever more intense as the minutes ticked by and darkness fell upon the countryside. Now Jupiter glowed as bright as the golden lanterns flanking the pathways and lawns. The Spanish guitarist had swapped roles with a saxophonist, leading Alice and River onto the ‘dance floor’ for their first shimmy toIt Had to be You. Alice was torn between savouring the moment with the love of her life – and all the heated anticipation of the things they were going to do to one another behind closed doors in a few hours – and trying to encourage her guests to grab cocktails from the bar.
When the last note sounded, Alice and River’s friends whooped and cheered, and the musician got everybody onto the patio to dance toBilly Jean. The newlyweds bopped with everybody for half of the song before inching themselves away to check on the new arrivals.
“Hey! How’d it go?” River got to them first.
“Like clockwork,” said Hayley, as she introduced Tim’s guests to the happy couple and Alice and River did the kiss-on-the-cheek-stroke-handshake routine all over again. “The Robster was given a firm verbal warning and a Will Smith-style slap.”
“Erm, by who?” asked Alice, but Hayley chose to ignore that bit.
“And those good for nothing former band mates of yours have made themselves at home. We dumped their bags at the villa with them so you shouldn’t be bumping into them again in this part of the world.”
That was as maybe, but Alice noted there were now two extra guests in their midst. Hayley read her mind. “The lovely social influencer ladies here took quite a shine to Tim’s friends.” Hayley could say that again: Nath, Josh and Kyle looked like the cats who’d got the cream, and Alice didn’t want to think about how things were going to pan out later romantically… “It would have been a shame to split them up.”
Tim’s friends appeared to have lost their voices – little boys whose wildest fantasies had finally come true – but one of the females did the talking for them. “I’m Sophia and this is Talia. We’ve known Piper for a while but to be honest, once you’ve been to one influencer wedding, you’ve been to them all. No offence, Tim.”
“None taken,” he replied.
“When Hayley said we could tag along, we jumped at the chance to move on to slightly less in-your-face surroundings. This place is perfect, and you look incredible, Alice. I’m sorry we haven’t brought you a present.”
“No problem,” River said. “You can make up for it with a stint of promotional TikTok videos and Instagram reels down at our Somerset stables and eatery, when we get back to the UK.”
“You’ve gone above and beyond inviting us back here to celebrate with you,” Tim finally got a word in, peeping through his thoroughly-in-need-of-a-brush tufts. “We really appreciate it.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Alice replied. “Isn’t it, River?” River let out a yelp of agreement when she stood on his toe. “As luck would have it, there’s a spare bedroom on the ground floor for your parents.” Mrs Nutkins put her hand to her heart in thanks. “As for the rest of you.” Alice pointed at the teepees, hammocks and mattresses dotted about the lawn and the lads’ eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. “Just… you know… try to keep the noise down.”
“It’s very kind of you, Alice, but I won’t be staying,” said Tim, even though, quite unfairly, he was the last person she had been considering in this equation. “There’s somewhere else I need to be.”
FREYA
The rapping at the door wouldn’t stop. But Freya was not in the mood for visitors. Tomorrow was her day off and she was packing a bag for a much-needed couple of days hiking in the mountains. She’d managed to get a space with a tour group in the Sierra Nevada. It would be just the tonic, taking her as far away from the lovebird activities in Tim and Piper’s villa as possible – physically, if not mentally.
“Freya! Let me in if you’re still there!” Hannah’s voice screamed on the other side of the door. “Alice says you’re running away. But you can’t do that. There’s stuff you need to know.So much stuff you need to know.The thing is that Tim—”
Freya couldn’t take the weight of this conversation to the mountains with her. Not when Merv had literally just called her, delighting in relaying his suspicions. This could not be a coincidence. She opened the door on her colleague and Hannah practically tumbled into the apartment.
“Donotmention that man’s name in my presence.” Freya held her hands up in a desperate bid to repel the temptation. “And the only reason I’ve let you in is to discuss the meaning ofthis.” She pulled the purple syringe from the pocket of her shorts and held it up to the light as if she was inspecting a diamond.
Hannah gasped, and then shook, and then cried.
“What in the hell’s going on, Hannah? I thought we’d agreed that you would remain as impartial as me. We had a job to do. Aprofessionaljob to do. We said we wouldn’t bring our judgement into this.”
“Yousaid we wouldn’t bring our judgement into this. But I… I’m afraid I couldn’t help myself.”
Freya started to see spots before her eyes. She wilted onto the nearest chair, gripping its arms, waiting for some kind of explanation.
“It was just valerian.”
“Ohhhh,” Freya yelled. “That’s okay then. Now we can all relax. It was just a sleeping draught! Christ, Hannah. We are not in some re-enactment ofSleeping BeautyorSnow White and the Seven fricking Dwarves! Karma doesn’t work like that. It’s the unseen forces which dole it out. We had one job, and that was to be Marbella’s top wedding cake makers. Huh, not any more.”
“It was a moment of foolishness, Freya. You have to believe me,” Hannah cried as she looped around the coffee table, only making Freya feel dizzier still. “That day when we almost headbanged outside your office… I-I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Piper. Not that I particularly needed to. Do you realise you had her on speakerphone? I heard everything. That woman’s attitude and foul manners towards you were unforgivable. So I sort of sent Tim the photos, too.”
Freya put her head in her hands, unable to process how quickly this day was turning from bad to worse.
“I know I shouldn’t have done it,” Hannah pleaded, “but there was no way I could let him go through with the wedding when I knew for certain what Piper was getting up to behind his back. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“But this was taking things too far,” Freya muttered, too apoplectic to face the woman standing in front of her. “Besides which, the cake is generally eatenafterthe ceremony!”
“Yeah, I know. In my haste I didn’t exactly think that bit through but it doesn’t matter because Tim…”
