Page 56 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“I know and that’s incredibly generous of you, Sean, but it’s not just that. That phone call is one of the reasons—actually, Maddie is. She’s getting married on Saturday, and tomorrow night is her hen night.”
“Oh, I see. Wait, isn’t Maddie your friend from Stratford who got you the house-sitting gig?”
I nodded. “Yes, she’s the one.”
“But I thought the idea was to get away from all your family and friends for a month?”
“It is, but the wedding is different. It’s been planned for ages. I can’t miss it. Anyway, I’m chief bridesmaid.”
“Oh right,” Sean said, trying to take all this in. “So this Maddie is having her hen party the night before the wedding?” he asked, looking surprised. “She’s asking for trouble, isn’t she?”
“Ah, you see there’s a bit more to it than that.”Whenwasn’t there with Maddie?“They’re getting married at Disneyland Paris. Both the hen and stag nights are being held on Friday night, and then the wedding is in Sleeping Beauty’s castle the next day.”
“I’m sorry,” Sean said, holding his hands up in front of him in a “time out” gesture. “Just hold on one moment. They’re getting married inDisneyland? And I thought my family’sStarWarswedding was bad enough! I didn’t even know you could get married there.”
“You can’t normally. But they both worked there a number of years ago; they met during one of the parades, when Felix was playing Aladdin, and Maddie, Princess Jasmine. They were on top of the magic carpet together and they’ve been inseparableever since. The funny thing is, Maddie would never have got the job if her father hadn’t performed surgery on one of the major Disney shareholders—apparently he saved his life on the operating table—and he’s felt indebted to Maddie’s dad ever since. The job, and now the wedding, is his way of repaying him.”
Sean stood open-mouthed. Then he shook his head. “Just when I think you can’t tell me anything else that will surprise me, Scarlett, you manage to. That story is madness.”
“I know—but it’s true. Anyway, we’re all meeting in Paris tomorrow night for a joint stag and hen do—well, I think the first part is joint. From what I know they’re opening up all the rides for us when the park closes to the public—it closes earlier in the winter, apparently—and then later on we’re splitting up into two parties at two different venues.”
“It all sounds excellent fun. It’s certainly unusual.”
“It always is with Maddie—she’s like that.” I paused as a thought began to form in my head. Then, without thinking it through, I allowed the thought to spill right out into speech. “Hey, why don’t you come?” I blurted out. “I’m sure one more won’t make a difference. I can clear it with Maddie first if you like, but she’s usually pretty laid back about these things.”
Sean looked thrilled at my suggestion. “I’d love to—it will make up for me dragging you to my family wedding. Wait, we don’t have to dress as Disney characters, do we?”
“No, thank God. It’s just the usual wedding attire. Although being chief bridesmaid I do have a pretty amazing dress to wear.”
“I’m sure you’d look amazing whatever you wore.” Sean smiled at me. “I’d love to be your escort for the day.”
My stomach began the usual gymnastics routine it alwaysstarted when Sean smiled at me now. But instead of completing the parallel bars with a perfect score like it usually did, it flopped and fell like a lead balloon when he mentioned the word “escort.”
“Oh,” I said flatly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot one thing—David.”
Sean’s face fell, almost as far as my stomach. “Ah…yes, that could be tricky. I guesshe’sprobably expecting to be your escort to the wedding—and rightly so, of course. No worries, Scarlett, I’ll just see you after the weekend. It will give me time to sort those flights out, get some paperwork done, that kind of thing.”
I could have kicked myself. How could I forget about David?
The annoying thing was I just knew Sean would enjoy Disneyland so much more than David. David would moan about the rides setting off his motion sickness and the weather being too cold and how expensive everything was. And if he came straight from work on Friday night like he was planning to, he’d probably turn up to ride the rollercoasters in a suit and tie.
“Come anyway,” I said on impulse. “I don’t think David is coming until Saturday anyway—scary rides aren’t really his thing—and…I believe he has an important meeting Friday and can’t get away in time to get a flight.”
“You’re sure?” Sean asked, his elated expression returning. “I mean I wouldn’t be imposing?”
“No—of course not.” I put my arm companionably through his. “It would be great to have you there, Sean.”
And for the first time, I genuinely meant it.
Sixteen
Luckily for me, as it turned out, David really couldn’t make it to Paris until Saturday, and oddly enough for the exact same reason as I’d told Sean.
“I’m so sorry,” David said when I spoke to him on the phone later that day. “This is a really important meeting. Are you sure you’ll be all right on your own?”
