Page 24 of A Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances
Lily snorted. Stella and I glanced at each other. Lily was many things, but derisive of her talents wasn’t one of them.
Stella plucked the ring off Evie’s doll’s arm and handed it to me. ‘Wear it for a bit this afternoon and see how it feels,’ she suggested.
I slipped it onto my finger, where it sat snug against my engagement ring. It was strange that in a few weeks I’d be a wife and Matt would be my husband and because of a band of metal, everyone in the world would know it. Nick had chosen not to wear a wedding ring (‘I’d just have to take it on and off to scrub in!’) and Lily wasn’t married to Aaron (she thought it would be funny to call him her ‘current boyfriend’ when they were in their seventies), but for Matt it hadn’t been a question – he couldn’t wait to wear a ring.
‘Seriously, why don’t you go have a nap?’ I suggested to Stella as she tried to cover a yawn. Nick was on call all weekend, so she had no backup.
‘No, it’s okay,’ Stella protested.
‘Please go!’ I said and reached out my arms for my niece. With only one backwards glance at her baby, Stella stumbled towards her bedroom.
‘Do you think Alex is one of Matt’s groomsmen yet?’ Lily asked with a cheeky smile, as she started to pack up the rejected rings. In an emergency phone call, I’d told Lily about the Matt-and-Alex-together-this-afternoon situation.
‘Oh god, don’t,’ I said. Matt’s portion of the bridal party was already coming in at six to my two (though Holly and Ivy, his twin sisters, were going to stand next to me for symmetry purposes). What was a scarier notion: Matt having seven groomspeople or Matt and Alex becoming friends?
‘What are they even talking about?’ I asked.
‘Matt can talk to anyone about anything, you know that,’ Lily said.
‘Yeah, I know.’ I had to leave buffers of time wherever we went because he invariably ended up chatting with every barista, retail assistant and dog owner we encountered.
‘Anyway, it’s happening, so try not to freak out,’ Lily added.
We were interrupted by a knock on the door. I jogged down the hallway, jiggling Alice, to answer it before Stella was disturbed.
‘Darling!’
‘Dad!’ I rushed into his arms.
‘Group hug!’ Evie, who’d followed me down the hallway, flung her short arms around the trunks of our legs.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, once we’d all disentangled.
‘I thought I’d drop in on my way home from the hospital,’ he said.
‘Oh, great,’ I said. I felt a sting of irritation – I knew the feeling well after two recent encounters with Alex. I’d asked Dad ages ago if he’d be free to help pick out the watch I wanted togive Matt as a wedding present, but he’d told me he had plans all weekend. Except the scheduling conflict had been work.
Dad squatted down in front of Evie. ‘I brought something for you!’
He pulled an ice cream in a lurid wrapper from behind his back. Evie squealed with delight. I felt a tug of discomfort. Stella was pretty careful when it came to what Evie ate – I didn’t want her to regret having some downtime when she returned to find her high-energy preschooler jacked up on sugar. But Dad didn’t respond well to feedback. And what was I meant to do – yank the rainbow Paddle Pop out of the tight fist of a thrilled child? I decided I’d cut up some carrots to counteract its effect.
‘Hi, John,’ Lily said when he reached the kitchen.
‘Lily! What a nice surprise,’ he replied. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and then lowered himself onto a couch. ‘Business booming? Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life! What are you girls up to?’
‘Trying on wedding rings,’ I said, holding up my finger.
‘Oh, that reminds me, I have some bad news,’ Dad said.
I braced.
‘My colleague who was going to lend us his Bentley now needs it that day.’
I exhaled. This I could troubleshoot. I’d thought for a moment that Dad was about to tell me that he’d been given the keynote at some important international conference on our wedding date and wouldn’t be able to make it.
‘That’s okay. We can... Uber or something,’ I said quickly, adding ‘wedding car’ back onto the to-do list, with a sub-item not to mention to Mum that the one task Dad had taken on had fallen through.
‘The curse strikes again!’ Lily said with a wry smile.
