Page 46 of One Night Only
My alarm flashes.
Annie!
This time I do tumble out, landing hard on my knees in my panic. Forgoing any underwear, I grab the first items of clothing I see, my pajama shorts and the hotel robe that lies in a heap next to the bathtub. I throw them on, trying not to trip as I shove my feet into the matching slippers. It’s only a few hours before hair and makeup are due to arrive and…
The bathtub.
I stare at it, memories from last night flooding back, and throw a glance to Declan who remains unmoving in the bed.
Oh my God.
I grab my purse and slip from the room. Talk about mixed signals, Sarah. Talk about not following your own goddamn rule. I’m not going to be able to look him in the eye all day. Not when—
“Sarah!”
I whirl to see Mary hurrying down the hallway, her hair in curlers.
“Mrs. Murphy! Hi!” I wrap the robe tighter around me, fumbling with the belt.
“Thank God, you’re awake. Everyone else is inbits. I knew the party was a bad decision last night, I knew it. But God forbid anyone would listen to me.” She takes a breath, coming to a stop in front of me. “I need your help.”
“Sure.” I lead her away from my bedroom, where her youngest son better still be sleeping. “Is, um…” I clear my throat, pulling my hair back into a loose knot. “Is everything alright?”
“No. It’s adisaster.”
My stomach drops. “Is Annie—”
“Annie’s fine. She’ll be fast asleep like the rest of them. No, I mean theweather.”
She gestures frantically to the hallway window, which looks out over the parking lot. All I see is gleaming tarmac and a brilliant blue sky.
“The weather?”
“They say it’s going to hit thirty degrees today.”
“Okay.” I’m confused. “That’s like what? Eighty in Fahrenheit?”
“Exactly!”
“But…that’s a good thing, right? I thought they were worried it was going to rain.”
“Sarah,” she says as if speaking to a child. “We can handle a bit of rain, but a heatwave here is twenty-five, maybe twenty-six degrees. And that’s in the bit of the garden that gets the most sun. Certainly not thirty. And definitely not in atent.”
“Can’t they just put on the air conditioning?”
“We don’t have air conditioning,” she says shrilly. “Everything on this island is built to retain heat not let it out.”
“There has to be something we can do. We’ll open the flaps. Get some fans in. The ceremony is thirty minutes tops. It will be okay.”
“They’ve already put out a weather alert,” she says faintly. “Status yellow. And the ceremony is at noon.Noon. My poor mother won’t be able to cope.”
“It’s going to be fine,” I say, grasping her hand between mine. “I promise. It’s just sunshine. Better this than a monsoon.”
“I suppose,” she says, still doubtful.
“Trust me,” I say firmly. “If the worst that happens today is good weather then I think we’ll be alright. But I really need to go check on Annie. Why don’t you ask them if they can bring some fans to the tent? As many as they can.”
It takes a bit more pushing but eventually I get her to go and I hurry back down the hallway to Annie’s room. The air inside is warm and stale. Annie is asleep in bed, her face buried in the pillows.
