Page 12 of One Night Only
I lean forward to get a better look. It’s not that the pictures didn’t do it justice, but things are supposed to be more disappointing in real life. This place looks straight out of a storybook. The elegant brick façade at the front, covered in red and green vine leaves. The large windows, glinting in the sunshine, and the thick white columns by the entrance. It’s like a building frozen in time.
“It must take a fortune to run this place,” I say as we park by the other cars around the side.
Paul takes out our luggage as Annie stretches. “I’d wager ninety percent of the village has worked here at some point,” he says as we make our way up the large, stone steps. “It’s almost a rite of passage. My brother and I used to work in the bar. Mam was front of house back in the day.”
“So it runs in the family.”
“The help side of it, yes. It’s not exactly Downton Abbey but I saved up enough to get started in life. I owe this place a lot.”
“He’s obsessed with the storytelling,” Annie says. “I told him it doesn’t matter to me where the ceremony is, but he can’t wait to tell the grandkids about how we got married where he grew up.”
“It’s important,” Paul insists. “This is where I got my first paycheck.”
“And where you lost your virginity,” Annie says tartly. “Are you going to tell Sarah about that too?”
“Please do,” I say as Paul’s smile drops.
“He was seventeen,” Annie says in a stage whisper, linking her elbow with mine. “And she was twenty.”
I gasp. “An older woman?”
“I’m not listening to either of you,” Paul says.
“Did she seduce you on the stairwell?” I ask as we head through the door. “Or was it by the fountain?”
“She was a guest at the hotel and it lasted two minutes.”
He ignores us as we burst out laughing, but his mood doesn’t last long. The way he keeps looking at Annie as if he can’t believe she’s here with him, makes me think she isn’t exaggerating about how much this place means to him.
The lobby is grand, most of it taken up with a large, carpeted staircase. Lavish paintings of who I guess to be the original owners take up the walls, along with landscape drawings of the village and grounds. The place looks almost untouched if it weren’t for the new computers at the desk and the reams of tourist brochures next to them.
“I’m showing Sarah the ballroom,” Annie announces, like a child wanting to show off her new toy. “Paul, can you check her in?”
She doesn’t wait for him to answer as she grabs my arm and tows me across the lobby, down a wide hallway to a large, echoing room with views over the gardens.
“Okay,” I say, gazing at the gilded ceilings. “So this is not terrible.”
“Mom says it’s like a palace.” She spins gracefully in the middle of the room, her arms held aloft. “We’re having the wedding dinner in here.”
“How are your folks feeling?”
“I think they’re more nervous than me. Dad especially. But he’s enjoying the trip. Paul’s brother Declan set up a tour of the coast for them. All the beauty spots.”
I gaze up at the chandelier overhead. “And how are you affording all of this?”
“Savings mostly.”
I am immediately skeptical. Neither of them has this much money to splurge, especially after living in London. With a move back to New York in a few short months’ I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re broke by Christmas. But I don’t push it. Annie’s gone oddly quiet in the last minute, disappearing into one of her moods.
“Soraya wants to do a video call,” I say as she drifts over to the windows. “Every night by the sounds of it. And FYI she’s fully planning on asking you to live-stream the ceremony.” I’m the only one from our New York friend group making the trip to the wedding; the others weren’t able to get out of work. Maybe that’s one upside to not getting the promotion.
“I think she went a little over the top with her gifts,” I continue when Annie doesn’t answer. “So at least there’s that.” Silence. “Annie?”
“I need you to do me a favor tonight,” she says, turning to face me.
I hesitate. “A ‘do my hair for me’ favor or ‘help me hide a body’ favor?”
“I need you to help Paul’s family fall in love with me.”
