Page 59 of Not My Little Drummer Boy
“No!” The cry rips out of her, a most un-bridelike scream.
Ollie’s a heartbeat late, but one of the dog rescue’s lovely older volunteers is quicker. She nabs the leads in one neat, practised move. Kona’s momentum checked, the tree wobbles to a twinkling halt. Haley laughs as Ollie and the dog march back to front, both unrepentant as if they didn’t almost derail a wedding.
With order restored, Bethany gives us a nod. Haley resumes her walk, arriving safely to take Christian’s hands.
After that, time folds: music, a reading, the warmth of Teddy’s eyes from across the aisle, and then the vows. My heart tightens as Christian makes his promises to Haley, as raw and romantic as the lyrics he writes for her. This time I don’t try to hold back. I swipe away tears with my thumb and catch Teddy’s there-she-goes-again smile.
When the service ends, because half the wedding party is literally a rock band, the music takes over. By the end, everyone’s dancing in the aisles like they’re at a Stellar Riot gig.
While the guests move off for drinks, a photographer swoops on the wedding party and for nearly an hour we’re primped and posed for the cameras. Exclusive photos mean more money for the refuge, so we suck it up.
“My cheeks are cramping,” I hiss, when we’re finally allowed to breathe.
“Better than running from the paparazzi,” Teddy murmurs, threading our fingers as the camera clicks on. “And with you beside me,” he says, voice low, without even dropping his photo-op smile, “I might even get to like it.”
I linger by the bar, champagne flute in hand, taking a shameless moment to admire Teddy from a distance. There’s something about a man in rolled-up sleeves that does me in: the thick forearms, broad wrists, fingers tapping a half-heard rhythm on the linen while Garrett mutters in his ear. His bow tie hangs undone, top buttons loosened, and that little V of copper hair at his throat all but begs for my touch. I sigh, wallowing for a moment in his undeniable sexiness.
Liv materialises beside me, swiping a glass.
“You’ve got to love him, don’t you?” she says, following my gaze. “Garrett’s got a lot of time for Teddy. He’s a good guy.”
“I know,” I breathe, the admission turning into a dreamy smile. Until a woman with glossy chestnut hair, long and sleek, drifts up to their table. Teddy lights up; he stands, scoops her into a hug.
“Who’s that?” I ask, trying to will away the jealous crack in my voice.
“Sadie—Ewan’s wife,” Liv answers. “Band manager’s other half. God, if you’ve ever seen a couple totally besotted with each other, it’s those two.”
My teeth unclench.
“She and Teddy went out a couple of times,” Liv adds, and the green monster’s back on my shoulder. “But the second she chatted with Ewan backstage—boom, end of story. Age gap and all. Teddy just let her go, no drama.”
I watch them laughing together before Sadie gives him a pat on the hand and moves away.
“I think I need some air.” I nod towards the foyer.
I sink onto the wide staircase, satin pooling at my ankles, smooth banister wood cooling my palm.Deep breath, Rache.
Jealousy—where did that come from?
With Pierre, I never flinched if another girl flirted, and they did, often. Good-looking man, snappy dresser, oozed alpha-male magnetism, wore money like a cologne, yet I was strangely secure. Maybe the warning signs were there, and I laughed it off.
With Teddy, the stakes feel different. He lives in a world of backstage passes and bright-eyed fans.Could I learn to breathe through that?Trust him to tuck a gentle “no thanks” into every smile? Trust—fractured so badly once, it will need more than coaxing to relearn.
And then there’s his past. So many names, all those girls, all those headlines. Only this morning, Geordie sent me a text:Is this your guy?A link to another article inThe Sun. Another girl from his past, this one aLove Islandalum. He says none of them mattered the way I do. I want to believe that, to let the words soak in like warm water on weary muscles.I matter. They didn’t.It’s a mantra I’d need to learn to live by.
Yet it’s Liv’s story that looms largest. Sadie dumped Teddy for Ewan in the space of a heartbeat… and he just smiled, shrugged and moved on. Part of me smarts at how easy that sounded. If Teddy and I try to make something more than this, and then fall apart one day, would he feel it? Or simply sing a different duet with someone else?
I press my fingertips to my chest, as if steadying the flutter there.Please, let me mean enough that he’d miss me. Not forever-and-always promises; just the quiet certainty he’d feel that honest pang of loss if it ended.
A guitar riff drifts from the half-open ballroom doors. Sounds like the boys have come out to play. I gather the folds of my dress, straighten my shoulders, and head towards it. At least for tonight, I can be someone who matters to him.
“Seriously?” I say, as Teddy yanks me into the narrow cupboard under the stairs. The moment the door clicks shut, the music outside muffles to a dull throb. “Who the hell do you think you are? Harry Potter?” I laugh in the dark.
He flicks a switch, and a single bulb snaps on, casting a sepia glow over stray cables, boxes of Christmas decorations and the crinkles around his eyes.
“You know you’ve got a perfectly good bedroom.”
“Thought you liked a little danger?” He snatches a piece of tinsel from a crate and loops it around my neck, scratchy and ridiculous. “Plus, festive atmosphere. Mood lighting.”
