‘Yes, I know that,’ Lily said.
‘Oh myGod. You’ve got a massivefringe. And weirdsides. They’ve ruined your hair. How are you going to look okay with a fringe and short bits like that?’
‘Yup.’ Lily was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to cry – in front of anyone else, anyway – but she couldn’t smile right now. What was actuallywrongwith Angela? A couple of years ago during lockdown when the hairdressers were all closed, Lily and Manjeeta, one of her colleagues, had one day suddenly had enough of their over-long hair and had each cut about three inches off the bottom of each other’s hair so that they’d both gone back to just below shoulder-length, and both their haircuts had beenfine. She’d have beenwaybetter off with Manjeeta – a midwife, not a hairdresser – now, rather than Angela.
‘Oh my God. We need to do something. Otherwise you’ll ruin all my photos.’ Tess stopped talking and stared at some large, bright-flower-filled pots outside a bakery on the opposite side of the street, while Lily tried really hard to focus on the fact that her hair grew very fast. Maybe she could ask Aaliyah for some hair styling tips while she was growing it out.
‘Are you okay?’ Matt said to her. Oh God. Pity from Matt. Now she could feel hot tears forming behind her eyelids.
‘Yes, thank you.’ Lily opened her eyes wide and then blinked hard. It would be mortifying to cry in front of him. Especially since the tears weren’t just about her hair, but also because being here on the island with him, having actual conversations, was just… overwhelming, that was the word. ‘It’ll be fine. Just one of those things.’
‘Itisjust one of those things,’ he said. ‘You always used to say that your hair grows really fast, and you look lovely no matter what. The first thing anyone ever notices about you is your smile.’
Lily’s tears were definitely going to spill out now. Simultaneous pity and niceness from Matt. And a memory: one of the first things he’d told her was that she had a lovely smile. And then he’d said he hoped she didn’t think he was chatting her up. And then he’d said that actually he kind of was. And she’d laughed and told him she liked his smile too.
She sniffed.
Sunglasses. She should have thought of them before. She opened her bag and pulled them out and stuck them on. That was much better.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
Tess turned to face them both and said, ‘I’ve been trying to work out whether we can keep you out of the photos, Lily, but we can’t. It would seem weird. We’re going to have to get you a new hairstyle.’
‘I could just do my own hair?’ said Lily, trying really hard, and failing, not to feel fairly pissed off with Tess. Yes, wedding photos were important but, also, this was Lily’shair, that she had tolivewith. She’d had long hair – all one length, no stupid fringe and side bits –foreverand she’dlikedit like that. And very few people would be happy standing in front of their ex looking like a dog’s dinner. And, also, keep a best friend out of wedding photos because of her hair? Really?
‘Nope.’ Tess shook her head again. ‘You need to have it done by a professional.’
‘Um, that hasn’t worked well so far, and Aaliyah’s doing her own?’ Lily really wished she was as good at doing her own hairandas scary-forthright as Aaliyah was at the moment.
So scary that, when Lily had got back to the beach yesterday and Aaliyah had asked her if she’d had a good clearing-the-air conversation with Matt after she’d left the shop, she hadn’t said anything about the fact that,what, Aaliyah had left them alone on purpose? She’d just gritted her teeth, told Aaliyah that it had been nice to see him and changed the subject.
When they were younger, Aaliyah never used to be the way she was now. And Tess didn’t either, pre insane wedding preps. And Meg hadn’t been as desperate when they were younger. Really, apart from right now when she was so flustered about seeing Matt again and pissed off about her hair, Lily seemed to be navigating her thirties more easily than her best friends were. There was clearly something to be said for having decided that you were probably better off long-term single.
‘Aaliyah’s really good at styling her own hair and also she terrifies me at the moment and she wanted to do it,’ Tess said. ‘Oh.I’ve just had a brainwave.’
‘She could do mine?’
‘Exactly.’ Yessss.
Tess reached up and hugged Matt. ‘See you later. We have to go and find Aaliyah now.’
‘Bye then,’ Lily said, not moving within hugging distance. She didn’t think she could cope with actually touching him right now. When their hands had brushed yesterday over the scarves, and when he’d kissed her cheek outside the shop, it had been excruciating.
‘Good luck,’ Matt said, not moving in her direction either. ‘I honestly think you’ll be happy with your hair again once you’ve washed it yourself, Lily. It’s just a bit different. Doesn’t mean it can’t look good.’
‘I mean, really?’ Lily said.
‘Did that sound patronising?’
‘Patronising and really fake.’
‘Sorry? But not fake. Hair grows. Maybe you’ll have to have it in a, um, much shorter style for a bit, but with a different hairdresser it’s bound to be fine, isn’t it?’
‘Would you like to shave your head right now? For example?’
‘No. But I don’t have to.’
‘You’re really annoying,’ Lily said over her shoulder to him as Tess took her arm and started to march her off in the direction of the hotel. Annoying was better than devastatingly attractive, at least.
