‘Tom. Think he’s broken his finger.’
Matt sifted through his memories from the night before. Oh yes. He’d definitely hurt it. Broken, though?
‘Properly broken?’ he asked. ‘Or maybe just bruised?’
‘It really doesn’t look good. Sticking out at an odd angle. Tom doesn’t want Tess to find out and worry so he doesn’t want to tell her but he thinks your aunt might be the best bet for help with advice about where to go. We tried asking at the hotel reception but we had a language barrier. Google wasn’t that much help either. He doesn’t have her number so he was hoping you could call her.’
‘Yep, no problem. I’ll call her now.’
‘What an idiot,’ Carole said after Matt had got a promise out of her that she wouldn’t mention anything to Tess and then described the situation. ‘I think there’s a medical centre on Antiparos. Give me five minutes and I’ll call you back with details.’ After a good thirty years living on Paros, Carole spoke very good Greek and knew everyone. Norm knew everyone too but by his own admission he wasn’t a linguist and his Greek didn’t stretch much further than being able to ask for beers or a cup of coffee.
Mid-morning, Tom had been dispatched to the medical centre – by himself, saying he was already embarrassed enough without needing to drag a friend along with him – and Matt was feeling a lot less fragile after his large breakfast, a post-breakfast siesta under a tree with a newspaper and then a swim. All the others seemed to have gone for similarly quiet mornings, not a surprise given last night.
This afternoon, the majority of the other guests, including Tess’s parents, would be arriving, and the stag would be coming to a natural end.
Matt was walking back to his room from the beach when he got a message from Tess.
Should have thought of this before. Now planning a family dinner this evening – Carole’s friend’s house – will send address separately later – 8 p.m. for drinks first – see you there. P.S. I’M GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW
Family dinner. Just family, or would Tess ask her bridesmaids to go too?
He put his key into his door and turned.
He’d decided last night that he was going to ask Lily what had happened at the end of their relationship, and today, sober, he was still planning to ask her that question. Now that he’d seen her a couple of times, and chatted, it felt like it wouldn’t be too out-of-the-blue to ask her.
Other than having that conversation, though, it would probably be best not to spend too much time with her over the next couple of days. Clearly they were done, eight-years-in-the-past done, and he didn’t need to see her, find her attractive, remember all the reasons that he’d fallen in love with her almost at first sight. He just needed to ask his question and move on.
As he put all his things down on a side table on his way into the bathroom for a post-swim shower before doing some work, his phone rang. Tom.
‘How’re you doing? How’s your finger?’ Matt asked.
‘Broken and now in quite a serious splint. I have a favour to ask. Kind of a tricky one. Basically, I think Tess is feeling pretty superstitious about seeing me or even speaking to me today and obviously I totally get that and I don’t want to upset her. But also she’s worked incredibly hard to make everything perfect and I’m not sure she’ll view me having my finger in a splint as perfect. So I’d like to warn her beforehand but I don’t want to do it by text. Which I’m not even sure about anyway because she might think texting’s a no go for the day before your wedding.’
‘So you’d like me to warn her for you?’
‘I’d be incredibly grateful. And if you could maybe do it in person rather than by phone? Just in case she freaks?’
‘Not a problem,’ Matt said. Tom was going to have to hope that Tess was less upset by his finger than she’d been by Lily’s hair. She definitely wasn’t going to be able to avoid having her husband in the photos. Maybe she could avoid having her husband’sfingerin photos though. An image of Lily standing in front of him yesterday with her truly terrible hairstyle and her beautiful smile came into his mind. He wondered if she’d got her hair sorted now. Anyway, Tom. ‘Send me a photo of your finger so I know what I’m preparing Tess for?’
The photo came through almost immediately, and,wow, that was a serious splint and bandage job. The middle finger of Tom’s right hand was so heavily swathed that his other fingers were splayed right out to the sides. It would definitely be visible in photos unless that hand was completely hidden.
‘That’s a lot of splinting,’ Matt said, back on the call after gawping at the photo.
‘They said it was a really nasty break. They actually wanted me to go to Paros or possibly even the mainland for an operation. I said no way could I leave the island in case I didn’t make it back tonight for some reason. So they went down the incredibly big splint-and-bandages route and gave me a lot of painkillers. Which I’m not supposed to mix with alcohol. And I might have to have an operation anyway, next week.’
Wow. Matt went silent for a moment, his mind boggling at how Tess was likely to take the news that her honeymoon was going to be interrupted by her husband having to go and have surgery. Badly, if the way she’d reacted to Lily’s hair was anything to go by.
‘Matt?’
‘Sorry. Just thinking. Yep, no problem. I’ll give Tess a heads up.’
He phoned her straight after he’d finished his breakfast.
‘Tess, hi. Could we meet up and have a quick chat at some point today?’
‘Um, I’m actually quite busy? Because I’m getting married tomorrow? So I’ll see you at dinner?’
Wow. Bridezilla was an understatement. You had to feel sorry for her bridesmaids and anyone else she was going to be taking her stress out on today. And Tom, whenever she found out about his finger. Itwasher wedding, though. One of the top ten most stressful life experiences. He was pretty sure Gemma had been stressed before their wedding too. Most people probably were.
