He couldn’t really imagine Lily behaving like this before her wedding, though.
He wouldn’t be around if and when Lily got married.
Anyway, Tess…
‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘I just had something to tell you. Kind of wedding related.’
‘Oh my God, what?What? What do you know that I don’t? Is it one of the guests? Is it Tom? Has something happened to Tom? Is it bad? What is it? What’s happened?What’s happened?’
‘No, no, nothing bad, just something very small. Really, it’s fine. Just a small thing.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Really sure.’
‘But why would you phone me if it was a small thing?’
‘I mean, it’s still worth mentioning, but it’s small.’
‘So why is it worth mentioning? What’shappened?’
‘It’sreallysmall, actually. Nothugelyworth mentioning. But could we just meet up quickly just for a chat?’
‘Let’s chat at dinner. I’m really busy today. I have to get my nails doneright now. I’ll see you later when it will beonly nineteen hours to my wedding.’
‘Okay. Great. See you later. Enjoy your manicure.’
Right. Well, Matt had made an effort. There wasn’t a lot else he could do now, other than text her to tell her. Maybe he’d do that.
But he liked Tom. And Tess was his cousin and great – apart from when she was getting married, it seemed. He’d promised Tom he wouldn’t tell her by text. And there was a fair chance she’d lose it if the first she knew of the reality of the broken finger was during the actual wedding ceremony. When Tom fumbled the ring, for example, because he couldn’t use his right middle finger. Or much of his right hand at all, actually, going by the photo. Howwashe going to get the ring onto Tess’s finger, actually? Matt stood and looked at his own fingers and experimented. Yeah, there was a strong chance you’d drop the ring with your middle finger strapped up like that. Tess would not be happy about that. A lot of brides wouldn’t.
Some would laugh. Some might cry.
Yeah, someone was going to have to tell Tess today.
So Matt would just do it during the dinner this evening.
But, no. If she got really upset maybe she wouldn’t sleep well tonight. She’d be a lot better off finding out now so that she could talk it through with her friends and they could reassure her that it wasfine.
Tricky to know what to do though.
Well, there was one thing he could do. He could obviously call Lily, if she hadn’t changed her mobile number. He knew that he still had it in his contacts. He should probably have deleted it a long time ago.
He didn’t really want to speak to her about fingers. If he was honest, he’d been finding it a bit odd talking to her about ordinary, everyday things. Unsettling. They weren’t going to end up in each other’s lives again, as friends, so he’d prefer just to ask her once and for all why she’d split up with him and then move on. No other chat. Or maybe just not ask her at all. He still wasn’t sure. But definitely no more chat.
He was going to feel like a real arse if he let Tom and Tess down, though.
Assuming it was her – she could have changed her number – Lily didn’t answer the first time. Or the second or third times. Maybe he should message her.
Except, what to say? He needed to let her know that it was about Tess and Tom so that she wouldn’t think it was something personal. But she’d be with Tess today; what if Tess then somehow saw his message? How would he phrase it?
Probably best to try to have a quick chat in person. Tom would know the name of the hotel the women were staying in.
Twenty minutes later, he was in the foyer of their hotel asking if he could call up to Lily’s room.
She picked up on the second ring. ‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Lily. It’s Matt. Do you have a moment? I need to speak to you about Tess. I wondered if you’d be able to pop down to the foyer for a chat.’
