‘Nooooo,’ Meg said.
‘Sshhh,’ Aaliyah whispered.
Pythagoras took his own phone out and swiped. ‘It’s true.’ He pointed at his screen and they all leaned in to look. ‘We’re going to be on the edge of a summer storm out at sea. Rain is expected in the morning.’
‘Rain?’ Lily repeated. Tess would gomadif it was still raining by 3 p.m. when the actual ceremony was due to begin.
‘Again, sshhh,’ Aaliyah said. ‘Don’ttellher. It might not happen, and if it does we’d be better off not living through a tantrum beforehand.’
‘But I thought itneverrains in the summer here,’ Lily whispered. ‘That’s why no one ever checks the forecast. Not even obsessive brides.’
‘Well, apparently, never say never,’ Meg said.
‘It does occasionally,’ Pythagoras said. ‘I’m sure it will clear up by the afternoon, though.’
‘Wow,’ Lily said. ‘Let’s hope it does.’ It didn’t bear thinking about if it didn’t.
‘It might not happen,’ Pythagoras said, ‘and if it does it will probably just be a light shower.’
They all looked at each other.
‘Yeah, let’s not mention it,’ Aaliyah said.
‘But what if there’s something we could do in advance?’ Lily said. ‘Shouldn’t we make a contingency plan?’
‘The venue’s bound to have one,’ said Meg. ‘They must know their own weather.’
‘Are youjoking?’ screeched Tess. They all turned to look at her. Had she overheard them? ‘My mum says my hair flowers might wilt in the heat if I’m not careful. What are we going todo?’
Lily, Aaliyah and Meg looked at each other and all nodded. Yep. The rain might not happen and, if it did, they could deal with it tomorrow.
There was the most tremendous crashing and banging going on somewhere very close to Lily. What was happening? There was screaming too. Heart thudding, her hands suddenly all thumbs, she fought with her duvet and managed to get an arm out to find her phone to call for help.
Oh, okay, no, the screaming sounded like Tess. And the banging was coming from outside. Clearly, Lily wasn’t about to be murdered in her bed; clearly, Tess wanted to speak to her about something.
‘Lilyyyyyy.’ Tess was still banging away on the door. It sounded like someone was banging on the window too. Weird.
‘Coming,’ Lily called. She stumbled out of bed and across the room while Tess carried on with the banging, and opened the door. ‘Morning.’
Tess nearly fell inside the room, hand in the air mid-bang, hair like a crow’s nest, eyes staring.
‘What’shappened?’ Lily asked.
‘It’sraining.’ Oh, okay.
‘Only lightly, though,’ Lily said, thinking of Pythagoras’s words last night.
‘Lightly?’ screeched Tess. ‘It’s a fucking deluge.’ She marched across to Lily’s shutters and opened them. Andthat’swhat the banging on the window had been. Gigantic hailstones.
‘Woah,’ said Lily. ‘I’ve never seen hailstones as big as that.’
‘Focusing on theessentials,’ Tess said, ‘everywhere issoakedand it’s mywedding day. And my wedding isoutside.’
‘Yes,’ said Lily. God.
They stood and stared at each other for a couple of moments and then big tears began to fall from Tess’s eyes.
‘It’s going to be okay,’ Lily said. ‘We’ll find somewhere inside. It’ll be fine. Really. Definitely. Like Penelope’s house or somewhere. Or a restaurant. Somewhere. We’ll definitely find somewhere. Or it might dry up quickly. What time is it?’
