Tom and Tess both did speeches and they were both great, not too long, not too short, and funny. Tess was funnier than Tom, actually. She even alluded to her own bridezilla tendencies, at which Lily, Aaliyah and Meg all clapped, which made a lot of other people laugh.
The dancing started straight after the speeches. Tess and Tom’s first dance was one of the best Matt had ever seen. They’d clearly been for lessons and Tess had clearly been more of a natural than Tom. He counted, visibly, throughout and breathed an extremely audible sigh of relief when it was over.
Tess went over to the stage and said, ‘Come on, everyone, onto the dance floor. Come and show my gorgeous, wonderful, two-left-footed husband how it’s actually done.’
Tom stuck his head next to hers at the mic and said, ‘Just to make it very clear: at no point during that dance did I step on either of my wife’s feet,’ and everybody cheered.
Half an hour later, jacket off, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up, Matt found himself next but one behind Lily doing the conga. The person between them, whose waist Matt was holding and who was holding Lily’s waist, was Carlton. Newly divorced and looking for a fling Carlton. Good-looking, very funny Carlton. Right now making Lily laugh Carlton.
And rightnow, the end of the dance, taking the hand of a still-giggling Lily and whisking her into a slow dance Carlton.
Matt was standing right next to Aaliyah, who was clapping as Meg and Pythagoras, who’d just arrived at the reception straight from his own restaurant, started a very smoochy dance. He held out his hand to her.
‘Sure,’ Aaliyah said.
It was incredible how much willpower it took not to grill her about Lily.
And this was absolutely ridiculous.
Lily had – frankly – broken his heart eight years ago. And this morning he’d enjoyed their walk way too much, and he’d been thinking about her all day. He didn’t want to go there again. He shouldn’t be planning to ask her in detail again what had happened at the end of their relationship; he should be planning to avoid her. End of.
Tess had planned for them all to be on the beach next to the restaurant after the more formal dances, for some moonlit barefoot dancing on the sand, which was a lot of fun, even when you were trying to avoid someone. A lot more fun, actually, once you’d made the decision that you weren’t going to speak to that person again beyond civilities. Apart from the feeling of bereftness.
They were all in the middle of dancing in the moonlight to ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ when the moon and stars suddenly pretty much disappeared from sight and next thing the clouds that had covered them developed into some serious rain.
Everyone, as one, sprinted for the gazebos. By pure chance, Matt ended up next to Lily as they all piled under.
‘If I’m honest,’ she said, ‘and I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, but youwerethere this morning: I’m kind of glad that it’s raining now.’
‘Yeah, me too.’ He nodded. ‘Otherwise we’d be feeling pretty stupid.’
‘Exactly.’ She smiled at him.God, he was going to miss her smile. All over again. Which was why he shouldn’t chat to her any more now.
‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘I should go and speak to—’ he saw his aunt over her shoulder ‘—Tess’s mum. Check she’s okay. If I don’t see you tomorrow, have a great journey back. Great to have seen you again.’
‘Yes, great,’ Lily said. ‘You have a good journey too. Great to have seen you.’
Yes.Great.
Thirteen
Lily
The band finished reassembling inside the end gazebo and struck up ‘Rockabye’, and Mick, a tall man dressed in a very natty green suit, diamond-patterned shirt and pointy shoes, who Lily had vaguely noticed during the week as part of Tom’s stag group when she’d been sneaking glances at Matt under cover of her sunglasses, took Lily and Aaliyah’s hands and began to spin them both round, Aaliyah balancing weirdly because of her dodgy foot.
By the time the song finished, he had them both twirling like they were ballerinas in a jewellery box and Lily’s head was spinning so much that she was wondering whether she was going to ruin the reception by projectile vomiting. In the final bar, he sent them both into a final pirouette before letting go of them and, as the next song started, began some energetic popping. Lily and Aaliyah both stood there swaying slightly, blinking and clapping him.
‘Come on,’ he shouted.
‘I honestly can’t do that,’ Lily shouted back, laughing.
‘Me either.’ Aaliyah shook her head, pointing at her bandaged leg and Croc, and started a bit of gentle, non-stomach-upsetting-style side-to-side rocking, and Lily joined her.
She slid her eyes right when she was sure that no one was looking at her. Matt was doing hisowndancingthing – which Lily knew like the back of her hand – and it was a struggle to keep her eyes off him. He was a much more average dancer than Mick – a lot less flamboyant – but just solid and gorgeous and lovely and very, very sexy. He did a – slightly failed – shimmy thing with a couple of the other men and then laughed with them and, honestly, Lily felt a bolt of attraction right to her core. From a good fifteen feet away.
Looking at him was actually too much. She turned her head slightly, gave Aaliyah a ‘Yay, I’m havingsomuch fun and I’m not thinking about Matt atall’ smile, and then focused again on Mick, who was pulling some truly bonkers moves now.
And then she looked back at Matt. It was like there was an invisible string drawing her eyes in his direction.
