AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Tell me what’s happened, and I’ll try to help.’ Lily eased Mabel off her shoulder and supported her upright, but at arm’s length.
‘It’s the photographer. Terry says he’s trying to overcharge us, so he’s told him we don’t need any photos after all. But it’s my special day!’
A surge of anger swelled up in her. ‘I’ll talk to him,’ she promised. ‘Make him see sense.’
‘It’s too late!’ Mabel wailed. ‘The photographer’s already left in a huff, and I’m supposed to get married in ten minutes and I wasn’t even allowed to arrive late because that would mean bringing two cars.’
Lily studied her. ‘Are you sure you want to marry this guy?’
Mabel looked incredulous. ‘Of course I do! I’ve been waiting for this for four years. And I want photos to remember it by.’
‘Okay.’ Lily pulled her mobile out of her clutch bag and scrolled to the first name in her address book. ‘Give me one minute. I’ll see what I can do.’
* * * *
Alex was looking through the photos he’d taken at Tiger Lily when his phone rang. It took a long moment to figure out exactly what Lily was asking, and even then…
‘A wedding? Lily, I’m not sure… I mean, it’s pretty short notice, and not the sort of thing I want to screw up…’
‘Trust me, as long as you do it cheap, the groom won’t care. And the bride just wants some record of her big day. God knows why. If I were marrying Terry, the last thing I’d want is a reminder of my stupidity.’
He tried to laugh at that, but given the situation it wasn’t easy. ‘Okay,’ he said, accepting what he’d known from the start – there was no way he’d be able to say no to Lily Thomas when she really wanted something. ‘Where do you need me?’
The road outside the registrar’s office was lined with cars, so Alex parked in the small car park round the corner by the library and ran, camera in hands, towards the building. Lily met him at the gate, the bride beside her, fixing her makeup in a compact mirror.
‘Thank God you’re here,’ Lily said. ‘Mabel, this is Alex. He will photograph your wedding for you for next to nothing, because he is an excellent person. But you’ll be paying for prints, because that’s only fair. Now, tell him what you want.’
And just like that, Alex had his first professional, paying gig.
Two hours later, as he snapped the last shots of the bride and groom with their nearest and dearest, and a few tables of stale croissants, he realized why wedding photographers charged so much. Just the energy expended in getting people into the right positions was phenomenal. But despite everything – the last minute rush, the difficult groom asking price questions he didn’t have answers to yet, the grandmother of the bride who kept shouting about jam – Alex had loved it. So different from his old job, but with the same pressure to perform. He held people’s memories in his hands, and however the day had actually gone, he knew it was up to him to make the reminders perfect.
Packing away his camera, he looked up and saw Lily standing at the bar, sipping orange juice, and smiled at her. She’d done him a huge favour, getting him the job, and hopefully the place at the Mill. Now it was time to see if he could do the same for her.
‘Any more of that around?’ he asked, leaning against the bar beside her and motioning towards her glass. She handed it over and he took a grateful sip.
‘Thirsty work?’
He nodded. ‘So, where’s the famous Edward?’
Lily’s smile dropped at the corners. ‘Oh, he’s over with his cousins, I think. Talking golf, or business, or whatever it is they do at these things.’
‘Aren’t you going to have to learn about that, if you’re going to be the perfect businessman’s wife?’
She opened her mouth to answer, but before any words came out, they were interrupted by the arrival of a tall blond man in a grey suit. From his mildly disapproving look, Alex guessed this would be Lily’s fiancé.
‘Lily? There’s someone I want you to meet.’ After an initial cursory glance at Alex, taking in his jeans and T-shirt no doubt, Edward had dismissed him completely. Alex held back a smile. That kind of underestimation could be very useful, he’d found.
Beside him, Lily pulled a face, just briefly, before schooling her features again. Edward, looking back at his friends, probably hadn’t even noticed. But Alex had.
‘Now?’ Lily said, a distinct lack of enthusiasm in her voice. ‘I’m just talking with Alex. He did save the day, after all.’
Alex gave a little wave. Edward’s eyebrows dipped as he looked over at him.
‘I hardly think a few photos were quite that lifesaving,’ he said, trying to make it sound like a joke. It didn’t work.
‘To Mabel they were,’ Alex said, and got another glare.
Edward turned his attention more firmly to his fiancée, and Alex watched in fascination as he tried to turn on the charm.
Taking Lily’s hands in his, Edward spoke in a calm, soothing, and – in Alex’s opinion – bloody patronizing voice. ‘Darling. These people are important to me. Terry’s been working with them on a big project, something I want in on. I won’t bore you with the details. All I need is for you to come and smile prettily at them, ask them about their kids or houses or whatever, and make friends with their wives. Just to show them we’re on the same level they are.’
Alex wasn’t watching Edward any more. His gaze was firmly on Lily as the colour faded from her face and her eyes widened.
‘The same level…’ she echoed faintly. Then a pink flush began to work its way up her neck to her cheeks, and suddenly she looked just like the sixteen-year-old he remembered walking into her house after her escape to Glastonbury, unrepentant but willing to take whatever was coming next.
‘That’s what this is about to you, isn’t it? Keeping up bloody appearances.’ She didn’t raise her voice, didn’t shriek or shout, which Alex admired, in principle. But part of him really wanted to see her let go. Still, her quiet intensity seemed to be having an effect on Edward, whose expression shifted from patronizing, to confused, to alarmed as she spoke. ‘You didn’t propose to me because you loved me. If you did, you’d have made it about me, not the expected spectacle. You want to marry me because you think it’s what we’re supposed to do next. But we haven’t even talked about how it would work, about kids or my business or anything. You just assumed we’d do what everyone else does.’
‘But… I thought this was what you wanted?’ Edward’s hands were outstretched towards her. He looked so blindsided that Alex almost felt sorry for him. But only almost. He was too busy mentally cheering Lily on.
Lily shook her head sadly. ‘I think we stopped asking what each other wanted a long time ago. We thought that the fact we loved each other would be enough, but it isn’t. It takes more than that to make a marriage. We got complacent. Comfortable. We made too many assumptions. And we never even noticed how far we were drifting apart.’
Alex looked away as Edward’s shoulders dropped, his face starting to crumple. He shouldn’t be watching this. It was a private moment between them. But how could he walk away now? And besides, Lily might need him, after.
‘I do love you, Lily,’ Edward said. ‘Maybe I don’t always show it…’
‘I’m sorry,’ Lily said, her voice firm but calm. ‘But it’s not enough. I wasn’t… I wasn’t going to do this here,
but…’ She twisted the golden ring from her finger and placed it in his outstretched hands. ‘I’m sorry, Edward, I can’t marry you.’
Chapter Six
Lily staggered back against the bar as she dropped the ring into Edward’s hands. She felt suddenly weightless, suddenly free. Firm hands steadied her when she stumbled, and she looked away from Edward’s shocked face into Alex’s warm, concerned eyes.
‘You okay?’ he murmured, glancing between her and her ex-fiancé.
She should be embarrassed, Lily thought. Humiliated that Alex had seen her in such a personal moment of horrified realization. She’d known the night before that she couldn’t marry Edward, but only today had it come home exactly how many reasons there were not to.
And only in this moment did she realize that she had no idea what happened next.
What did she do now? Where did she go? Edward remained stock-still in front of her, staring at the ring in his hand. Should she stay, make sure he was okay? She reached out a hand to touch his arm, but stopped, not sure if she’d help or make things worse.
Edward looked up, meeting her eyes, and she swallowed as she saw the confusion, hurt and pain there. Then one of the men he’d been talking to earlier called his name, and he transformed before her eyes back into the perfect businessman, guy about town. He slipped the ring into the breast pocket of his suit jacket, gave her a tight smile and said, ‘We’ll talk about this later.’
From the tone in his voice, Lily suspected he meant, “I’ll talk you round later.” But he wouldn’t, not this time.
‘I don’t think there’s much left to say, actually.’ The words came out wobbly, but they felt true.
Edward turned on his heel and walked away, head high, hands loose at his side, confident and in control as ever.
‘I don’t know what to do next,’ Lily said, aware as she spoke that her voice sounded very far away. She hadn’t meant to do this today. She had been waiting for a proper grownup moment when they could discuss things. Not losing her temper in public and throwing her ring back at him. That was what teenage Lily would have done. She wasn’t supposed to be that person any more.
