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Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be enough to dampen his good mood. The studio at the Mill was this close to being his, the photos from Mabel’s wedding looked fantastic, and life was coming together nicely. He closed his laptop screen on a particularly lovely shot of Lily helping to adjust the bride’s veil, and went to answer the door as the knocking grew more insistent.
‘What the hell did you say to Lily?’ Without waiting for an answer, Cora swept past him into the house, standing accusingly in the middle of his lounge, tapping one high-heeled foot.
Alex tried to figure out exactly what he’d done wrong, and gave up quickly. ‘I’ve said a lot of things to her this week. She’s been helping me with the photography thing, remember?’
‘Oh, I remember. But what I want to know is, what did you say to her to make her leave Edward?’
Ah. That. ‘How did you hear?’
Cora scoffed. ‘Are you kidding? Everyone in town has heard by now. So I’ll ask again. What did you say to Lily?’
‘Wasn’t me. She came up with that all on her own.’
‘After seven years, she suddenly decided the man she agreed to marry wasn’t the right one for her?’
‘Well, he wasn’t! He’s an idiot.’
Cora’s eyes widened. ‘He loves her! They were getting married! And it seems highly coincidental that Lily should suddenly figure this out the week you come back to town.’
‘I have no idea what you mean.’ Except, of course, he did. The fact that Lily was now single opened up certain… possibilities, and of course that hadn’t escaped him. Not that he was about to admit that to Cora. He just had to keep reminding himself that she was a friend, and he was looking for a forever kind of love. Something Lily had made it very clear she had no interest in.
But right now, romance wasn’t the first thing on his mind. He was a busy man, with a new profession to build. In the hopes of conveying that to his cousin, Alex perched himself on the edge of the sofa and reached for his laptop again. After all, those photos weren’t going to edit themselves. And if Cora was going to talk around in circles like usual, he probably wouldn’t miss anything important if he got on with a little work.
‘Come on, Alex.’ Obviously not intuiting the logic behind his plan, Cora sank onto the sofa beside him, even as he opened the laptop screen. Could he work with her sitting beside him? Looked like he’d have to try, if he didn’t want the evening to be a total waste. ‘I know you’ve been talking a lot about settling down and stuff. But I know you, remember? I know the stories, and I know the sort of guy you are. I love you like a brother, but people don’t just… change overnight. Even if you really do want to find “the one”, you can’t tell me you’re not tempted. If you decided you wanted Lily, turned on the charm…’
His heart jolted in his chest as Cora’s words coincided with his laptop screen bursting to life again, revealing his favourite photo of the batch. Ostensibly, it was one of the bride, mascara mostly fixed, holding onto her bouquet with a grim, determined smile. But behind her, Lily stood, bent slightly at the waist as she straightened Mabel’s veil. Her bright, neat teeth bit into her plump lower lip, her hair falling just over one brow as she worked. Her navy dress, which had seemed so utterly un-Lily-like when he’d seen it in person, draped to a v at the front, giving just the barest glimpse of creamy cleavage. And, at just the moment when he’d pressed the button to take the shot, she’d looked up at him, her green eyes sparkling…
‘Are you honestly trying to tell me you’re not interested?’ Cora said, pointing at the screen as if it made her argument for her. Which it kind of did. ‘Alex, tell me truthfully. Did you set out to break up Lily and Edward?’
‘No.’ If he said the word firmly and swiftly enough, maybe he could forget how much he’d wanted to. ‘And even if I did –’ Cora groaned and pulled a cushion to her face beside him. ‘Even if I did, you can’t claim it’s not a good thing. How could you ever let her get involved with such an idiot in the first place?’
Cora peeked out from behind her cushion. ‘This is my fault now?’
The more Alex thought about it, the more convinced he became that, actually, yes. This had to be much more Cora’s fault than his. ‘Yes. Yes, it is. When I left Felinfach –’
‘Ten years ago,’ Cora interjected.
Alex ignored her. ‘When I left, Lily was sparky, individual, capable of anything. What happened?’
‘All that talking, and she didn’t tell you?’
‘Tell me what?’
Cora sighed, and placed the cushion in her lap, folding her hands over it. ‘It was just before I left for university. Lily wasn’t going; she’d dropped out of college, got some awful part time job somewhere. We weren’t speaking much at the time, to be honest. It was the first time our lives were going in different directions, that we weren’t doing things together. She’d moved in with her boyfriend. He was older, twenty-eight or something. He had a flat on the new estate. I never saw it; Lily never invited me over. Which should have been the first clue, really.’ She took a shuddering breath, and Alex felt a chill settle over him.
‘What happened?’ he asked, not sure he really wanted to know.
‘The night before I left, she showed up at Mum and Dad’s. Her face… Her right eye was swollen almost shut.’
Alex’s jaw ached, from clenching his teeth too hard. ‘Tell me you didn’t let her go back there.’
Cora laughed, a watery, humourless chuckle. ‘Are you kidding? Besides, this was still Lily. She promised me it was the first time he’d hit her, that he’d changed since she met him and he wasn’t the guy she loved any more. As far as I know she walked out and never saw him again.’
‘Does he still live in town?’ Because if he did, Alex wanted to meet him. And punch him through a window. Just the idea of some bullying guy touching Lily, hurting her… Every muscle in his body was tense with the need to do something about it. To protect her, save her, keep her close and safe and with him.
Still, it certainly helped to explain her fear of people changing.
‘It was eight years ago, Alex. You can’t make that better now. But you can try to understand.’
‘Understand what?’
‘Why Lily chose Edward.’
‘Because he’d never hit her? That seems a remarkably low bar to set.’
‘Because, after her dad dying, and after the abusive bastard who hit her, Edward was normal. Safe. Dependable. All the things she was supposed to want.’
‘And you let her settle for that?’
Cora sighed. ‘Look, Alex, you weren’t here. Edward… he was good for Lily. Helped her get her confidence back. They were sweet together, fun even. But seven years is a long time, I guess. Edward started working more and more, putting his career first. I tried to talk to Lily about it, but she said it was all fine, that she had Tiger Lily to focus on anyway.’
‘She said that they’d grown apart,’ Alex said. ‘Changed. When she ended things, earlier. I guess… I guess I just thought it had always been like this. That he’d just been trying to make her into the person he wanted her to be.’
Cora gave him a sad smile. ‘Don’t we all do that? We see what we want to see in people, and we assume they want the same things we do. Maybe I did the same thing. When Edward proposed and Lily said yes… I thought maybe she’d found what I had. Wanted what I wanted. I thought marriage, being wives, could be something we’d do together. Like everything else.’
‘It doesn’t work that way, Cora. You can’t just make marriage happen like that.’
Cora looked up at him, eyes serious. ‘Isn’t that what you say you’re trying to do? Deciding you’re ready to settle down, then coming here to find some hapless maiden to wed?’
Shifting uncomfortably on the sofa, Alex was aware of Lily’s eyes watching him from the photo. ‘That’s not it.’
‘Are you thinking you can make Lily the wife you need? Because she’s my best friend, Alex. And I won’t let you play around with her. She need
s time to think things through. To realize what she’s giving up, not marrying Edward. I don’t want you confusing her. Or hurting her.’
‘I won’t,’ Alex said, stunned at the certainty in his own voice. Whatever else happened, hurting Lily was the last thing he wanted. ‘Look, we’re friends, that’s all. And we’re looking for different things. Like you say, she needs to figure out who she is now. So even if I were interested, it’s unlikely to happen. And even if it did –’
‘Which it’s not going to.’
‘She’d be much more likely to break my heart than the other way round.’
The level of disbelief in Cora’s eyes was, frankly, quite insulting. ‘Just be careful, Alex, please. Give Edward a chance to win her back. For her to remember how happy they used to be, and see if they can have that again.’
‘You’re not just saying this so you don’t have to redo the table plan for your wedding, are you?’ Alex asked, only half joking.
‘I’m saying it because Lily is one of the few things more important to me than wedding planning right now.’ Cora got to her feet and bent down to kiss his cheek. Pausing at the door, she turned back and said, ‘That’s a fantastic photo, by the way. I’m sure this new enterprise of yours will be a great success.’
As the door shut behind her, Alex was left staring at the photo, still trying to make sense of the whole conversation. And remembering that he had a wedding to attend on Saturday. With Lily.
* * * *
An hour later, buffered by a microwave chilli and an actual full glass of wine, Lily curled up in her childhood bedroom, ignoring the way it was now painted in inoffensive neutral colours instead of the teal and purple she’d chosen at sixteen, and called Cora.
