Because at that exact moment, the music stopped. Conversation around them faltered and then gave up.
‘Maddy,’ her mother said quietly yetmeaningfully. For a split second, Maddy thought she was in trouble.
That instinct wasn’t exactly wrong.
Maddy turned, still not getting it. Only thinking that she didn’t want to stop talking to Jess and was annoyed at the interruption.
Adam was standing near the coffee table. He had a weird look on his face. He was holding something small.
No, Maddy thought.No, no, no.
She took half a step backwards without realising it, bumping lightly into the drinks table. Jess glanced at her, concern flickering across her face.
‘You okay?’ Jess asked quietly.
Maddy nodded automatically, though nothing about this felt okay.
‘Hey, everyone,’ Adam said.
The room turned toward him as one. Someone gasped softly. Someone else laughed, already delighted. Cousin Emma’s hand flew to her mouth.
Maddy felt like a spotlight had swung onto her during a prison break.
Adam was talking. Saying how long they’d been together, talking about growing up together, about building a life.
Maddy heard only fragments. But she heard the word, ‘Love.’ And then, ‘Forever.’
Her gaze flicked to Jess. She was moonwalking out of the situation as quickly as she could, absorbed into the rapt crowd and gone.
Then Adam opened the something in his hand. The box.
This is not happening, Maddy thought.
Adam dropped to one knee. Phones went up.
Adam looked up at her, beaming, holding out the ring. ‘Maddy Kind,’ he said, voice trembling. ‘Will you marry me?’
Maddy stood frozen. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be angry in this moment. But he should have known she wouldn’t want this type of thing. Why was he doing it likethis? And why did she want to slap him for it?
But there was no time to think about any of that. Everyone was looking at her. Adam was still bloody kneeling.
Maddy knew what she was expected to say. And that’s exactly what she did say. And only after everyone had finished yelling and congratulating them, and the men had slapped Adam on the back and pumped his fist, and the women had asked to see the ring ten thousand times, did Maddy really understand what the little word really meant.
Yes. It meant that this was her life.
Two
Eva Givens’ alarm vibrated her awake at six on the dot. She killed it instantly. She did not mess with the snooze button. Snoozing was a gateway drug.
She was on her feet in seconds and into the shower, the phone coming with her. It read her emails aloud from the safety of a Ziploc bag while Eva lathered.
Caterer confirming delivery. Florist asking, for the third bloody time, whether ivory and eggshell were different colours. A bride forwarding a Pinterest board titledJust some inspowith five exclamation points. She wasn’t getting married for a year and a half.
Eva stepped out of the shower, freed her phone from its rain mac, and fired off a few quick replies while brushing her teeth. As she blew her long, dark, straight hair dry, her brain ran through the schedule for the Freeman-Carter wedding, looking for the slightest inefficiency.
For Eva Givens, wedding planner extraordinaire, it was a light start to the day.
***
