Adam cleared his throat. Eva all but flinched. She had a bad feeling about what was coming. And it was dead on the money.
‘Just one thing,’ he said. ‘I was on the phone with Dad this morning. And he did have one thought.’
Maddy’s hand paused mid-reach.
‘He just wondered if the greenhouse might be a bit trendy,’ Adam continued. ‘Maybe a bit too…now?’
The word hung in the room like a squeaky fart.
‘Now?’ Maddy laughed lightly, but she looked baffled. ‘Itisnow. Now is now. Isn’t it?’
‘Exactly,’ Adam said, as if that confirmed the concern. ‘In twenty years, we might look back and think, wow. That was very 2020s.’
Eva folded her hands in her lap. Great. Worst-case scenario groom. Acted like an easy-breezy cover girl while everyone did the work of organisation, only to come in at the last second and piss on the bonfire with a horribly timed, ‘Well, actually…’
‘But the save the dates are out there,’ Maddy said, a little firmer this time.
‘Once save-the-dates circulate,’ Eva said calmly, ‘guests tend to expect that they have saved the correct date.’
Adam shrugged. ‘It doesn’t have the venue on it, though, right?’
‘If you don’t sign today, you really might lose it,’ Eva told him plainly.
Adam leaned back slightly, balancing himself against the sofa cushion. ‘If it goes, it goes. Maybe that’s a sign.’
Maddy’s fingers tightened around the pen.
Eva watched the small swallow. The polite composure reassembling itself.
But Adam? Adam didn’t see.
‘I just don’t want us rushing because we mailed a few cards. We can send more, right?’ Adam continued. He turned to Maddy. ‘But obviously, we’d get you a little sponge next time.’
Maddy looked down. ‘Mmm.’
Eva didn’t understand that comment, and she wasn’t going to ask because she was rather focused on how much Adam was pissing her off.
‘Dad thinks traditional photographs are better long term. Ballrooms. Stone houses. Something timeless.’
‘Doyouthink that?’ Eva asked him, her tone neutral but direct.
Adam didn’t let her answer. ‘I just think we should be sure.’
Maddy nodded. ‘We can take more time.’
It was so accommodating that it made Eva want to scream.
But, as she told herself over and over (andover), she was not a marriage counsellor. She organised weddings. And it was time to deliver some home truths on that topic.
‘You need to know that I don’t work for the venues,’ Eva said evenly. ‘I work for you. I’m giving you the facts. It will go if you don’t move.’
Adam smiled, unfazed. ‘We’ll risk it.’
Maddy looked down at the contract. Her name was typed neatly at the bottom, awaiting her signature.
‘I liked how it felt,’ Maddy said quietly.
Adam softened his tone. ‘And if it’s meant to be, it’ll still be there when we’ve taken a bit more time.’
