There was a longer pause this time before Eva responded.
There you are.
Maddy stared at the words. They meant more than she could explain.
***
Maddy walked back out in her civvies. Her mother was saying something about a veil while Adam nodded.
‘Well?’ her mother said, looking up. ‘What’s the pick?’
Maddy perched on the edge of one of the velvet chairs. She could almost hear Eva’s voice in her head.Just be honest. For crying out loud, it’s going onyourbody.
‘I think… I liked the last one,’ Maddy said.
Her mother blinked. ‘The plain one?’
‘It felt like me,’ Maddy said quietly.
There was a small silence.
Her mother drew in a breath. ‘I still think you should wear proper white on your wedding day.’
Maddy thought of the rows of blinding white fabric, of herself disappearing into them.
‘Mum,’ Maddy said with a head tilt. ‘Comeon. I’m in my thirties, and Adam and I live together. You surely can’t think…’
Her mum started touching her neck anxiously. ‘It’s just a tradition.’
Adam looked between them. ‘We don’t have to decide this second.’
Petra, hovering diplomatically, nodded. ‘It’s often best to sleep on it.’
Jesus, there was that phrase again.Sleep on it.If she heard it one more time, she was going to start flinching at the sight of a pillow.
‘All right,’ her mother said at last. ‘We’ll sleep on it.’
Adam squeezed Maddy’s hand. ‘We’ll sleep on it.’
Maddy knew then that she wasn’t going to get her pick.
As they gathered their things and her mother wittered on about choosing a veil, which Maddy categorically didn’t want, Eva’s last text lingered in her thoughts.
There you are.
Fourteen
‘This way,’ Eva said, her tone warm and professional as she led Serena and her mother along the gravel path. Serena was an American marrying a British city boy. She was already filming.
Eva’s hand rested on the cool iron handle of the greenhouse door. Just for a second, she paused, thinking,I don’t want to show you this.Then she pushed the door open.
Warmth and light greeted them. It poured through the curved glass ceiling, stopping Serena in her tracks. ‘It’s sooo cute,’ she breathed to her phone. ‘Like, cottagecore.’
Her mother squinted. ‘Is it always this… green?’
‘Yes,’ Eva said plainly. She clasped her hands loosely in front of her. ‘It seats up to eighty comfortably,’ she said. ‘We’d string lighting through the beams. Long banquet tables work beautifully in here. It’s very atmospheric in the evening.’
Maddy had stood exactly where Serena was standing now. She hadn’t said much. She hadn’t had to.
