Adam. Mary. Hannah. Kelly. Sandra. Even Harry, who was currently in the middle of a very pointed conversation with Ralph about partial refunds, turned slightly, like this might affect the numbers.
Kelly stepped forward. ‘Then why? she asked. She hadn’t raised her voice. She didn’t need to. Her shame game was, and always had been, tight. ‘If you didn’t know aboutthat,’ she said, with a small, dismissive flick toward Mary, ‘then why did you say no?’
Maddy swallowed. This was it. This was the part she’d been trying not to think about. Because saying, ‘I can’t’ was one thing. Explaining was something else entirely.
‘Mum,’ she started, buying time.
‘Don’t “Mum” me,’ Kelly said evenly. ‘You don’t humiliate a man like that, in front of his entire family, without a reason.’
‘I have a reason,’ Maddy said.
‘Not rightthenyou didn’t,’ her mother said, working from Kelly-logic. ‘So, I’d quite like to hear why.’
The car park seemed to hold its breath.
Hannah shifted slightly. ‘Maybe this isn’t the place…’
‘It’s exactly the place,’ Kelly cut in. ‘I worked hard for today. To giveyouthis day.’
Maddy felt Eva’s presence beside her. It helped. Maddy took a breath. Then another. ‘Because I don’t love him,’ she said.
Adam flinched. It was small, but Maddy saw it. And the instinct to try and take her words back came and, thankfully, went.
‘You don’t…’ Kelly blinked once. ‘What do you mean, you don’t love him?’
‘I mean,’ Maddy said, forcing herself to keep going, ‘that I thought I did. For a long time. No, I thought itworked. That’s the truth. That’s all I ever thought to hope for.’
‘Itdoeswork,’ Kelly said, sharper now.
‘No,’ Maddy said, shaking her head. ‘It doesn’t. I just didn’t realise it before.’
‘And now you do?’ Adam asked quietly.
Maddy looked at him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
He’d done a terrible thing, but so had she. She’d fallen in love with someone else. He deserved one good apology for that.
‘We can still come back from this,’ he said.
Maddy was aghast. ‘I don’t know why you’d want to. From the sounds of things, Adam, you’ve not been happy either,’ she said plainly. She couldn’t think why they’d never talked like this before. It wasn’t so hard.
‘No, I just… It’s been a lot. My dad kept saying I needed to crack on with adult life, and I suppose I felt pressured to propose, and then the whole thing started to get away from me.’
‘Don’t you dare blame me for this,’ Harry roared. ‘I just said it was time to be a man. Why is that a big ask at your age?’
‘I’m notyou, Dad. That doesn’t mean I’m not a man,’ Adam said tearfully.
‘No, but shagging someone at your engagement party does,’ Sandy said.
Maddy was astonished. Adam’s mother was the quietest person on earth. But when she had something to say, it was a belter.
‘She’s got you there,’ Mary interjected.
‘Pissoff!’ Adam screeched at her. ‘And you, Mother.’
Sandy tutted but said no more.
‘So what, exactly, has changed here?’ Kelly asked, cutting through to Maddy. ‘Why can’t we all go back to before things went wrong?’
