Maddy was tired of talking. So, she reached for Eva’s hand. Eva took it immediately, clasping it tightly.
Kelly’s eyes dropped to their hands. Then back up to Maddy’s face. ‘Oh,’ she said.
‘Don’t beridiculous,’ Hannah said immediately. ‘This is just heightened emotions, the day’s been stressful, people make impulsive decisions—’
‘I’m not being ridiculous,’ Maddy said. Her voice was steadier now. ‘I’m leaving,’ she added. ‘With Eva.’
Mary gasped. ‘Whoa,’ she whispered. ‘This is worse than what I did.’
‘Mary, please stop ranking the chaos,’ Eva muttered.
Adam stared at them. At their hands.
‘Look, I know I did something bad,’ he said slowly. ‘But this feels like an overreaction.’
‘It’s not about you,’ Maddy said.
‘Why not?’ he demanded petulantly.
Kelly let out a short, disbelieving laugh. ‘You’re throwing away your entire life,’ she said, ‘for what? This?’
‘For something real,’ Maddy replied. It came out before she could second-guess it.
Kelly’s expression hardened. ‘You don’t know what real love is. I blame your father. He had to go and die young, didn’t he? And now you’ve got funny ideas.’
Maddy sighed loudly. ‘Mother…’ But she didn’t know if there was anything else to say. Her mother didn’t understand this. It didn’t matter. She was doing it anyway.
‘And you!’ Kelly said, rounding on Eva. Maddy felt her take a tiny step back.
‘Her what?’ Maddy asked angrily.
‘Ipaidyou!’ Kelly said.
‘Oh. Well. Obviously, there will be a full refund, Mrs Kind,’ Eva said sheepishly.
‘You’ve ruined her life! You can’t refund that,’ Kelly told her.
‘She didn’t ruin my life,’ Maddy said, though she knew it was pointless. ‘Shestartedmy life.’
‘Ha!’ Kelly exclaimed.
‘Look,’ Adam’s father interrupted loudly. ‘There are bigger things to discuss here.’
Everyone turned to him.
‘I can go down to a forty percent refund, but that’s the basement offer,’ he said to Ralph.
‘Can we not do this here?’ Hannah snapped, clearly losing her grip on the situation entirely now. ‘Can everyone just go back inside?’
‘No,’ Maddy said. She squeezed Eva’s hand. She felt a return squeeze. ‘We’re not going back inside.’
She gently pulled Eva, who took the hint and moved with her. They headed for Eva’s mini.
‘Maddy—’ Adam called.
‘Don’t,’ Maddy said without turning. ‘And just so you know, I’m taking the honeymoon!’
She reached Eva’s car, breath coming fast, heart pounding, like it had been doing all day. But it was a different type of palpitation now.
