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Shay squeezed her tiny hand.
‘Thank you for coming, Dagmara. I think everyone from Merriment Close is here. Apart from you-know-who.’
Dagmara leaned in close.
‘Roberta will have last laugh, don’t you have any doubt about that.’
After talking to a few more of her mum’s neighbours, Shay then managed to head over to her son who was standing with his fiancée. She noticed Karoline’s hand coiled around Sunny’s arm and an image came into her mind of a snake which was ridiculous. Maybe Bruce was right and there was some underlying jealousy there that she had been supplanted in her son’s heart as number one woman.
Sunny had met Karoline just after he’d finished his degree, when he’d been working through the summer in a farm shop in Wakefield. She was seven years older than him, confident and assured, intelligent and forthright with a cracking figure and blonde hair out of a bottle, but expertly done. She had been a totally fresh taste of mature woman for the ‘geek-chic’ Sunny, who had more than a touch of the Clark Kents about him. He’d never wanted to go hardcore clubbing or to foam parties in Ibiza or ride on giant bananas, quads or jet-skis, much to his mother’s relief. He was a quiet, decent kid with a love of rugby, a passion for art and a fire in his belly, even though he hadn’t been sure what for. Shay had hoped he’d find the path that suited his talents, not have his ambitions so easily extinguished by one squirt of a woman’s seductive perfume.
‘Very sorry that we’re meeting again for such a sad occasion,’ Karoline’s words were slow and spaced, each oneperfectly enunciated. She’d been privately educated, her Yorkshire accent exorcised.
‘Yes, it is. How are the wedding plans going?’
‘Very well, thank you.’
‘If you need any help…’ Shay offered.
‘Thank you, I have it under control.’
‘I’, not ‘we’, Shay noticed.
‘Did I hear wedding talk?’ Courtney crashed in from nowhere, knocking her brother forward and almost sending his drink over the rim of the glass. Bruce’s description of her as a wrecking ball was disturbingly accurate sometimes.
‘So when do I need to make myself available for my bridesmaid’s dress fitting?’ asked Courtney, with a mile-wide smile. She looked up at her brother adoringly then. ‘You are having me, aren’t you? I mean, I am the only sister of the groom.’
Shay gave her daughter a withering look, even though she did have a point.
‘I’m sorry, Courtney, but we’ve decided not to have grown-up bridesmaids. I hope you’re not too disappointed,’ replied Karoline with a regretful smile.
‘Sunny?’ Courtney ignored her and continued to flutter her eyelashes at her brother.
Shay watched the colour creep into her son’s cheeks. Then as if he was an animal caught hopelessly in a trap, his sister took pity on him, sprung the lock and released him.
‘Yeah, well it’s your nuptials so you know where I am if you change your mind.’ She put her arm around her brother and squeezed him, though Karoline was still clinging to his arm at the other side. ‘You still playing rugby, bro?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Well, be careful because you could puncture the ball with those ribs. Karoline, are you feeding this boy?’
‘Court, pack it in.’ Sunny was at the end of his patience with her now.
‘Actually, Sunny’s been on a diet to fit into his suit,’ said Karoline.
‘Should have just bought a bigger suit. He looks more like a clothes prop than a prop forward.’
Sunny made a noisy outward breath of irritation.
‘I think we will be heading home soon.’ Karoline pushed out another smile. ‘I hope next time we’ll be together in happier circumstances.’
‘Have you met our Auntie Paula?’ Courtney said to her. ‘You’d get on like a house on fire.’
‘Thank you for inviting us.’ Karoline leaned forward to give Shay a kiss on her cheek.
‘Are you really going so soon?’ asked Courtney. ‘Sunny, stay longer,pleeease. I hardly ever get to see you. I might just turn up at your house unannounced one day to check up on you.’ She grinned as angelically as one could with black lipstick. ‘You can take that as either a promise or a threat.’
‘I hope you all stay well,’ Karoline said, managing to make it sound like a papal blessing. ‘I’m sorry, I need some air, I’ll let you say goodbye to Sunny. Sorry, have to…’ With that she turned, cut through the people around them while fanning her face with her hand.
