Heather dropped the last of the cucumber into the bowl, then turned around and looked out the kitchen window. “The guys are outside arguing over the barbecue,” she said, and then all four of the women around Carly said, in unison, “Again.”
Carly looked around at them, eyebrows raised questioningly.
“This happens every time,” Izzy explained, pulling out a seat from the dining table and flopping down into it. “Marcus and Davo go twelve rounds over the right way to arrange the coals and the best way to arrange the meat and whatever else there is to argue about. The food tastes the same whichever way they do it, so I’m not sure what the point of the argument is,” she shrugged.
Carly met Heather’s eyes, and Heather gave her head a tiny shake.It’s fine. Carly knew that Marcus and his older brother had had some serious shit between them in the past, and based on what Heather had told her, it had only gotten worse after their dad had died. But a long-running dispute over the best way to light a grill seemed harmless enough. Some brotherly bickering over the barbecue was apparently just a Campbell family tradition.
“The food would get done quicker if Marcus and David didn’t do a song and dance about it every time,” Leanne said, reaching for her own glass of wine and taking a sip. “But since we’ve added Nicholas to the equation, we might get to eat before midnight.”
Carly swallowed a mouthful of wine too fast and tried not to cough. Throat burning, she gave Leanne a polite, interested nod, then turned slowly around and looked out the window. On the back deck, crowded around a smoking old-fashioned barbecue, were Marcus and a pale, freckled man who must be Davo. And between them, gesturing calmly with a pair of tongs, was Nick. She watched him for a second as he waved the tongs gracefully in the air, his shoulder muscles shifting visibly under his T-shirt.
“We’ve known Nicholas since all three of them were shorter than me,” Leanne said. “He’s always been the peacemaker between my two. He’s so levelheaded and sensible, nothing seems to get to him.”Nothing except me, apparently, Carly thought. She seemed to have a unique ability to piss him off, to get under his sensible, levelheaded skin.
“So, Carly, how are you enjoying Sydney so far? And how many checklists has Heather given you to work through?” Alice asked, her hand on Izzy’s shoulder.
“Um, I really like it here. And just one checklist … so far,” Carly said ominously, and Izzy and Alice laughed.
“Excuse me for being organized,” Heather said. “You’ll all be thanking me at the open bar. Marcus’s plan was to have everyone BYOB. To a wedding.”
“Hey, you said you wanted it to be low-key,” Marcus said. He’d opened the sliding door just in time to hear Heather’s comment. “What could be more low-key than everyone bringing a six-pack?”
Carly laughed. When Heather and Jack had been engaged, they’d talked about getting married at his parents’ house in the Hamptons, surrounded by the biggest names in New York arts and philanthropy, with a champagne fountain and a performance by the first chair violinist of the New York Philharmonic. Carly had once caught her lovingly scrolling her mouse over a pair of white Chanel pumps that cost as much as a month’s rent. Now she was planning to marry Marcus barefoot on the beach and have the reception right here in their backyard. Apparently she’d drawn the line at BYOB, but still, it was hard to imagine two wedding plans more different than the two Heather had made. Then again, it was hard to imagine two men more different than Jack and Marcus. Thank God.
“Is the meat nearly ready?” Leanne asked.
“Another five minutes or so,” Marcus said, slipping inside and closing the door behind him, but not before Carly caught a whiff of barbeque smoke and frangipani. Marcus took three cans of beer from the fridge and kissed Heather on the cheek on his way back to the door. Carly watched as Heather grinned, then tried to school her smile, then gave up and grinned even wider.
“Oh, get a room,” Alice groaned dramatically as Marcus pulled the back door open and stepped onto the deck, but then she stooped down and kissed Izzy’s cheek, to Izzy’s obvious delight.
“Speaking of checklists,” Heather said, when she’d stopped blushing, “we need to nail down our cocktail recipes so we can put in an order at the bulk liquor store. Carly, do you and Nick have any ideas?”
Carly took another sip of her wine and swallowed it slowly, buying time to pull her mind away from the vaguely jealous thoughts that had occurred to her.
“We can schedule a time to test out some options,” she said. “I’ll talk to him tonight.”
Heather nodded, and Carly could almost see her rearranging a color-coded spreadsheet in her head.
“Will has the cake design all set,” Alice told Heather. “My brother,” she said to Carly. “He opened a bakery last year. HisBake Offobsession escalated until he was taking days off work to bake, so he quit his IT job and went all in. Now all he wants is to be the Australian Paul Hollywood, but Chinese.”
“And less of a prick,” Izzy chimed in.
“Right,” Alice agreed.
“And Alice has been writing her remarks for the ceremony since the day after you got engaged,” Izzy said, smiling up at her girlfriend. “She’s going to do a brilliant job.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” Leanne said.
“What’s your role in all this?” Carly asked Izzy. It seemed like everyone at the table had one, along with a string of in-jokes built up over weekly Sunday dinners.
“Oh, I’m basically a professional wedding guest at this point,” Izzy said with a proud smile. “So many of my friends have gotten married in the last few years that I’ve got wedding guesting down to a science.”
Carly looked over at Heather. “I think you’re the only bride in the world who’d be reassured by that approach.”
“That’s correct,” Heather said cheerfully, and all five of them laughed. “But she’s also doing my hair and makeup on the day. Yours, too, if you want a little something extra.”
Carly was about to reply when the back door slid open and Davo stepped into the room. He was taller than Marcus and had a broad, muscular frame, and with his pale face, dark brown hair, and watery blue eyes, he looked nothing like his brother and mother.
“Meat’s done,” he said, stepping aside to reveal Marcus holding a plate of cooked steaks and sausages in each hand.
