‘Seven thirty.’
‘Well, there you go. It’s very early still. It never rains here in the summer. It’ll clear up.’
‘But what if it doesn’t?’
‘It will.’ Lily looked at her phone. She’d really like to check the forecast right now, but maybe not with Tess watching. It didn’t sound like she’d checked it herself yet. ‘Shall we maybe go and wake Aaliyah and Meg up?’ For moral support and some extra brainpower. Because what if itdidn’tstop raining?
‘Morning.’ Aaliyah was holding her door open and squinting at them through a green face mask.
‘Oh my God, Aaliyah,’ Tess said. ‘What if that gives youspots?’
‘She literally never gets spots,’ Lily said. ‘And also…’
‘Yeah, true. A spot isn’t going to be the biggest disaster of the day,’ Tess said. ‘It’s raining.’
‘Just a bit, though?’ Aaliyah’s face mask creased slightly.
Lily shook her head while Tess said, ‘No, it’s a massive storm.’
‘Is it actually?’ The face mask creased a bit more and then Aaliyah turned round and headed towards her window. Tess and Lily followed her.
‘Shit,’ breathed Aaliyah when she had her shutters open.
‘Shit is right,’ Tess said. ‘What thefuckare we going to do?’
‘We’re going to get Meg to ask Pythagoras for help,’ Aaliyah said. ‘He seems to know everyone and he has a whole restaurant and he seems very helpful by nature.’
‘It’s too small,’ Tess said. ‘I have a hundred and forty people here.’
‘You got a hundred and forty people to fly out to Greece?’ Aaliyah said. ‘Wow. How did I not know that before?’
‘And again focusing on the essentials,’ Tess said, ‘I’m going to have nowhere to host them.’
‘Yep, sorry. I’m sure we’ll be able to sort something out.’
‘She isn’t there, is she?’ Tess said after they’d all knocked aloton Meg’s door. ‘She bloody snuck off with Pythagoras last night, didn’t she? Howdareshe?’
‘Tess.’ Lily took both Tess’s hands. ‘I know that the rain’s a huge shock but this isn’t Meg’s fault and she hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s an adult. We’re all adults. Yes, she’s your bridesmaid today, but you can’t really get upset with someone for spending the night with somebody before your wedding.’
‘Why not? The England football team aren’t allowed to have sex the night before a big match, are they? I definitely read that during the last World Cup.’
‘Do we think an England footballer’s job is slightly different from a bridesmaid’s, though?’ Aaliyah’s face mask was cracking quite a lot now. ‘One has to be on top physical form and run miles over the course of ninety minutes competing against some of the fittest and best athletes in the world and the other has to stand still and hold flowers and smile a lot and look beautiful? Do we think a sex embargo is necessary to enable someone to wear a dress and smile for a few hours?’
‘She’s supposed to besupportingme,’ Tess said.
‘Diva,’ Aaliyah mouthed behind her back.
‘Let’s phone her,’ Lily said. ‘And she can ask Pythagoras if he has any ideas.’
‘No answer,’ she said a couple of minutes later.
‘And the forecast is for rain all day,’ Aaliyah said.
‘What?’ Tess snatched Aaliyah’s phone. ‘I’m going to call the wedding off.’
‘No you aren’t,’ Lily said. ‘You have a hundred and forty guests here, remember.’
‘Well, what are we going todo?’ wailed Tess.
