And he glanced over towards her, like he’d felt her watching him. He locked eyes with her, and carried on dancing, watching her, not smiling, just… dancing.
Lily blinked. Her throat was drying. She could barely remember how to work her own limbs. She just couldn’t think about anything except Matt and the way his body was moving. And the fact that this morning they’d been lying face to face on the ground together with their arms round each other, and then taken showers with only a door separating them. And that in the past they’d shared so much love.
She took a couple of steps towards him, and he just carried on watching her, dancing, like he was dancingather, orforher, and then someone shouted, ‘Lily,’ in her ear. About three times.
Lily tore her eyes from Matt and looked round.
‘Shall we go and get a drink?’ Mick said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
‘I…’ Lily took a quick glance back at Matt. He’d turned away from her and was laughing with one of Tess’s new work friends, a very attractive woman of about their age.
‘Just the two of us?’ Mick said.
Lily suddenly felt really tired. She snuck another look at Matt. What could be that funny? He looked as though he was having so much fun.
She didn’t want to have a drink with Mick. She just wanted to go to bed. Except she should really wait until Tess and Tom left. Why hadn’t they left, actually? Surely they didn’t want to start their honeymoon with a really late night?
‘I’m actually fine at the moment,’ she told Mick. ‘Thank you. Very much. I need to go and talk to Tess.’ She grabbed Aaliyah’s hand and pulled her across the dance floor towards where a little group were watching Tess and her dad dance together while Tom danced with Tess’s mum.
‘Lily, Aaliyah, darlings,’ Tess’s mum said at the end of the song. ‘Best bridesmaids. I’m proud of you all. Hasn’t everything gonemarvellously? Where’s Meg?’
Where was Meg, actually?
‘She left with Pythagoras a good hour ago,’ Aaliyah said, ‘under cover of all the rain hysteria. Their last night together.’
‘Fair enough,’ Lily said. ‘She’s going to be devastated to leave him.’
‘I think she might genuinely decide to try to stay here with him,’ Aaliyah said. ‘Seriously. And I wouldn’t even be that worried about her. I really like Pythagoras.’
‘Me too. The nicest man she’s met in the entire fifteen odd years we’ve known each other.’
‘Pity she lives in Edinburgh and he lives here.’
‘Tess, Tom, it’s late,’ Tess’s mum said, clapping her hands loudly. ‘I wonder whether you should think about leaving.’ The false eyelashes on her right eye slipped as she did an exaggerated wink. ‘I’m looking forward to hearing about your honeymoon pregnancy.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Tess to Aaliyah and Lily. ‘Morphing seamlessly from mother-of-the-bride-zilla to desperate-to-be-a-grandmother-zilla.’
‘I heard that,’ Tess’s mum said. ‘I love you, darling. I just want you to be happy.’
‘I love you too, Mum.’ Tess reached out to her mum and pulled her into a hug.
Lily looked over her shoulder while everyone else smiled at Tess and her mum. Matt was dancing now with the woman he’d been talking to.Clearlyno reason he shouldn’t, but Lily didn’t want to watch.
‘I actually think weshouldleave now,’ Tess said to Tom. ‘What do you think?’
‘I agree.’ Tom smiled at Tess adoringly and put his enormously bandaged hand round her waist.
Lily waited until everyone had finished throwing rice and petals over Tess and Tom and they were out of sight and the goodbye-and-congratulations cheers were dying down, and began to walk towards the exit herself.
Tom’s cousin Felix grabbed her hand as she tried to squeeze past him and pulled her back towards the dance floor with him. ‘Dance with me, Lily,’ he pleaded. ‘Alfredo’s been propping up the bar all evening and not dancing atall. Ineedyou.’
Lily laughed, trying really hard not to look over her shoulder to see where Matt was.
‘Do you have youreyeon someone here?’ Felix frowned and followed the line of her vision with a pointed finger.
‘No.’ Lily shook her head vigorously and started dancing with her eyes fixed on Felix’s. ‘I was just looking for Aaliyah.’
‘She’s literally right next to us. Youtotallyhave your eye on someone. Who?’
