Should have been a double wedding – it was all a bit incestuous anyway IMHO.
Double ick, if you ask me. Maybe she was shagging both of them all along. Does she really think it’s going to work out now with that sordid past history?
Why not? Worked out for Charlie and Camilla, didn’t it?
Marry Me in Provence can make your dream wedding come true – unless Sophie Spencer happens to fancy your groom. Or his best man. Haha!
Karma’ll get them. Cheats never prosper.
Nah. Cheats win all the time. They just have to live with the guilt. Good luck with that, Sophie and Luc.
Which comment had Tilly just read to elicit the disgusted huff of sound she made? Not that it mattered. Too many of them had tapped into that well of negative emotions Sophie hadn’t realised was still so accessible.
Tilly was following her as she walked towards the windows. Maybe looking out over the forest would help break the links to what was going on out there. Sophie didn’t want to watch her business being battered to death any longer.
‘I know it’s not true. Any of it.’
Sophie turned to find Tilly looking just as miserable as she was feeling and it was a relief to allow herself to be hugged. She hadn’t been touched by anyone since Luc had left two days ago but it was only now that she could see how utterly alone it had left her.
By tacit consent, both women sank on to the couches. They weren’t ready to start any of the work that was needed to wind up the wedding season or, more likely, to wind up the business.
‘YoulovedTom,’ Tilly said. ‘You were going to marry him. I know you would never have cheated on him.’
Sophie nodded. But then she felt her face crumpling. ‘Is it cheating when you’re only thinking about someone else? When nobody knows? When you actually think that that person hates you?’
Tilly pressed a hand to her heart. ‘Tu soupirais après lui…’
Sophie hadn’t heard the expression before but it was perfect, in retrospect. She had been secretly sighing after Luc Moreau, believing it to be completely one-sided. Unexpectedly, Tilly’s choice of making it sound so romantic made her smile.
‘Ouais,’ she whispered. ‘Je soupirais.’ She pulled in a breath. ‘But Tom was the man I wanted to marry. He was beautiful. He was safe. Luc was the wild one. He scared me.’ She paused for a heartbeat. ‘Ididlove Tom. I knew I would love him forever. I just wasn’t…inlove with him but I thought that was a good thing. I didn’t want to be in love with anyone.’
Tilly was nodding slowly. ‘Because being in love meant that you might lose control. That you might give up everything to be with a man you loved like that and you would risk too much if he didn’t feel the same way.’
‘Something like that.’ Sophie didn’t need to tell Tilly about her mother when she already understood enough. She liked that it had only ever been Luc that she’d told about that part of her life – when she’d cried after they first made love. She loved that he was the only other person who would ever know that it was the way she felt about him that had allowed her to finally understand, and forgive, her mother.
‘But you were in love with Luc, even if you didn’t want to recognise it.’ Tilly gave one of those contented sighs that meant she approved of the level of romance involved. ‘And then it turns out that he loves you just as much. When did you find that out?’
‘The night of the Villa Céleste wedding.’
‘Really? You had no idea back then?’
‘Maybe. A little.’ Sophie bit her lip. ‘Okay… more than a little but only for a moment – a blink of time that was so short it was easy to pretend that it had never existed. To… protect Tom.’ Sophie shook her head slowly. ‘Luc loved Tom. Tom loved me. Neither of us would have ever done anything to hurt him. He was the kindest, most genuine, happiest man you could ever meet. He was like… human sunshine.’
‘And Luc? He was the rain?’
‘More like a storm,’ Sophie said softly. ‘Terrifying. Electric. With the power to change the world.’
Or destroy it?
‘Have you talked to him today?’
‘No. It’s… a bit awkward, to be honest. He’s very worried about what’s going to happen with the big project he’s working on in London. I don’t think it’s going well. People who were going to donate a lot of money to the foundation don’t want anything more to do with him. He’s worried about my business and I haven’t even told him how bad things are here. We could both lose everything we’ve built.’ Sophie pushed herself to her feet. ‘We might need to make a decision about whether we even try and keep Marry Me in Provence going. I’m not sure my heart’s in it any longer.’
Tilly eyes were wide with shock. ‘You’re thinking of giving up?’
‘Or giving it to you.’
Tilly’s jaw dropped. ‘No… I couldn’t do it. Not destination weddings.’
