‘Dad always does what’s right for him,’ Rory snapped. ‘Other people have to cope with the fallout.’
In the end, Meg had been 50 per cent right about her daughters’ reactions. Apart from Stu, Vonnie had definitely been the most thrilled of everyone with the news.
‘I’m so happy for you both.’ Vonnie’s skinny arms had wrapped as far as they could round Meg’s body, Meg being the archetypical volupté. Once, when she’d been working in an expensive clothes shop in the city, trying to make ends meet, Meg had posed for swimsuit pics – her olive skin darkened in the sun till she looked Italian, her hair silvery white and long, sea-green eyes heavy-lidded in each sexy pose.
The pictures had taken flight virally and she’d been, briefly, the poster girl for the older, sexy woman.
‘I wish they had a bar licence here,’ said Vonnie now, adjusting herself in one of The Beach Hut’s rattan chairs and organising cushions around herself.
The complete opposite physically to Meg, Vonnie was naturally a skin-and-bone person, was always cold and required cushions and blankets to warm her bony frame. ‘I fancy Bucks Fizz. You’re getting married in six days! We ought to be celebrating.’
Meg winced. She was understandably hyper-sensitive about alcohol.
‘Bucks Fizz? It’s only five to nine in the morning.’
Meg had already had a kale and cashew nut butter smoothie and had spent twenty minutes doing yoga. She worked hard at eating superfoods, keeping herself flexible and doing weight-bearing exercises. Her idea of a blow-out was nibbling some dark chocolate and having green tea too late at night. Green tea was a diuretic. At least life would be different to before when she and Stu lived together this time. No late-night drinks for a start. She liked the clean-living life she had.
Plus, the clothes shop she now worked in relied on her to look like a gorgeous Silver Surfer to sell their clothes. Meg herself was the best advertisement for the shop in Donnybrook, which sold expensive garments to wealthy older women, many of whom would donate an organ, any organ, to look like Meg Robicheaux.
‘But it’s your wedding week!’ Vonnie complained.
‘The downside of deciding to get married in three weeks is that we have to organise it all at warp speed. We have things to do today, to plan,’ Meg reproached, knowing that if seven-stone Vonnie had a glass of champagne, even heavily diluted with orange juice, she’d be asleep in her cosy chair in half an hour.
Today was list making and then tomorrow, she, Vonnie, Eden and Savannah were going to the hotel, ostensibly to remind themselves of what needed to be done to the place before the wedding. Rory had said she had meetings and might not be able to get away, which sounded like an excuse. Indy was going to try to come if she could get cover at work.
The hotel had passed through many hands since they’d owned it and was now in the hands of one of Stu’s old friends, Frank, who was threatening to turn it into apartments.
This could be the last time any big event was held in the old place, Meg thought fondly, remembering the family’s life there. It had always been run on a wing and a prayer, once being saved from the bank because a Hollywood ghost story had been filmed there and the fee had got them out of the red.
‘I have my list,’ said Vonnie, reaching into the little pink basket she carried around with her in the summer.
‘Monday – make list of all things to do, mainly phone people today. The flower people said to talk to them today about the peonies. If they can get them. Tuesday – hotel. Check for damp. Nothing’s likely to be damp in June?’ she asked.
Meg grimaced. Damp had been a constant issue during her time running the hotel. Old structures loved damp. Spiders loved old structures. Even bats loved old structures, she thought, remembering Stu making a makeshift plastic net and manoeuvring a baby bat off Indy’s curtains and out into the garden one night, while the four girls had shrieked in the background.
Baby bats wrapped up in teeny blankets on social media: nice. Bats in real life: not so nice.
‘The ballroom’s tricky when it comes to damp,’ she told Vonnie, putting bats out of her mind. ‘There’s one spot near the inner bar. But—’ she closed her eyes and said a brief prayer – ‘it’ll be fine. Eden’s said there are a couple of dehumidifiers she can borrow if necessary.’
Vonnie went back to the list.
‘Wednesday – the bridal shower! I can’t wait. You’re going to be so surprised. Although it would have been nicer if we’d managed a weekend away.’
Meg had nixed the idea of a weekend away with her daughters, Vonnie and her other old friends. Even when they were adults, daughters didn’t like to be reminded that their parents had another life prior to their birth, which would have been impossible to avoid if in close contact with Meg’s oldest pals, as rounded up by Vonnie.
No, far better to have one night out in the tapas restaurant on the seafront, where Gianni’s stunning sloe-eyed nephew would smoulder at all the women and the food would be ambrosial. Sandra, Meg’s sister, would have to be kept off the cocktails in case she started telling everyone what a mistake it was for Meg to be remarrying Stu.
Vonnie was still at her list.
‘Wednesday morning – someone has to pick up Sonya from the airport. Should Stu do that?’
Meg paused. Sonya was Stu’s older sister, who’d run away from the family home as soon as she possibly could, had worked as a nurse for the NHS for years and now only came back for weddings and funerals.
‘He should but he’s running a meditation session that morning.’
Meg noticed Vonnie smiling at the thought of Stu Robicheaux and meditation. Who’d have imagined it? The local wild man had grown up, finally, and it suited him. His tawny hair was still worn too long and he managed bad-boy stubble on his jaw most of the time, but he was a changed man. After all these years, he was tame. She’d managed it, finally.
For a brief moment, Meg too wished that The Beach Hut had a bar licence. She could hold a single glass of Buck’s Fizz high and toast herself for managing to raise four beautiful daughters and for being able to keep her relationship with Stu so good that they were trying again. How many people got to do that?
