India had secretly visited two bridal boutiques on her own, just to see what would suit her, even though she knew it was too soon.
She and Felippe were only dating a month.
She’d told her friend, Lizzie, about the wedding dress trips.
‘You can’t choose this early,’ Lizzie had said on the phone, her voice shocked.
Lizzie was heavily pregnant at the time. The reality of the pregnancy had not yet filtered through to India’s brain. It was all part of the fun of Lizzie being married. But the separateness of Lizzie having a baby, being an absolute grown-up – that hadn’t registered properly.
India and Cleo had been Lizzie’s bridesmaids. Lizzie was a pocket-rocket brunette, and Cleo’s mother was from Singapore so Cleo had perfect skin, almond eyes like glowing dark jewels and straight silken hair. Together, they were India’s best friends.
Cleo had gone to Maastricht to study for her master’s, so India relied on Lizzie for the best friend thing.
‘I know Felippe and I are only together a few weeks but I couldn’t resist it,’ India had said dreamily about her wedding shop experience. ‘I’ve always thought that you can’t go into a bridal shop unless you are actually engaged – that a sign pings on over your head if you chance going in otherwise! Isn’t that a mad thought? But I pretended I was. Oh Lizzie, I tried on one that was totally Cinderella princess. Tiny waist and a huge skirt that moved with you. You’d love it.’
‘You do you, hon,’ Lizzie had said, but she hadn’t sounded invested in the wedding dress idea.
Now, India wonders what sort of an idiot she’d sounded like. She feels like phoning up Lizzie to apologise for being such a dense friend – but Lizzie has a baby and India has no idea what’s a good time ever to call her.
In the end, she types in a message on her phone:
I was being really stupid when I told you about trying on wedding dresses, Lizzie– she writes.
Then she realises that Lizzie has a new baby and that she won’t care over something silly her friend had done months ago. How self-absorbed has she become? India thinks with frustration.
She deletes the first message then types again:Missing you out here in Corfu. How is Lily-Blossom? I think about her all the time. I hope she’s sleeping, love India.
That’s better.
India feels that she can’t write anything in the notebook now apart from a few bullet points.
Wedding dress fantasy – really stupid?
Daydreaming about relationships.
Perfect boyfriends.
She can’t do any more. There’s too much swirling in her head.
She’ll think about it tomorrow.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dan is wandering frantically in a hospital. Sweating, panicked.
There are no signs on the walls and he’s looking for the emergency room.
He can hear an ambulance siren, but he just can’t figure out where to go. His heart is pumping and he’s sweating with fear. All the time, doctors and nurses are shouting to one another while the siren wails in the background.
Dan can feel the sweat all over his body and he’s exhausted. It’s like his legs are leaden, getting heavier and heavier. Each step is like dragging an enormous weight behind him, but he has to find her. Julia.
He can save her.
Then suddenly, he’s in a room with lots of doctors wearing blue scrubs in front of him. He knows he has to get past them, has to see who or what is on the bed.
‘Julia!’ he cries out. ‘I’m here!’
The crowds part magically and he’s staring down at Julia’s body. It’s not like she’s on a hospital bed – instead she’s lying in a six-foot-long pit in the ground.
