Lili couldn’t help smiling. She did remember that, and the fact she was able to made her want to cry again.
‘And then tomorrow we’ll take you back to the hospital, just to be sure.’ Lo hugged her again. ‘I know I’ve said this before, but I’m so sorry I didn’t understand the full depth of how Justin treated you until it was too late, and I’m sorry that I allowed him to drive a wedge between us.’
Lili squeezed her back. ‘It wasn’t your fault. Isn’t that what you tell me when I start beating myself up about being with him? We all know how good he was at manipulating people, and he fooled the lot of us.’ Her dad had been livid when he’d found out the truth about the knight in shining armour who’d supposedly saved his daughter. And she reckoned her normally placid mum would still punch him in the face if she got the chance.
‘I’m telling you now, sis, I’ve got your back – one hundred per cent. I’m going to make sure that nothing ever happens to make you lose yourself that way again.’ Lo hugged her again then took her hand. ‘Now, come on … Us against the world. The evening reception’s about to start and I need my maid of honour by my side.’
It was just after seven o’clock when Ben arrived at Hadsborough Castle. He walked through the grounds to the Tithe Barn, his pulse trotting. He’d managed to buy a plain shirt and a pair of trousers, and he’d borrowed a tie from Marco, which he now realised was a mistake. For some reason, it just wouldn’t sit right, no matter how he tied it.
It felt like he was going on a first date, and he was a jumble of nerves, even though he and Lili had been calling and texting as much as possible over the last twenty-four hours. It was strange, although he’d first known her by that name, he was struggling to stop thinking of her as Alice. He sighed. It would come.
He gave his name to an usher at the door, who nodded and scurried away,then moved further into the function room. By the looks of things, he’d arrived at the barn just in time for the cutting of the cake. He scooted to the back of the crowd, scanning it for any sign of a wavy, blonde bob. When the bride and groom arrived at the podium to plunge a knife into the three-tiered wonder, he spotted a group of bridesmaids, all in floor-length green velvet, and – yes! – there she was, standing at the back, holding a half-full glass of champagne.
He kept his eyes on her, willing her to look his way, but her gaze was trained on her sister and new brother-in-law. When the bridal party scattered in different directions, Ben made a beeline for the maid of honour. ‘Hi,’ he said, smiling – well,grinning– at her. The moment he’d been waiting for, not just for forty-eight hours but for five-and-a-half years, had finally come.
She’d been talking to one of the other bridesmaids and she turned to look at him. ‘Hi,’ she said back, and she smiled too, but it seemed a watered-down version of the ones he’d seen on FaceTime earlier that day. Her reaction seemed a little … not wrong, just … not right, either.
But then her smile solidified into a frown. ‘You …!’ she said. ‘You’re Ben the Photographer!’
Yes, he was, although that seemed an odd way to say hello, but … whatever. He stepped forwards to kiss her cheek, but she backed away from him. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Ben froze. ‘Alice … What’s wrong?’
She looked back at him in bemusement, then let out a short, hard laugh. ‘You’re incredible … Five and a half years, Ben!Five and a half years of silence, and then you just turn up at my sister’s wedding reception and behave like nothing happened.’ Ben wanted to remind her she’d been the one to invite him, but his brain didn’t seem to be in a hurry to send the signal to his mouth.
‘And to make matters worse, you couldn’t even get my name right! My name’s Lili, notAlice!’ And then she threw the contents of her glass of champagne over him, which hit him square in the face and then dripped downwards onto Marco’s tie.
What …? How …?
And then the penny dropped. Only, it wasn’t as something as light and inconsequential as a coin; a whacking great boulder of ice crashed from his brain down to his gut and lay there, freezing his innards.
Lili’s memories were back, and Alice’s …?
Well, they were gone.
Chapter Sixty-One
Now.
BEN STOOD THERE, his face damp with champagne, and stared at the space where Alice … no, Lili had just been standing. He could do with a drink. Or, more accurately,anotherdrink. One he wasn’t actually wearing. Still dazed, he wandered to the bar and ordered himself a double Scotch, knocking it back in less time than it took to pour it.
What was he going to do now? It hurt his head to try to work out all the implications of what had just happened. Before he could even start, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find the usher he’d given his name to earlier standing there with the bride. For some reason, she didn’t look very pleased to see him.
‘Ben Robertson?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thanks, Tayo,’ she said to the usher. ‘I’ll take it from here.’ She stared at Ben for a moment. ‘You look familiar … We haven’t met before, have we?’
He shook his head. Lili had talked a lot about her sister when they’d been in London together, but he didn’t even remember seeing a photo of her.
He was about to say as much when she added, ‘I need to have a word with you. Outside.’ And she hooked her hand in Ben’s elbow and steered back through the double doors he’d only just come through and kept going until they were a short distance from the barn. ‘Have you seen Lili yet?’
‘Yes,’ he replied, even though that solitary word did nothing to encompass the jaw-dropping experience of their last encounter.
Elodie swore. ‘I was hoping to head you off before she saw you.’
‘I said hello and she threw her drink over me.’
