‘Not now what?’ he asked, seemingly confused.
‘You’ve just won Queen’s,’ I said, momentarily losing my train of thought at the sight of his muscular, naked body in my eyeline.
‘I am aware of that, Ava, yes.’
‘Haven’t you got ... stuff to do? A trophy to collect. Press to do, I don’t know?’
He tilted his head, looking at me from an angle. ‘Why are you trying to put me off coming with you to your family wedding? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me, or something?’
Obviously not. It was just ... my mum, mainly. And Cassie. You never knew how they were going to react to anything and they could not be relied upon to behave like most other families would, especially – in Cassie’s case – after a few drinks.
‘Everyone will be asking us awkward questions,’ I said, knowing as soon as the words left my mouth that it was a weak argument. He didn’t care what people thought of him, but unfortunately the same could not be said for me.
‘Could be fun, right?’ he suggested.
‘Been to any weddings lately?’
‘Sadly not. I actually quite like them,’ he said.
I laughed. ‘You don’t!’
‘What’s not to love? Good food, free drinks and a dance floor.’
I looked at him suspiciously. ‘You must be the only man I know who doesn’t do everything they can to get out of going to one. Are you actually saying you want to come? Won’t you be tired from training?’
‘My body needs to recover from yesterday, so Patrick will go easy on me, even if we do have Wimbledon prep at the forefront of our minds. I’ll drive up as soon as I can get away.’
‘Marcus, it’s honestly fine if you can’t make it. I won’t mind at all.’
‘It’s just one evening, Ava.’
‘Sure, but it’s not like Oxford is convenient. You should be resting. Patrick and Dean will want to talk to you. If you get tied up and can’t make it, I’ll totally understand.’
‘There is nothing I would rather do than come to a wedding with you today. Does that convince you?’
‘I suppose so,’ I said, pretending I hadn’t minded either way, even though secretly I was over the moon that he was making the effort to come. Maybe sleeping with him hadn’t been a mistake after all and I should have done itmuchsooner.
Marcus left for training as soon as he’d showered, scattering me with kisses and promises to see me as soon as he could, and I setoff for Oxford after breakfast. My train hit a section of engineering works and proceeded to crawl along the tracks at a snail’s pace, although not even that could dampen my mood, even if it did mean I arrived late. I had to get dressed in the downstairs bathroom because I didn’t have time to check into the hotel, and then leave my suitcase at reception before hotfooting it into the ceremony before the bride made her entrance. Mum gave me side-eye as I slipped on to the seat they’d saved for me next to Cassie.
‘You nearly missed it,’ she hissed.
‘I’m here now, aren’t I?’ I said, as music began to play.
Julie glided ethereally into the room to Taylor Swift’s ‘Afterglow’, and it made me very happy that she was marrying a man who didn’t mind that she’d chosen a slightly naff pop song to walk up the aisle to. She looked beautiful on the arm of my Uncle Dennis, and what with the lyrics and Julie in tulle and the beautiful flowers wrapped around the pergola at the end of the aisle, I felt quite emotional. It was probably also partly to do with having spent the night with Marcus. Perhaps it was wedding fever, but I couldn’t deny any longer that I was falling for him.
The wedding ‘lunch’ was served at four-thirty and I was seated on a table with eight other people I didn’t know, which I was grateful for in many ways, not least because none of them would know I was supposed to have been coming with Charlie, although I did have to explain that my ‘plus one’ would be joining us later. I glanced over at a miserable-looking Cassie, who had been relegated to a table made up of mostly singles. She was already being chatted up by some drunk guy on her left and looked bored and pissed off, which was pretty much her default expression at any social event. I lookedaway again, dampening down the nagging feeling that I should do something. Anything. Rescue her, save her, make her happy.
‘Is your boyfriend the famous one?’ asked the woman sitting next to me, who was a friend of Julie’s from work.
‘I’m not sure about famous, but he’s a professional tennis player,’ I said, feeling a rush of pride, even if ‘boyfriend’ was pushing it.
She elbowed her partner, a cocky-looking City boy type, in the ribs. ‘Told you! He’s that guy who smashes his racquet around.’
‘He won Queen’s yesterday, actually,’ I said, fed up with his racquet throwing being the first thing people mentioned about him. What about all the other amazing stuff? And what’s the betting some of them would be smashing racquets in his position, too?
Irritated by her, I turned to the woman on the other side of me, who was also on her own and had apparently met Julie decades ago when they’d both been backpacking around Australia. As she told me how hilarious their trip had been and gave me all the intel on the questionable things my cousin had got up to aged nineteen, I surreptitiously checked my phone. Marcus had said he’d be here at about four, and it was already ten to five. I swallowed the rising panic that came out of nowhere – he said he’d come, so he’d come. He’d probably been held up. It might have been reassuring if he’d let me know, but perhaps he’d jumped in the car and hit the road, thinking it would be best to just get here.
When Julie and her husband, Ben, took to the floor for their first dance just after 7 p.m., I watched from the sidelines with a lump in my throat – I didn’t know why, but the first dance always got me more than anything else. It was the rousing love songs; the sight of two people being so wrapped up in each other that it was as if they were completely alone and not surrounded by two hundredmoist-eyed guests aahing and awwwing at them. Added to that was the fact that Marcus still hadn’t arrived, nor had he replied to the text I’d sent an hour ago. Unlike my mum and sister, I wasn’t the type to catastrophise, but should I be? Was it possible he’d been involved in an accident or something? Because he’d been so insistent on coming when I’d basically given him an out, so why wouldn’t he be here?
