I placed both mugs on the coffee table, his in front of him and mine at the other end, and then I sat on the sofa, leaving a large gap between us.
He raised a brow ever so slightly but didn’t comment until he took a gulp of tea.
‘Great tea. Exactly the way I like it. Did Marcus elaborate? Or was that it?’
‘He told me that Adele is behaving in a manner he hasn’t seen before, and that it was as though she’s a different person. Her emotions are constantly up and down, and he doesn’t know what to do for the best. He wants me to have a talk with her and see what she really wants to do. If she doesn’t want the wedding to go ahead, he’d rather know. I think he may be getting cold feet himself. Even though he said he loves her, it sounds as if he may be starting to wonder if she truly loves him.’
‘That’s probably because of Cara.’
‘His first wife?’
‘Yeah. I only met her a couple of times when I popped back over here, and I never liked her. I didn’t make it to their wedding, due to unforeseen circumstances.’ He grimaced. ‘A woman driver knocked me off my bike in a hit and run. Hey! It wasn’t you, was it?’
‘What? No. Oh. You’re joking.’
‘Yeah. But not about the hit and run. That part is true.’
‘Were you badly hurt?’
‘Not that badly, fortunately, but bad enough that I had to remain in hospital for several days, which is where I was when Marcus married Cara.’
‘Blimey. I know Sam loves bikes, and so does Lucy now, but I’m not a fan.’
He grinned at me. ‘I wasn’t on a motorbike, Erin. It was a bicycle. One of those ‘see the city, rental bikes’, in Montreal. Which is ironic, really, because it’s ranked as one of the top cycling destinations in the world.’
‘A bicycle? Really? In Montreal? Wow. You meant it when you said you moved around.’
‘I wanted to see as much of Canada as I could and it’s a big country. Anyway, my parents have always lived here, and both Mum and Dad told me how badly things had gone wrong between Adele and Marcus who’d been friends long before he met Cara. I must admit I wasn’t that surprised when they told me about Cara’s lies, or her affair with Marcus’ best friend, Jeff. But I was when they said she’d left Marcus and moved in with Jeff. Mainly because Jeff lived next door in Middle Cottage. That must’ve been hell for Marcus. They moved away fairly quickly and she got a divorce, then last Christmas she married Jeff. But I expect you know all this don’t you?’
I nodded. ‘I do.’
‘Well, bearing in mind that Marcus and Adele hadn’t spoken for so long, to then find out they were suddenly an item was a massive surprise to many people. Especially as, after dating for just a couple of weeks, Adele had moved in with him. That sent a few alarm bells ringing. When he proposed to her on Valentine’s Day some people, according to Mum and Dad, did wonder what was going on and if it was a sort of rebound from Cara. So the fact that Adele believes that to be the case now, and that even Marcus is having second thoughts, makes sense in a way.’
‘Does it? From what I heard, Marcus has always loved Adele, deep down. He was going to ask her out but Jeff persuaded him not to. Who needs friends like that, eh? Then Marcus met Cara, and we all know how that panned out. I heard that he felt awful for the way he’d treated Adele and he thought she hated him, so they kept their distance due to a misunderstanding. I also heard it was Noelle who got them together. She had a long talk with both of them, separately, and made them each realise they wanted to be together.’
‘I heard that too. I’m not convinced I buy that.’
‘Really? Why not?’
‘Would you let your best friend talk you out of dating someone you really liked? And if you did, and all that other stuff happened, surely, when you had a chance to put things right, you would do so right away?’
‘I don’t know. We’re all different. What makes total sense to one person seems like madness to someone else. Don’t you think Marcus and Adele are meant for one another?’
‘Hmm.’ He shrugged and shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t been here to see them together. From what he’s told me, he loves her a lot. And Mum and Dad said they believe that she adores him. But if that’s the case, why is she having so many doubts? Isn’t love about trust? And friendship? And believing what someone tells you? Surely if the ravings of one woman can turn your world upside down and make you believe the man you love is only with you because you’re a convenience, then you didn’t really believe he loved you in the first place.’
‘That’s easy to say when you’re an extremely handsome, confident, globetrotting guy, but Adele isn’t like you. I know this is about her doubts and insecurities, not Marcus’ behaviour, but even so.’
‘You think I’m extremely handsome?’
He tilted his head slightly, and subtly twisted in his seat, leaning back a little and stretching his long legs out so that his feet were just an inch or so from mine. He wore trainers again today, not flip flops, and I wasn’t sure if I was pleased or disappointed as I slowly inched my sandalled feet away from his. Which only seemed to make his delighted smile grow wider.
‘And don’t forget,’ I continued, after a quick cough to clear my throat, ‘Marcus trusted Cara – and also his best friend – and look how that turned out. I’ll talk to Adele, if you’ll talk to Marcus. We need to sit them down and find out what is really going on. What’s the point of them having this wedding if it’s not going to be the happiest day of their lives? But if they do decide to go ahead with it, we need to make sure the entire day is perfect.’
‘No pressure then.’
‘Nope.’ I smiled.
‘Why does this matter so much to you?’ Jasper asked. ‘Haven’t you only just met them?’
