‘Many of…’
Christ, he should have stayed well away from Cillian – as Toni had wanted. ‘I’m sorry. That’s upsetting.’
With an enormous sniff, Cillian shook his head, pressing his lips together as his chin wobbled. ‘I know animals die,’ he said solemnly and there went another chunk of Gabri’s heart. Merda, he had not wanted any of this.
Returning to the task of transforming wood and poles and chicken wire into the wedding arch of Alison and Nathaniel’s dreams, the texture of the leaves, the shades of green, were soothing as always, but he was more aware than usual that the calm was temporary. His churning feelings were still there underneath.
‘The bride and groom have chosen a theme with the antique rose colour,’ he continued – distraction for himself as well as Cillian. ‘It will have some accents in dark pink and yellow and the eucalyptus creates the bridge between the pink and the green of the rest of the foliage. Especially with wedding flowers, the combination needs to be elaborate and create interest, but not overwhelm.’
Cillian’s eyes glazed over at the long-winded explanation, so Gabri gave up explaining his work and let the boy fiddle with the metal poles he hadn’t got to yet.
‘If you want to tell me something, you can,’ Gabri eventually said with a sigh. ‘I might pass it on to your mamma, if I think it’s important, but whatever it is, you’re allowed to say it.’
Cillian didn’t react for long enough that Gabri began to think he’d messed up – again. But then Toni’s son lifted his gaze with a puzzled frown. ‘I know you’re not Mum’s boyfriend, but you also can’t tell me you’re just a friend, like Andreas.’
‘Who’s Andreas?’
‘He’s my dad’s best friend. He hugs Mum sometimes but not like you.’
He shouldn’t have asked.
‘Cillian,’ he began, ‘I won’t lie to you, but I don’t know what your mamma wants you to understand. Iamher friend.’
‘Will you come and see us at home, then?’
That question landed on him with more impact than he expected. ‘Probably not.’ Not after everything that had happened.
Cillian seemed to accept his brutally honest answer, although he didn’t return Gabri’s gaze.
After a minute of two of silence, he set the metal poles down on the table and took a step back.
‘I don’t think you are a real friend,’ he declared. ‘I think you hurt Mum’s feelings and you won’t say sorry and I don’t know why she likes you!’
His composure crumbled and he ran from the room, leaving Gabri reeling. He hadn’t intended for any of this to happen, but he and Toni had hurt each other and saying sorry wouldn’t fix anything.
He had no argument with the last part.
27
It was clear why the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago were such a popular choice for the clients of I Do Destinations. If Toni hadn’t already understood the attraction of Elba, with its vineyards, terracotta towns and secret coves, the day on the island of Pianosa would have convinced her.
Arriving off the chartered ferry at the main settlement with its pale, crenelated fortifications, a white sand beach stretched as far as she could see in one direction and the sea glowed aqua near the shore.
Their national park guides met the party at the pier and they split into three groups: one would tour the island by bicycle, one would remain relaxing on the beach, and the final group were to tour the former maximum-security prison located in the middle of the island – one-time home to political terrorists and mafia bosses. It wasn’t very romantic, but the bride and groom had chosen that option.
Toni and Reshma spent the morning preparing the elaborate picnic on the beach and scouting some locations for photos. Reshma seemed a little wary of her, which made sense after her outburst yesterday.
‘Would you get married here?’ she asked Reshma as they placed a cool box under a bush for some shade.
Reshma’s look of alarm was comical. ‘Who am I supposed to marry?’
‘I have no idea. That’s not what I asked. I only know you’re not already married because Tita told me.’ The receptionist and booking wiz from I Do Destinations was chatty on the phone, but everyone had picked up on the amount of time Reshma had been spending with her new business partner from Great Heart, Willard Coombes. He was about ten years older than her and understood more about glaciers than relationships, butsomethingseemed to be drawing them together, though neither would admit anything was going on.
‘I think,’ Reshma answered carefully, ‘probably not. In my experience, there are three reasons why people want a destination wedding, rather than a big event at home. One: they want to escape certain people and have an excuse not to invite them. Two: they are envious of other people who got married where the sun is guaranteed to shine. Or three: they’ve seen hurt and hardships in their lives and want to write a new story for their marriage.’
‘None of those apply to you?’ Toni asked, amused by the veiled cynicism in Reshma’s words.
‘The first and the second, absolutely,’ she answered with a wry smile. ‘But I’m not sure I have the courage for number three for myself and honestly, the first two are shitty reasons to drag your wedding party halfway across Europe.’
