Page 75 of Italy and Forever

Finally, Sophie pulled the door shut and Ginny needed to get into the driver’s seat, but she was desperate to talk to Rhys, so her feet didn’t take her there. ‘I’m sorry about the—’ She gestured helplessly, hoping he understood what she was talking about.

‘I understand.’ He gave a grim nod and a pained smile. Then he said, ‘You look nice.’

‘So do you.’ She paused. ‘You’ll have to get some shots of me,’ she blurted out with an awkward curtsey to dispel her self-consciousness.

But he obliterated the awkwardness with a single, murmured sentence. ‘I already have. Several.’

He hesitated, then lifted a hand to her ear, the top piercing where she’d slipped in her favourite gold stud with a loop of chain dangling from it.

After a heavy swallow, he continued, ‘I won’t be able to let anyone see my photos until I’ve gone through them. It would be obvious. But I’ll make sure no one realises.’

It took a moment to remind herself to breathe through the muddle in her head at his words, some kind of short circuit flaring in her existential crisis.

‘We should go,’ he said.

‘You can’t just say something like that and⁠—’

The door opened behind her. ‘No fighting, you two. Not today. Shouldn’t we be leaving? Everyone else has.’

31

She jumped every time someone changed lanes in her vicinity. Adrenaline was bringing back the accident and Rhys’s words had twisted her out of shape. She had to drive in her sheer tights, since the glittery heels were not good for driving, and she slipped on the pedals more than she liked.

Rhys gave her the odd tip for the route, somehow able to sense when she was uncertain. She was beginning to believe his ability to read her body language was criminal, when he was a closed book himself.

Finally, they reached the little copse near the church and she started to release the tension. Weddings were her area of expertise, even if this one was slightly different because she’d be standing at the front.

‘Nearly there,’ she called over her shoulder to Sophie.

‘Ginny, stop!’

She slammed on the brakes at Rhys’s urgent tone, clutching the wheel and seeing flashes of a lorry too close to the bonnet. But this road definitely wasn’t the autobahn and in front of her was, not an accident, but a line of ribbon, like the finish line of a marathon – or crime-scene tape.

She narrowly avoided breaking through it. The car screeched to a halt just before the line and the warm press of Rhys’s hand on her shoulder helped her take a much-needed breath. It wasn’t crime-scene tape, thank God. A small group of people in lederhosen and dirndls appeared, holding glasses, one even had a necklace of tiny liquor bottles.

‘What on earth?’ Sophie groaned.

Ginny recognised Andreas’s two friends, Lucas and Marco. ‘Oh, this is some other tradition,’ she explained to Sophie. ‘Is this the bride-stealing or the obstacles?’

‘Obstacles, I’m guessing,’ Rhys said.

‘Bride-stealing?’ Sophie repeated, her voice high.

Ginny lowered the window. ‘We’d better see what they want.’

‘Could Sophie-Leigh please step out of the car?’

‘We have some questions for her!’

‘She is marrying a Südtiroler! The questions must be answered correctly!’

Ginny met Sophie’s gaze warily. ‘I was always good at playing along with University Challenge,’ Sophie said grimly and pushed open the door. Ginny slipped her shoes back on and dashed out to help her, to a satisfying chorus of oohs and aahs about the dress.

‘First order of business,’ Lucas said, coming forward with a schnapps glass and a suspicious bottle with a handwritten label. He sloshed a bit into the glass and held it out to Sophie.

‘She can’t drink that!’ Ginny squealed.

‘Ah, that’s correct. You will do it for her?’