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Alice

I’ve watched those moments in films when the entire room pauses and it feels like time stops, the music ceases, the camera pans from pew to door, and some other clever cinematography that I have no business knowing about. I’ve always felt these moments are unrealistic, that it would never happen in real life, but I’m wrong, because this is exactly what this moment feels like as everyone in the room glares at the woman standing by the open door.

I’m sure Sydney is staring at her, and Drew will definitely be glaring, ready to kill anyone who dares to interrupt him making Sydney his wife. I don’t even have time to fabricate this new arrival: Sydney’s mum, who has learned about the wedding via Facebook and is here to stake her claim as mother of the bride? An archenemy of Drew’s who has decided that today would be a good day to seek her revenge for the fact that he dumped her years ago via a text message?

But no. She is none of these people, and I’m staring because I recognise this woman. It’s the sleep-deprived lady who came to Kitchen City, who stared at me in the car park and who I thought I saw not an hour ago when we arrived. Everything is jumbled because I don’t understand why she’s here, why she’s followed me—until I look at Owen and I know, before he even says her name, as the colour has drained from his face and his eyes look angry, sorry, and lost all at once.

“Pippa?” His lips barely move, but I hear the name and feel the weight of those five letters.

“Who the fuck is this?” Drew’s voice booms from the front of the room as Owen stands, releasing my hand.

Sydney stares at me, a silent plea to tell her who this is and what’s going on. Owen hurries towards Pippa, and I’m stuck between staying put for my friend’s wedding and going to see what this is all about.

“Apologies for the interruption. Are we ready to continue?” the registrar asks, looking from Drew to Sydney.

“Yes, continue,” Drew says, turning his back on the uninvited guest.

The registrar looks to Sydney, who nods and says, “Yes, we can continue.” But then she glances at me and nods in the direction of the door because she wants to know, as much as I do, why her wedding has been disrupted at such a crucial point.

Picking up the skirt of my dress, I slither out of the row and make my way out of the room, avoiding the looks from the other guests.

When I close the door behind me, there’s no one in the corridor, so I head to the main entrance, knowing Owen will have wanted to be outside for whatever is about to go down.

My stomach flips. What is Pippa doing here? What does she want?

I reach the large, heavy door, which is slightly open, having stuck on the floor, and I can hear a female voice. They must be standing just outside. I glance through the opening and see a flash of Owen’s suit, his hands thrust in his pockets, but it’s her voice I hear.

“I made a mistake. One I’ve been paying for over the last three years.”

It’s not the same wishy-washy voice I heard at Kitchen City. This is stronger, more affirmative, and I realise what she’s here for, why she’s come all this way, why she approached me in Kitchen City the other day, and why I saw her in the car park when we arrived.

She wants him back.

Nausea climbs my insides as I lean in further, not really knowing whether I want to be privy to this conversation because this could be the end of my dream, my Romeo reclaimed by his Rosaline.

“You and me both,” Owen says, and my heart cracks. “So, you chose someone else’s wedding to come and tell me this?”

“I was nervous about coming to see you. I didn’t know what you’d be doing or where your life was at, so when I found you, I kept trying to find the courage to speak to you, and I saw you with that woman.”

I don’t miss the snarl in her voice at the word woman, and I have to bite my lip to not make myself known, as I’d like to think I am not just some woman.

Pippa continues as I grip the side of the door. “I thought you were just dating, but then I drove to your house this morning to tell you how I felt, and I saw you come out of the house in that suit and…. Well, I remembered you wanted to wear that suit to get married in, and then I saw her in the gold dress, and I panicked, thought you were coming here to get married, and I had to stop it, had to tell you that I still love you. I’ve always loved you.”

My insides shrink, my gut wrenching at her words.

“Really?” is all Owen says.

“I was upset and confused, and I didn’t know what I wanted. I’d had this devastating news, and I didn’t know how to deal with it,” she whimpers.

“You say it like you were the only one, Pippa. Like you were the one who’d been told they didn’t work properly.”

“But that’s what it felt like. I had this dream—the husband, the house, the family—and then suddenly it was my worst nightmare.”

“So you left me,” Owen cuts in.

“I’m sorry. It was the wrong thing to do. I see that now. And the last three years have been so hard, so awful without you, and I knew I had to find you, had to tell you that I made a mistake.”