Twenty-five
Once Adele and Marcus had decided on the timing, we’d been able to plan the rest of the wedding day and confirm any provisional bookings we’d made.
I wasn’t at all surprised at how well Jasper and I worked together, but I was surprised, and more than a little disappointed that nothing more had happened between us.
He had come to retrieve his ladder, two days after that luncheon at the sailing club, but he’d been oddly distant and I wasn’t sure why. We were still flirting on the phone, and our texts were sometimes close to the mark, but now when we met in person, he seemed intent on keeping a physical distance of at least three feet between us. Every time I moved closer to him, he inched further away.
‘Do you think he’s changed his mind?’ I asked Lucy.
‘Surely if he had he’d tell you,’ she replied. ‘But why don’t you simply ask him? I know you like to keep your cards close to your chest but you’re not usually backward in coming forward when you’ve got something to say.’
‘But I might scare him off for good if I say something and he’s not ready. Or he’s gone off the idea.’
‘Leave it for another week then and see how he is then. His nose should be almost healed by then. Perhaps he’s just holding back until he’s sure he can … take things further.’
I hoped she was right.
We did have a few more niggling issues before the wedding day, like having to chase some responses to the wedding invitations, and the band we’d booked pulling out just one week before.
Adele and Marcus took the view that if people didn’t reply to the invitation by at least the week before, we’d cross them off the guest list. I decided to send out an email to the tardy ones advising them of this, and that produced a sudden influx of RSVPs. At the final count, all invitees were attending, which totalled one hundred people. There could’ve easily been more but Adele and Marcus had made a decision about that too.
‘This day is for us and our friends and families,’ Marcus said. ‘Between us we know nearly everyone in Fairlight Bay, I think. We’re going to say it’s only for those closest to us and if others don’t understand or feel left out, well, so be it. The sailing club function room isn’t large enough to accommodate many more and we want to have it there so we’re sticking to our guns.’
As for the band, well, that was due to a rift between its members, which had ended in a punch up and now they weren’t talking to one another. This time Marcus did insist on them refunding the deposit, which they did.
Luckily, Jasper’s dad knew someone whose son was in a band and although all the members were younger than twenty-one, they had a surprisingly varied repertoire. The best part being that they had a cover version of Bryan Adams’ song, that Marcus had played on the day of that taster lunch at the sailing club. As that was Adele’s favourite, it was decided to have that playing as Adele and Marcus came out onto the balcony to say their vows.
The only other issue was that Adele’s wedding gown needed to be let out at least twice. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said she could have those biscuits. She was eating for two though, and she had a human being growing inside her so as far as I was concerned, she could eat as many biscuits as she liked.
Considering all the drama and accidents we’d been through, we were all lucky to get to the wedding day in one piece.
The flowers were sublime, both the ones for Adele’s bouquet and those for the tables in the function room at the sailing club. There was also an arch erected on the balcony beneath which Adele and Marcus would stand to say their vows, and that too had flowers intricately woven around it. It smelt heavenly for anyone standing within a few feet of it.
‘I hope it doesn’t attract wasps and bees though,’ Lucy said.
There was a similar arch erected at the fence line of End Cottage, with flowers woven into that one too.
In addition to the floral arch on the balcony, there was bunting made up of pretty white hearts edging all the walls and windows and doors. There was even some hanging along the guttering on our cottages. Jasper had put that up. So he must now be able to climb a ladder. That was interesting.
We were lucky with the weather and the entire week leading up to the big day was gloriously sunny and warm but not too hot, and thankfully, not humid.
Noelle made the table decorations and they were stunning and cute. She’d made little people who looked a lot like the bride and groom and each table had a happy couple standing beneath a floral arch. Again the flowers were heavenly scented blooms of Adele’s choosing.
The cake, which was being made by one of Lucy’s employers at Fairlight Bakes, was a three-tier confection of fruit cake covered in white icing, strewn not only with flowers made from fondant icing, but also with fresh, edible viola petals. There was a bride and groom and the petals were like confetti.
In addition to myself, the bridesmaids were Noelle and Lucy, and Melody was to lead the way onto the balcony as a flower girl too. She had a white wicker basket filled with more beautiful petals, including some violas, and she would be scattering them as she walked.
The bridesmaids’ dresses were stunning. They were A-line, V-neck, floor-length Chiffon with a sort of ruffle tie knot affair at one side on the waist. It was more for a hint of decoration than anything else. The dresses were a colour called Tahiti which was something between lilac and purple, but they really were gorgeous and they all fitted perfectly because Lucy had made each one. The adult versions had a long split on the same side as the knot, beginning just below the hip and going down to the floor. Melody’s had a long bow down that side instead.
Eliot would be taking photos both at the Registry Office and throughout the time we were at the sailing club. And, as it happened, Adele and Marcus decided they wanted Noelle, Alec and Melody, Lucy and Sam, and myself and Jasper at the Registry Office but as it was just for the signing of the papers, we all wore smart dresses and suits and then went back to our respective homes to get changed for the main event.
Cars took us all to the Registry Office in Fairlight Bay for ten a.m. and from there back home to change.
Adele had told Lucy, Noelle and me on a little hen night, two nights before her big day, which was the four of us going out for dinner, that the reason she and Marcus had selected ten a.m. was so that they could go home to End Cottage and have sex as man and wife, as soon as they’d tied the knot, and then have a little nap before the event at the sailing club.
I liked her thinking, so much so that when Jasper still hadn’t taken the initiative by the time I got home from that hen night, I phoned him and told him what Adele and Marcus had planned.
‘I was wondering if, instead of you going home to your parents’ to get changed, after the legal bit of this wedding is done and dusted, you might like to take a leaf out of the bride and groom’s book and come back to Far Cottage with me.’
‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ he asked after a moment or two’s silence.
‘If you think I’m asking you to come back here and have sex with me on Adele and Marcus’ wedding day then the answer is yes. Please. And I added please to be polite. I wasn’t begging.’
He burst out laughing.
‘Unless you’ve changed your mind,’ I added. ‘Which is fine if you have. Just say no thanks, and we’ll remain friends.’
‘You’re joking? Right? About the friends bit. Not about the sex part. You know how much I want you, Erin. You must do. I think I’ve made that abundantly clear.’
‘When? You’ve as good as ignored me over the last two weeks.’
‘No I haven’t!’
‘Yes you have. You’ve kept your distance whenever we’ve been in the same room, and if I had the audacity to move closer to you, you immediately stepped away.’
‘No I … Okay. Perhaps I did do that. But I explained why. I told you that if I was near you, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you. I thought we’d agreed we’d wait until after the wedding was over and then we’d make up for lost time.’
‘When did we agree that? I assure you I made no such deal. We’d agreed that you would see how long your nose took to heal and then you’d let me know and we’d engage in contact sport right away. I even said there were other things we could do beforehand.’
‘I … I suppose I did say that. And yes. I remember what you said. The truth is, Erin, that the closer it got to the wedding the more worried I was that I might not … live up to your expectations, and that would be awkward if we had sex and it was a disaster and then we still had to stand beside one another at the wedding.’
‘So you think sex between us will be a disaster?’
‘No. I said that I was worried it might be.’
‘Well there’s only one way to find out. Have some bloody contact sport. Assuming you feel up to it.’
‘I feel up to it.’
‘Fine. That’s a date then. We’ll have sex here on Adele and Marcus’ wedding day.’
‘We will. Erm. Unless you’re free now.’
‘Now? Tonight?’
‘Yes. I think my nose has healed. And every other part of me is working fine, as far as I know.’
‘I think I should be the judge of that. But you just said that it might be a disaster and we should wait until the wedding. Forget it. How soon can you get here?’
‘Fifteen minutes?’
‘Can you make it in five?’
‘Only if I risk getting stopped for speeding. I can do it in seven at a push.’
‘Make it eight. Just in case. I don’t want you to end up in the hospital again because I asked you to drive here fast and you had an accident.’
‘Good point. And as all I’ll be thinking about as I’m driving is making love with you, perhaps I’d better ask my dad to drive me.’
‘Brilliant idea.’
‘Wait. I’ll ask him. Dad? I need a lift to Far Cottage. As fast as you can, please.’
‘All right, son. Keep your hair on. Where’s the fire?’ I heard his dad say.
‘I dare you to say, “in our loins”,’ I teased.
‘I think he already knows if the huge grin on his face is anything to go by. I’m leaving right now.’
‘I’m counting the minutes.’
‘No pressure then.’
‘Shut up and get in your dad’s car.’
I rushed upstairs, washed under my arms even though I’d had a shower a few hours earlier, and cleaned my teeth. I checked my make-up, sprayed myself with perfume and then changed into my sexy underwear and a fairly revealing little black dress I’d brought with me.
By the time I got back downstairs, Jasper was banging on the front door.
‘Eight and a half minutes,’ I said, glancing at my watch as I opened the door.
‘My dad’s a slow driver. Now shut up and kiss me, Erin.’
‘You shut up and kiss me, Jasper.’
He grinned at me and pulled me to him, kicking the door shut with his foot.
And then his mouth met mine in a kiss that almost knocked me off my feet.
‘Wow,’ I said gasping when we finally both came up for air and taking several breaths before I could say more. ‘I think that deserves a ten out of ten, and possibly an Olympic Gold Medal. But I might need an action replay. Just to be sure.’
‘Right back at you,’ he said as breathless as I was.
‘Sofa or bed?’
‘Not the dining room table?’ he asked with a huge grin.
The black lines beneath his eyes had completely vanished now and his nose was almost as good as new although there was still a tiny lump, but you had to look closely to see it.
‘What about a circuit?’ I suggested. ‘Although, let’s start with the bed. I don’t think we should risk a hard surface, just in case of an accident.’
He kissed me again and we half walked, half ran, towards the stairs, still kissing on the way.