Chapter 25
While Toni wasn’t sure she should have left her mother and son in Gabri’s care, she would admit to enjoying the escape from a certain interrogation and she was glad they were taken care of when her day grew ever busier.
After rushing back to the hotel to drop off the turtle ornaments, she saw the notification that Reshma’s flight had been delayed, which meant rearranging her workload.
The last wedding guests were arriving that afternoon, in time for dinner and the rehearsal at sunset.
Tomorrow was the boat trip to the nearby island of Pianosa for photos and then it was the big day, albeit a strangely shaped wedding day, given the ceremony would take place at eight-thirty in the evening as the sun set.
While she waited for Reshma to make her way from the airport in Pisa, she managed to assemble the wedding favours – tourmaline crystals, a little pot of local honey and a personalised magnet – in their voile bags with fiddly ribbons, and check on the preparations for dinner before she had to leave for Portoferraio to collect her boss.
As she weaved the Panda through the vineyards and around the stone township of Capoliveri, catching glimpses of mountains and the ever-present turquoise sea, even the view couldn’t quite distract her from the challenges to come.
Her nerves felt like a bubble expanding into every corner of her she usually left empty.
She’d never had a lot to do with Reshma Bakshi, the founder of I Do Destinations and as such, the head of the new, merged company behind Great Heart Adventure Weddings.
They hadn’t got off to a good start last year, when Reshma had casually suggested the company didn’t need two administrators, which would have been adios to Toni’s job.
Andreas had stepped in for her that day. She wondered if he still thought about Miro every time he did something for her or whether it was just habit after so many years. At least he’d stuck around despite his grief.
Toni did not want to be thinking about Miro right now, not with the rehearsal this evening and the way she felt as though her skin was inside out after everything that had happened with Gabri.
She had no idea what she’d say to her mum when the inevitable moment ambushed her – or when Cillian asked his innocent questions.
Of course, Reshma was already waiting when Toni pulled up at the port, even though she thought she’d left plenty of time.
Her boss didn’t even wait for her to get out of the car.
She just stowed her case in the boot and jumped in.
Toni wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d said, Drive, instead of the actual greeting that emerged from her lips.
‘How’s it all going?’
Actually, that wasn’t quite a greeting.
‘Fine,’ Toni said carefully.
‘Okay.’
Only the necessity of looking at the road as she turned the car around stopped her from staring at Reshma in puzzlement.
‘Okay?’
‘Yes – okay. If you say everything’s fine, then that’s great. I’m not here to judge your work. I’m here to help out. Beach weddings are laborious to set up and I don’t want Donatella to start charging us more.’
Toni glanced at Reshma’s three-inch heels and snappy pencil skirt. She couldn’t quite imagine her mucking in and setting up chairs on the sand, but she was prepared to be surprised.
‘What about Gabri?’
Toni narrowly resisted stomping on the accelerator, she was so startled by the sudden question. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I assume he’s checked in with you and everything’s in place for the flowers? He’s usually around to help the day before, but with this sunset wedding, I’m hoping he’s got some magic to stop the flowers wilting during the day.’
‘He didn’t mention anything, but I’ll check.’
No, they’d been too busy with other topics. Toni wondered if Reshma could see the heat in her cheeks. It felt increasingly ridiculous that she’d ever thought Gabri was a woman now everyone was so clearly referring to him as ‘he’.
By the time they arrived back at the resort, it was nearly time for the welcome dinner and wedding rehearsal.
Toni was in such a hurry to check on Cilli before leading the way to the waterfront restaurant for dinner that she nearly ran headlong into a familiar figure emerging from the hotel reception.
‘Oh, hi Toni. There you are.’ Cristina pressed a barely there kiss to each of Toni’s cheeks. ‘I heard the rehearsal is tonight so I thought I’d come along to see if you had any last-minute questions for me about the turtles.’ Catching sight of Reshma, she paused.
Toni spoke up. ‘Uh, this is Reshma, another wedding planner. Reshma, this is Cristina, a volunteer from the local environmental association. She’s monitoring the turtles and helping us make sure we aren’t disturbing them.’
Cristina held out her hand and shook Reshma’s, with a sidelong glance at Toni. ‘I’m not pretending to be Gabri any more?’
‘No,’ Toni answered from between her teeth, ignoring Reshma’s curious regard.
‘Oh good. I wasn’t sure what you wanted from me, now Gabri’s here with your son?’
‘He… what?’
‘That was your son, I think, helping him unload his equipment?’
Toni didn’t know what to do with the panic that gripped her. If Gabri insinuated himself into her life… She wasn’t supposed to lose anything through their arrangement.
‘Mum!’
Adding to Toni’s sense that chaos was rising to envelop all of her work, Cillian came through the door of the function room at the same moment as the first few wedding guests appeared, dressed for dinner.
Catching Cilli as he came in for a hug, she smoothed his hair out of his face as she said, ‘Where’s Granny? Gabri has a lot of work to do and you shouldn’t bother him while he’s busy, sweetie.’
She barely had time to register the shadow of confusion in his eyes at her gentle rebuke before the bride and groom were bearing down on them. In her peripheral vision, she noticed Gabri rushing out, glancing around – probably for Cillian.
The moment was a teetering pile of blocks. She was a lousy wedding planner, a half-baked mother and a downright terrible holiday lover.
Cillian sent the blocks toppling with his next words. ‘But why, Mum? You were hugging Gabri today at his shop. I thought maybe he was your boyfriend.’
Alison and Nathaniel paused mid-step. Toni’s gaze flew to Gabri, who appeared to be trying to hide behind the enormous potted monstera. She wasn’t sure whether to be angry or apologise or just cry.
After a long, silent moment, heavy with speculation, it was Reshma who spoke first. ‘Well, it has been a busy week for you, Toni.’
An hour later, Toni just wished Reshma would say something already. She’d been all business since the guests had taken their seats on the terrace of the waterfront restaurant and the wedding planners had inhaled a quick plate of pasta before getting down to business on the beach.
The new site for the ceremony was farther from the hotel, complicating the process of transporting chairs and tables, the white carpet for the aisle and the fixed pieces of the wedding arch.
Toni wasn’t sure whether Gabri had intended to stay, but she didn’t complain about the extra pair of hands as she hauled the next stack of chairs from the little wagon up on the road.
Gabri had also said nothing, although she caught him watching her every time her gaze strayed to him, which was more often than she liked.
‘We’re counting down to sunset, right?’ Reshma asked.
‘8.34 p.m. on Friday,’ Toni supplied. ‘Two minutes earlier than tonight, but in the same place, right over there.’
The reflection of the evening sun drew a rippling line on the water and cast the bay in shades of gold. The angle somehow made the crystal water even more startlingly blue. The rugged hills of the island rose on the right, stretching west.
‘How tall is the wedding arch, Gabri?’
Dropping the stack of chairs he was carrying, he headed for the water’s edge and gestured to show the size of the floral arch he would assemble in time for the ceremony in two days. ‘About so.’
‘And we have the frame with gauze curtains from Donatella as well,’ Toni added.
‘We’re going to need to tie all the curtains down, since we’re expecting a westerly wind, unfortunately.
The ponente,’ she couldn’t resist adding, with a self-conscious glance at Gabri.
He was already looking back at her with half a smile.
‘We’ll need the chairs on this angle then,’ Reshma said.
‘I want to take some test shots to send to the photographer so we can make adjustments as necessary, but let’s get these chairs out so we’re ready for the rehearsal.
Just a minute.’ She held up a hand, peering critically at where Gabri was standing with his hands in his pockets by the water.
He was barefoot, the wind picking up his hair, looking every inch the carefree charmer. Toni wished she still believed that was all he was, but she had the fresh memories of their conversation in the workshop. He’d been through his own traumas and clawed his way back.
Reshma held up her phone, as though she appreciated the picture he made just as much as Toni did, but of course she was framing a test shot for the wedding photographer.
‘Toni, go stand with him?’
Opening her mouth, she couldn’t think of a decent defence, so she joined him without protest, taking up a position that felt far enough away for her dignity but close enough to suggest a wedding ceremony for the photos.
Coming in for a closer shot, Reshma called out, ‘Both of you, a step in, and turn slightly towards me. Toni, look up. This is a stunning shot, but not if you’re staring at your feet.’
Lifting her chin, she found Gabri close enough that her throat tightened.
His look was wary, as always, but for these few heartbeats, it also felt searching.
But this was a mock-up, empty sentimentality for someone else’s wedding, not a sunset moment on the beach with a man who turned her upside down and made her question who she was and what she wanted in life – made her wonder whether she really was as content as she insisted.
Wrenching her gaze from his, she found Reshma regarding them with an amused, doubtful look. Taking a deep breath, Toni stomped away to put more chairs in place, refusing to look back for Gabri’s reaction.
‘I took some great pictures,’ her boss said in a low voice when Gabri went to get the last few chairs. ‘Do you want to see?’
‘No,’ she replied without hesitation. Pinning Reshma with a look, she said, ‘You did that on purpose.’
‘Not… entirely. I did need those test shots and now we know the best place for the bride and groom to stand.’
‘You’re not supposed to matchmake your employees, you know.
Is that what you did for Sophie and Andreas?
Kira? I hate to tell you, but I’ve already had my turn in front of a marriage celebrant.
And besides, this is Alison and Nathaniel’s dream, not mine.
My dreams were upended on a mountain nine years ago.
I don’t want sunsets and promises and flowers. ’
That last word made her stomach clench. Movement in her peripheral vision made her look behind her to find Gabri within earshot, frozen with a stack of chairs in his hands.
The day kept getting wilder. As soon as she noticed him, he continued moving and she heard that tuneless whistle that took her back to the day she’d met him. He didn’t look at them.
A light squeeze on Toni’s arm brought her attention back to her boss, the person she’d just accused of inappropriate matchmaking, she remembered with a wince.
‘While I appreciate that you have experienced the worst of any of us when it comes to love,’ she began, not at all gently, ‘for all of us, at some point in our lives, our dreams change.’
She was preparing to say more, but Toni was done with today, fed up with people sticking their noses in and telling her to just be better.
‘I can’t imagine that I’ll stop dreaming that Miro never died,’ she replied grimly.