Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
Maddy watched Eva walk back into the room like nothing had happened. ‘Plumber’s on her way,’ she said, as if she were announcing the arrival of a taxi and not the salvation of the entire wedding.
Jen actually clutched her chest. ‘Oh, thank god.’
Maddy smiled because that was the correct response. Because everything was objectively fine again.
The wedding was back on. Everything would proceed exactly as planned.
She nodded. ‘Right. Good. That’s… good!’ Her voice sounded distant to her own ears.
***
Sue the plumber and her young protege arrived in thirty-five minutes. The ceiling was opened up, examined, and declared salvageable.
Eva hovered just enough to ensure everything was done properly, then stepped back at exactly the right moments.
Maddy stood at the edge of it all, arms folded, smiling when appropriate, nodding when spoken to. Inside, something was tightening.
Because she’d seen that leak and been fucking thrilled.
***
By the time Sue was packing up, leaving behind a temporarily ugly but structurally sound ceiling, it was done.
The manager thanked her.
‘Don’t thank me until the bill comes,’ Sue told him brightly. ‘Speaking of which, I know a plasterer who will drop everything to repair your ceiling tonight. Shall I send him?’
The manager sighed. ‘I suppose he’s expensive too?’
‘God, yeah. He’s a ruthless bastard, but he can’t half plaster.’
They watched her leave. And then there was nothing left to fix.
Ralph gave everyone a nod. ‘See you tomorrow!’ He scuttled off.
‘God, all that leaking water has made me need the biggest pee!’ Jen said and ran off to find a bathroom.
Suddenly, Maddy was alone in the corridor with Eva. Maddy leaned lightly against the wall. ‘You did it again,’ she said.
‘Did what?’
‘Fixed everything.’
Eva shrugged. ‘That’s the job.’
‘No,’ Maddy said softly. ‘It’s more than that.’
Eva looked down.
Maddy watched her. ‘You don’t leave room for anything to go wrong.’
Eva dragged her dark eyes back up to meet Maddy’s. ‘That’s generally considered a positive trait in my line of work,’ she said glibly.
Maddy folded her arms tightly. ‘Yes. I’m sure it is.’
Silence stretched, and in it, Maddy realised something. She was like the burst pipe. She’d been trying to ignore a build-up of something, and that’s what caused the problem. But it could be fixed. There was only one person who could repair it, and she was tensing right in front of Maddy right now.
‘About the kiss,’ Maddy said.
Eva’s shoulders tensed. ‘We already covered that,’ she said, a little too quickly. ‘Bad idea. Won’t happen again.’
Maddy tilted her head. ‘Why did it happen, though?’
‘I don’t know,’ Eva said.
‘You know the answer to everything, though,’ Maddy replied.
Eva cocked her head and tutted. ‘I really don’t. Just wedding stuff.’
‘Isn’t this wedding stuff? Like, cold feet? I’m sure brides lunge at you all the time, right?’ Maddy asked desperately, hoping to hear that what she’d done was only part of the process.
Eva looked away. ‘No. This has never happened.’
Well, there was that dream dead.
‘And even if it had…’ Eva started.
Maddy waited. What else could she do?
‘Impulse control is important to me because my parents didn’t have any,’ Eva said, the words coming out flat. ‘So, when I tell you that I don’t do things like this, you understand that I mean it.’
Maddy heard that. But she’d locked onto something else. ‘That sounds bad, your parents.’
Eva let out a short breath. ‘They were both addicts. I guess plenty of people are, but they were the variety that doesn’t go unnoticed by the authorities.’
Something in Maddy’s chest ached at how casually she said it. ‘And you had to…’ she started carefully.
‘Leave?’ Eva supplied. ‘Yeah. Twelve. Went to live with my aunt.’
Maddy swallowed. ‘Oh, Eva—’
‘It was better,’ Eva said, cutting across her. ‘Predictable, at least.’
Maddy gave a small, sad smile. ‘That’s a low bar.’
‘I’d have thought you’d understand a low bar,’ Eva said.
Maddy stopped breathing.
Eva’s dark eyes widened. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. I obviously don’t know…’
‘No, you don’t,’ Maddy said, surprising herself with how angry she sounded. But her head felt oddly tight and too hot. ‘You think I’m just this nervous little bookworm who can’t stand up for herself.’
Eva didn’t flinch, exactly. But something in her posture shifted. Suddenly, she wasn’t standing with her usual ramrod straightness.
‘That’s not what I think,’ Eva said quietly.
‘It is,’ Maddy shot back, pushing off the wall now, energy buzzing under her skin. ‘You walk in, you take over, you fix everything, and everyone just lets you.’
‘Maddy—’
‘And I let you,’ she continued, her voice tightening. ‘I let you plan my entire wedding like it’s a military operation. Timelines and contingencies and backup plans for the backup plans—’
‘That’s what you hired me for,’ Eva said, but there was less steel in it now.
‘I know,’ Maddy said, exhaling sharply. ‘I know that. That’s the problem.’
Eva frowned. ‘How is that a problem?’
Maddy laughed, but there was no humour in it. ‘Because it means I never actually have to decide anything, does it? I just defer to the expert. Let someone else make sure everything turns out right.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with wanting things to go right,’ Eva said.
‘No,’ Maddy agreed. ‘There isn’t. But there is something wrong with not even asking yourself what “right” is.’
Maddy realised she was panting with the exertion of talking like this. She stopped and bent over, hands on her knees, catching her breath.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Eva asked carefully, ‘Are you saying you don’t want the wedding to go ahead?’
There it was. The question Maddy had been carefully avoiding. Burying it under seating charts, floral arrangements, and menus. The question no one else had asked. The question no one should have asked, least of all the woman who was putting this wedding together.
Maddy kept looking down at the floor until she could breathe, thinking, It doesn’t matter. It’s too late now. The question came too late.
‘Of course I do.’ Maddy stood straight again, breathing normally, less hot now. ‘That’s not… I’m not—’
She stopped, pressing her lips together.
Eva didn’t jump in. She just watched her, waiting.
‘I’m marrying a good person,’ Maddy said finally. ‘He remembers to buy milk, he doesn’t leave wet towels on the bed, and my mum loves him.’ She let out a small, shaky breath. ‘He’s exactly the sort of person you’re supposed to marry.’
Eva’s expression didn’t change, but something in her eyes did. ‘“Supposed to” is doing a lot of work there,’ she said.
Maddy gave a helpless sort of smile. ‘I know.’ Then, because apparently she had already committed to ruining her own life today, Maddy added, ‘And then there’s you.’
That did it.
‘Maddy,’ Eva said, and Maddy could have sworn she heard a shake in that famously controlled tone.
‘I know,’ Maddy said quickly. ‘I know.’
‘It’s not appropriate,’ Eva corrected, though it sounded like she was reminding herself as much as Maddy.
‘Right. That too.’
‘You’re getting married tomorrow.’
‘I’m aware.’
‘To someone else.’
‘Yes.’
Eva’s gaze held hers. ‘So whatever this is—’
‘—it’s dangerous,’ Maddy finished.
‘Yes.’
Maddy nodded slowly, though the motion felt strange, disconnected from the rest of her. ‘Right.’ She pushed herself upright properly. ‘So,’ she said, too brightly, ‘we ignore it, then?’
Eva hesitated. ‘Yes,’ she said.
Maddy smiled. It felt like something in her face cracking.
‘Great,’ she said.
And because she couldn’t stand there any longer, not with Eva looking at her, Maddy turned and started walking away, out of the building.
‘Maddy,’ Eva called.
Maddy paused, but she didn’t turn around.
‘The wedding,’ Eva said. ‘It will go perfectly.’
Maddy closed her eyes briefly. Of course it would. That was the problem.
‘Yeah,’ she said, her voice steadier than she felt. ‘I know it will.’