Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
SIXTEEN YEARS AGO
Camilla
Hey, I hope you got home okay. I’m really sorry about my awful behaviour. Please forget everything I said. I’m just jittery about the wedding and everything going according to plan. I really love Lawrence and I can’t wait to marry him.
At 3:15 a.m.
Hey, just checking in and letting you know that I meant none of what I said last night. I really am happy to marry Lawrence and it would be great if you could just forget everything I said. I was drunk and stupid.
At 3:30 a.m.
Hey Camilla, I hope you’re getting my messages. I apologise for everything I said at the bar. Please ignore it all. I love Lawrence. I want to marry him. See you at the hen night.
The messages go on desperately for another couple of hours, at which point she seems to have given up, just saying See you at the hen night again after telling me that she is really, really in love with Lawrence and can’t wait to marry him.
I smile when I’ve read through all her messages, wondering how stupid she thinks I am. I’m not going to forget one thing she said last night, not one single thing. And I know exactly what I’m going to do with that information.
Over the next couple of days, despite telling me she would see me at the hen night, Reese sends a stream of messages saying basically the same thing.
I was drunk. I didn’t mean it. I love Lawrence.
She also asks more than once if we can meet up to ‘talk’.
Reese has tried to take it all back but one thing I know about myself is that I don’t forget. My mother once told me I carry grudges like stones in my pockets. Maybe she’s right. But people shouldn’t be forgiven for awful behaviour.
I wonder if Victoria knows everything Reese told me.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about all of it and I also haven’t been able to stop thinking about the fact that Victoria, her loyal maid of honour, may not know what I know and what exactly that will do to their friendship if she finds out that Reese chose me to confide in instead of her.
I don’t reply to Reese’s messages. I also don’t answer her calls but finally, after I can see she’s getting completely hysterical, I send a thumbs up emoji.
She goes quiet after that, which suits me. I don’t call or message her again.
Instead, one night, only days after I have learned way more about Reese and Lawrence and their perfect life than I should know, I get dressed up to go to a bar.
I make sure my make-up is perfect and that I’m wearing something really sexy.
‘Here we go,’ I tell myself as I look in the mirror.
As I walk into the bar, the loud music drowns out my senses and someone knocks into me, spilling a drop of whisky on my top, the chemical smell filling my nose.
‘Sorry, sorry,’ he drunkenly apologises and I smile and move away.
I am focused and intent on what I’m here to do. I keep imagining giving Sophie the money and how grateful she will be.
I take a deep breath and sashay over to a table. ‘Oh, hi,’ I say, smiling widely. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’