Chapter 55
After carefully getting dressed, I go downstairs first, checking and re-checking my reflection in the lift mirror to make sure nothing is out of place.
The lobby is relatively busy, and no one bats an eyelid as I rejoin the reception, nabbing a flute of champagne from a passing waiter.
I’m chatting to one of Tig’s workmates when Theo arrives a couple of minutes later, looking harried.
‘Have you seen …?’ He frowns. ‘Never mind. There he is.’
I turn, knowing it will be Mark. He breezes towards us, raffish and calm.
‘Where have you been?’ demands Theo. ‘I’ve been looking for you.’
Mark looks him straight in the eye. ‘Having a threesome. But I’m all yours now.’
The meal is a roaring success, with Tig singing Jamie’s praises with every mouthful, and before long, it’s time for the speeches.
Theo nervously stands and thanks everyone for coming, then singles out both sets of families for being so great when the wedding was planned in such a short amount of time.
‘I’d especially like to thank Tig’s family, who’ve welcomed me with such open arms. Sophia and Vasilis, of course, but a special mention to Nella, who helped with a special surprise that will soon be revealed … ’
Tig turns to me and mouths, ‘What the hell?’
I mime zipping my lips.
‘Also massive thanks to my best man, Mark, who also helped with this surprise. You’ve been great, mate. I’ve got a special request here from your mum who asked me to let all the ladies know he’s not married.’
Someone, probably Stav, wolf-whistles and I can only imagine the look on Mark’s face.
Tig says a few words, and then it’s Mark’s turn. He’s at the other end of the long top table and I have to lean forward to see him.
‘Thanks so much for that, Theo, and thanks, Mum. As some of you know, Theo and I met at medical school. One day, not long after we qualified, I got a panicked phone call from him. “What’s wrong, Mr October?” I asked him.
Little aside here in case you didn’t know.
I call him that because for Rag Week one year, the med school did a calendar for charity.
It was nude but tasteful. They sold out in record time but, I managed to find the original photograph, and I’ve framed it to give to your gorgeous new wife.
’ He reaches under the table and pulls out a beautifully wrapped package.
‘Before I give it to you, Tig, I should probably say it was very cold on the day they took the photos.’ He pauses. ‘Or at least, that’s Theo’s story.’
Theo looks mortified, but Tig is pink from laughing.
‘Anyway, back to this panicked phone call. “Mark, I don’t know what to do, a patient’s just arrived at the surgery with something stuck inside a certain part of his body.” You’ll never guess where. Oh, I can see Yan’s already guessed. Maybe don’t translate the next part for your yiayia.
‘The patient was perplexed however, because the thing he’d got stuck was a well-known lubricant.
’ Mark reaches under the table again. ‘Well, Tig and Theo, I managed to track down the very thing that caused Theo so much anxiety all those years ago.’ He produces a can of WD-40. ‘Don’t worry, I gave it a quick wipe.’
Everyone laughs although Theo’s parents look rather alarmed. I hear Theo’s dad ask mine, ‘Did he manage to get the little straw thing out, too?’
Once the laughing has subsided, Mark warns us he’s going to get serious now.
‘I had the very good fortune to grow up knowing the Praxitelis family. Life wasn’t always rosy in the Marino household, but Sophia and Vasilis were a tower of strength for Mum, my brother and me.
’ He turns to Theo. ‘You couldn’t have designed better in-laws: they’re kind, warm and generous and they will move heaven and earth for their family.
Count your blessings that you’re included in that special club, too.
Treat them well … or I’ll be having words with you. ’
Mark’s words bring a lump to my throat. Does Theo know what Dad did for Mark all those years ago? Somehow, I doubt it.
Mark goes to sit down, before reaching into his breast pocket: ‘Sorry, I’ve got a note here from cousin Stav who wanted me to add: never trust Yan when he promises you free booze. I’ve no idea what he means, but consider yourself warned, Theo.’
‘Great speech,’ I tell Mark a little later, perched on a chair next to his.
‘I’m just pleased it’s over.’
‘It was both funny and moving – especially what you said about Mum and Dad.’
He nods. ‘I meant every word.’
I give his shoulder a squeeze.
‘I can’t believe you said that thing about threesomes to Theo, earlier.’
He grins. ‘What can I say? You inspire me. And I get such a kick out of our in-jokes.’ He looks thoughtful for a moment. ‘I’m gonna miss that.’
I swallow. ‘I’m gonna miss that, too.’
Neither of us says anything because what else is there to say?
‘Let’s not dwell. We’re here to celebrate.’ I attempt a sunny smile. ‘And right now, I need more details about this dirty calendar.’
He pauses as if he’s not sure he wants to go along with my forced jollity.
‘What do you want to know?’
‘How come Theo was asked to sit for a tasteful nude portrait when all this’ – I wave my hand up and down his torso – ‘was criminally overlooked?’
He smiles. ‘It wasn’t overlooked, sweetheart. I was Mr December.’
I’m about to inquire whether he has a copy of that I could see, when Tig’s voice behind us startles me.
‘Guys?’
I turn round. ‘Everything okay?’
‘There’s been a change of plan for the first dance.’
Mark and I exchange alarmed looks. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I can’t ask him to dance to a random salsa song that means nothing to him. Plus, he’s been pooing his pants about the choreography.’
You don’t know the half of it, I want to tell her.
‘So what’s the new plan?’ asks Mark.
‘It’s a surprise,’ she says. ‘But he’ll like it. You’ll see.’
When Tig and Theo get up for their first dance, Mark and I move to the edge of the dance floor at a discreet distance. Tig’s eyes are shining, and even Theo looks excited, but maybe those are just nerves.
As they take their positions, the DJ starts playing Celine Dion’s ‘Because You Loved Me’.
‘This is his favourite song,’ Mark whispers, smiling. ‘Good for Tig.’
Theo looks momentarily confused, but then Tig leans in to explain, and his face lights up.
I don’t think he’s ever looked happier shuffling around a dance floor.
When the song finishes, Tig starts to move, but Theo stops her. He whispers to her, then grins as her expression goes from confusion to wariness and finally delight.
As the tango starts, Mark and I stay at the edge of the dance floor, silently rooting for Theo like he’s our kid at his first sports day.
Maybe Theo’s left arm isn’t quite high enough, and maybe his legs are a tiny bit too straight, but it’s still a joy to watch.
He dances like it’s just the two of them – not easy with a hundred other people in the room.
He’s not awkward or stiff and the adoration in her face and the mirror image in his brings a tear to my eye.
The stirring melody and wistful lyrics amplify my emotions. Without any input from my brain, my hand slips into Mark’s, and when he looks at me, I know I’m going to remember this moment for a long time.
He comes to my room at 2 a.m. I’ve showered and all I’m wearing when I open the door is the hotel dressing gown.
His hair is shower-damp, too, and he’s barefoot in T-shirt and jeans.
‘You look exhausted,’ I tell him, closing the door.
‘I am.’
‘If you’re too tired—’
He grabs me by the waist. ‘I didn’t say I was too tired.’
He tugs the belt of my dressing gown, pulls it off my shoulders, and lets it fall to the ground.
His eyes go black as he takes me in. ‘We’ve done fast and frenzied today. Tonight, I’m going to take my time.’
It’s more intense this time; there’s no laughter. In its place, a ferocious sadness.
He keeps his promise about taking his time. His movements are slow and deliberate and his self-control torturous. It’s electrifying but maddening. I lose count of the times he sends me to the edge and then pulls back, leaving me gasping.
I try to up the tempo, but it just makes him stop completely, hovering above me, the only contact between our bodies my thighs around his hips. I’m losing my mind, too feverish to talk in complete sentences. Please, I beg him. Please, please.
In a moment of coherence, I grab the back of his neck.
‘Don’t stop till you break the bloody bed.’
A light sparks in his eyes and I glimpse the old Mark, the real Mark, my Mark, and finally, finally, he complies.
I come so hard I leave bite marks on his shoulder.
I must fall asleep because I wake up at six in the morning and he’s gone. When I make it down to breakfast at nine, Tig, Theo, Pen, and Yan are there, but there’s no sign of Mark.
Yan finds me at the buffet as I’m loading up my plate with eggs and bacon.
‘Someone’s got an appetite.’
‘Mark not down yet?’ I ask, not even trying to hide the link I’ve made.
‘I bumped into him in the gym around seven.’
I almost drop the serving spoon. ‘Does he not need sleep?’
‘To be fair, he looked destroyed.’
I blush at this. ‘It was a long day.’
Yan puts his hand on my arm. ‘Emotionally destroyed.’
‘What does he want from me? I can’t ask him to stay in London. It would have to come from him. And even then, I’m not sure he could bear to let his Venezuelan colleague down.’
Yan nods. ‘While I was with him he had a call from his mum’s nursing home. She’d had a fall and he needed to go and see her.’
I nod. ‘Oh shit. Is she okay?’
‘I haven’t heard from him since. But I don’t think it was anything too serious. He was planning on seeing her today, anyway. He just had to get there earlier and probably stay longer than he intended.’
I nod.
‘In case the two of you had plans …’
I shake my head. ‘No, we’ve been firmly head-in-the-sand about it all.’
Yan smiles sadly. ‘Sometimes, it’s the only way.’
We’ve been back home for a couple of hours. Dad’s napping on the sofa, and Mum’s going through the pictures we all took on our phones so she can update her Facebook page. There are a lot. She’ll probably still be doing it on Tig and Theo’s one-year anniversary.
I’m in my room watching old episodes of Abbott Elementary when I get a call from the hotel.
‘We found a cufflink in your room,’ says the lady on the phone. I pause the show and sit up. ‘Would you like us to post it to you?’
‘I could come and pick it up if that’s okay?’
‘No problem. I’ll leave it at reception for you.’
I hop on the tube feeling antsy. When he came to my room last night, he’d already changed into a T-shirt and jeans. Does the cufflink belong to someone else, or did he forget it there when we slipped away earlier in the day?
But if he had, wouldn’t he have noticed it was missing sooner?
There’s a good chance it isn’t Mark’s, and I’m hauling ass into central London for no reason. Still, something compels me to go.
When I get to the hotel, and the receptionist hands it over, I recognise it immediately. Oval sterling silver, engraved with the letter ‘M’. Solid and understated, just like him.
Now that I’ve got it, I don’t know what to do. I should try to give it back to him, right? Or is he going to see through my flimsy excuse to see him one last time? I doubt he’ll have much use for it in the war zone he’s heading to.
Is there a chance he left it on purpose for me to find?
Seems a bit far-fetched, but who knows?
Fuck it. On the tube home, I text him.
But an hour later, I still haven’t heard back. When I get off the train, I walk to Yan’s – that’s acceptable, right? Maybe he’s got a lot of things to do and hasn’t seen my text.
As I approach Yan’s flat, I see Mark’s parked car and my heart soars – I haven’t missed him. He’s still here.
Yan frowns when he opens the door. ‘You okay, Nell?’
‘Would it be okay if I came up?’
‘Of course, why wouldn’t it be?’
I follow him upstairs and it’s obvious immediately Mark isn’t here. His room is empty.
‘But I saw his car outside.’
‘He sold it to a colleague who’s picking it up later tonight.’
‘He’s gone?’ I whisper.
Yan nods. ‘His flight’s in an hour – he’ll already be airside at Heathrow.’
For a wild moment I imagine jumping in Yan’s car and tearing to the airport.
But I know it won’t matter.
Yan pulls me into a hug. I don’t blame Mark for leaving without a word. Goodbyes are fucking awful.
I wrap one arm around Yan, but I keep the other hand in my pocket, my fingers folded around the cufflink. The last remaining trace of Mark.