Chapter Fifty-Seven Adrianna
Chapter Fifty-Seven
ADRIANNA
We’re having a light breakfast on the beach. Smoothies for the girls. Lemon water with cayenne pepper for me.
Georgia and Ophelia are giggling about something. I close my eyes. Let the sun warm my face. It’s working. The wedding will go ahead.
When I open my eyes, there’s somebody in the water, wading onto the beach.
Holly. Her blue hair is hanging in rat’s tails. She’s dragging something. Some sodden item.
‘The guests are arriving today,’ Georgia explains. ‘Two hundred hand-picked guests. It’s going to be … kind of chaos.’ She looks sad. ‘I’ve been changing the table plan since six a.m. this morning. I cannot figure out how to get Dad on a table without at least one person who is afraid of him.’
I lower my large glasses, noticing Georgia do the same.
‘What is she doing?’ mutters Georgia. ‘Is that … an air mattress?’
‘She’s fully clothed,’ I murmur. ‘That dress and scarf ensemble is actually a good combination, if she hadn’t gotten it soaking wet.’
I take in Holly’s rounded limbs, and the soft curve of her belly under her soaked clothing. It looks cute, I guess, from a certain perspective. But … why did she jump in fully clothed? Behind us, I hear a patter of footsteps and turn to see Petra running full speed toward us.
I turn back to the sea. Holly is close enough to make out her expression now. The sea-green eyes wide with shock, beneath their skinny brows.
‘Oh Jesus!’ Bile rises in my throat. Someone gasps in horror. I think it’s Georgia.
Holly is dragging in Silky’s battered body.