“Or a trouser suit!” suggests Suze, showing me a magazine picture. “Don’t those look cool?”
“But you’ve found your dress!” chips in Cynthia, her voice slightly shrill. “You don’t need to look any further! This is The One!”
“Mmm…” I pull a tiny face. “You know… I’m not so sure it is.”
For an awful moment I think Cynthia’s going to throw the champagne at me.
“I thought this was the dress of your dreams!”
“It’s the dress of some of my dreams,” I explain. “I have a lot of dreams. Could we put it down as another possible?”
“Right,” she says at last. “Another possible. I’ll just write that down.”
As she walks off, Suze leans back on the sofa and beams at me. “Oh, Bex, it’s going to be so romantic! Tarkie and I went to look at the church you’re getting married in. It’s beautiful!”
“It is nice,” I agree, quelling an automatic wave of guilt.
Although nothing’s been decided yet. I haven’t definitely chosen the Plaza. We still might get married in Oxshott.
Maybe.
“Your mum’s planning to put this gorgeous arch of roses over the gate, and bunches of roses on all the pews… and then everyone will get a rose buttonhole. She thought maybe yellow, but it depends on the other colors…”
“Oh, right. Well, I’m not really sure yet…” I tail off as I see the shop door opening behind me.
Robyn is coming into the shop, dressed in a mauve suit and clutching her Mulberry bag. She catches my eye in the mirror and gives a little wave.
What’s Robyn doing here?
“And then on the tables, maybe some sweet little posies…”
Robyn’s heading toward us. I’m not sure I like this.
“Hey, Suze!” I turn with what I hope is a natural smile. “Why don’t you go and look at those… um… ring cushions over there?”
“What?” Suze stares at me as though I’ve gone mad. “You’re not having a ring cushion, are you? Please don’t tell me you’ve turned into an American.”
“Well, then… the tiaras. I might have one of those!”
“Bex, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” I say brightly. “I just thought you might want to… oh, hi, Robyn!” As she approaches, I force myself to give her a friendly smile.
“Becky!” says Robyn, clasping her hands. “Isn’t that gown beautiful? Don’t you look adorable? Is that the one, do you think?”
“I’m not sure yet.” My smile is so fixed, it’s hurting. “So, Robyn, how on earth did you know I’d be here? You must be telepathic!”
“Cynthia told me you’d be coming in. She’s an old friend.” Robyn turns to Suze. “And is this your chum from England?”
“Oh… yes. Suze, Robyn, Robyn, Suze.”
“Suze? The maid of honor herself? Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Suze! You’ll look simply wonderful in—” She stops abruptly as her gaze takes in Suze’s stomach. “Dear, are you expecting?”
“I’ll have had the baby by then,” Suze assures her.
“Good!” Robyn’s face relaxes. “As I say, you’ll look wonderful in violet!”
“Violet?” Suze looks puzzled. “I thought I was wearing blue.”
“No, definitely violet!”
“Bex, I’m sure your mum said—”
“Well, anyway!” I interrupt hurriedly. “Robyn, I’m a bit tied up here—”
“I know, and I don’t want to get in your way. But since I’m here, there’s just a couple of things… Two seconds, I promise!” She reaches into her bag and pulls out her notebook. “First of all, the New York Philharmonic will unfortunately be on tour at the time of the wedding, but I’m working on an alternative. Now, what else…” She consults her notebook.
“Great!” I dart a quick glance at Suze, who’s staring at Robyn with a puzzled frown on her face. “You know, maybe you should just give me a call sometime, and we can talk about all this…”
“It won’t take long! So the other thing was… we’ve scheduled in a tasting at the Plaza on the 23rd in the chef’s dining room. I passed on your views on monkfish, so they’re having a rethink on that…” Robyn flips a page. “Oh, and I still really need that guest list from you!” She looks up and wags her finger in mock reproof. “We’ll be needing to think about invitations before we know it! Especially for the overseas guests!”