A Vintage Wedding (41 page)

‘Pat, this is Beth,’ said Finn.

‘This is Beth?’ said Pat, looking at the other two. They just shrugged.

‘Yes,’ said Finn curtly. ‘She’s come with news.’

‘Shall we order a pizza? I’m famished,’ said Seamus.

Finn sat staring into space while the pizza was ordered. They insisted on Beth having one too. Then they produced more cans of beer and handed them out.

‘OK, let’s have the news,’ said Liam, who seemed a bit more in charge than the others.

Beth, who would really have liked a glass to drink her beer with, cleared her throat. ‘It’s Mickey Wilson—’

‘The big man himself,’ said Pat.

‘He rang asking for Finn, at the pub where I work.’

‘And what did he say?’ demanded Liam.

‘He said he couldn’t be there to hear you on Saturday but he could on the Friday,’ said Beth.

‘But I thought we couldn’t have the gig on the Friday because of some wedding?’

‘I changed the venue of the wedding,’ said Beth. ‘It’s my sister’s wedding. She’s now having it in a marquee in a field.’

‘You did that?’ said Liam. ‘So we could have the gig on the Friday? And Mickey Wilson could hear us?’

‘Yes,’ said Beth, wishing, not for the first time, that she hadn’t bothered. Finn had been fine at the thought of a producer mate of Raff’s coming; why was he so against Mickey Wilson?

‘But that’s amazing!’ said Seamus.

‘What’s amazing,’ said Finn, ‘is how Mickey Wilson got to hear about us at all.’ He didn’t sound exactly thrilled.

‘God, man! Why are you so pissed off about it? It’s feckin’ amazing! Took me for ever to track him down. Pulled in all the favours to get his contact details.’

‘So it was you, Seamus?’ said Finn.

‘Yes! And you should be delighted. And thank this lovely woman, Beth, for making sure he will get to hear us,’ Seamus went on. At least the others seemed pleased, but it was a hollow victory for Beth when Finn was so angry.

‘But are we ready to be heard?’ said Finn. ‘Wasn’t the whole point about doing a gig in some tiny little corner of England so we could see what we sound like?’

‘We do know what we sound like,’ said Liam. ‘And I think we’re good.’

‘But are we good enough for Mickey Wilson? If he hears us and we’re not up to it, he won’t listen again. He’ll move on. We’ll have lost our chance for ever.’

‘Oh come on, stop being so melodramatic. We are good. We know we are. And we’ll get better.’

‘But we don’t have what we used to have. We’re not seventeen any more, and gorgeous!’ Finn railed on.

Had anyone asked Beth’s opinion she’d have said they were all a lot more gorgeous than they were when they were seventeen.

‘It’s only about the music now,’ Finn continued. ‘And is the music good enough?’

Beth looked longingly at the door. She shouldn’t be here. She couldn’t contribute to the argument. But she did want to know if she’d moved the venue for her sister’s wedding for no reason.

The pizzas arrived, were paid for and eaten. Many more cans of beer were drunk. No conclusions were reached. To relieve her anxiety, Beth cleared up. She loaded the dishwasher, jumped on the growing pile of cans and found a box to put them in.

Then she left. Just as she was about to close the door behind her, one of the band – she couldn’t see which one – said, ‘Oh, has Beth gone?’ Then the arguing started again.

She headed for the van and then home. Finn had shouted at her and while the others seemed pleased about what she’d done, he certainly hadn’t been. She felt her hopes shatter around her.

Lindy awoke the next morning aware that something bad had happened the previous day. Then she remembered it was only that the wedding could no longer take place in the village hall they’d worked so hard to decorate and make nice. Bad, but not a catastrophe.

The hall had needed to be done up, there was a committee to make sure they raised the money and it didn’t really matter where Helena’s wedding bash was held. Of course, if the marquee plan worked out well it would be just as good for Vintage Weddings. They weren’t tied to one venue. And if there hadn’t been a real sense of urgency, the hall wouldn’t be in the much improved condition it was in now.

Then she remembered that today Edward was coming to take the boys for the day and they were staying the night. This would be the first time they had stayed with Edward without her. This was the source of her gloom.

Living abroad made it difficult for him to visit, she granted him that, and he was quite good at Skyping them – well, once a month, anyway. But for them to actually spend the night away from her, with him, would be quite a big deal.

She tried to talk herself out of her despondency. It would be fine. They were older now and were very used to having sleepovers (as they called them) with her parents and her grandmother. And she was going with them, to make sure there was somewhere suitable for them to sleep, that there was proper food and, basically, there were no major health-and-safety issues she needed to worry about.

What would be worse would be if he wanted them to go and stay with him in Germany, with his current partner. It would happen eventually, she had to accept it, but she would fight it until the boys were quite a lot older.

And at least the practical side of things would be dealt with by Angus. She trusted him. She probably actually loved him if only she’d allow herself to entertain the thought.

She made herself consider it. What she felt was pretty much like love. It was only that she felt love was too dangerous at the moment. If she and Angus fell out her boys would be devastated. Better for them if he didn’t get too close, too familiar a face in their lives. Then the fallout would be less.

But whether she loved him or not – whether she
wanted
to love him or not – she had to get in touch with him. She needed a field and she was confident he had one but she had to make sure. She’d only seen it through the hedge she’d been robbing, recently, for April’s wedding. It might have a huge pond in the middle of it. But at least unlike the farmers that her mother, Sarah, would know, he wasn’t growing anything in his field. He probably would be happy to rent it so they could put a marquee on it.

Her boys were still asleep and the little house was calm. This happy state wouldn’t last long so she got up to make tea before the chaos started again. They’d been in bed late the previous night so with luck she’d have an hour.

As she drank tea and tidied and did all the other things mothers do while their children are asleep (which in her case included another look at that bit of decoration Vivien had wanted her to add to the wedding dress) she tried to get her head round the fact that she loved Angus. She might not want to, but she did.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise really. She’d had such a crush on him years ago. She also knew that she wanted him, in every way there was. She’d proved that when she found herself leaping into bed with him about six weeks before it was decent. But love? How could she have let that happen? It should make her feel happy, she realised, but instead she couldn’t shake off a feeling of anxiety. Eventually she put it down to the boys being with their dad, which was strange to everyone and bound to be a bit stressful.

Edward was late. Lindy didn’t know why she was surprised – he always had been late for everything. But it was irritating all the same. She’d had the boys all packed and ready, in their favourite clothes (as opposed to their best clothes, which would have been silly in the circumstances) for ages and they were getting fed up and so naughty.

She’d worked hard on setting the scene for them, explaining that the man who usually appeared on her computer screen would be there in real life. He had done this before but a while ago, and Billy, the little one, mostly thought of his dad as being two-dimensional.

But the thing that convinced them was when Ned asked if Uncle Angus would be there. When Lindy said that he would, both boys began jumping up and down with excitement and packing their bags with their favourite things. So now they were all eager and ready and it was very annoying that Edward wasn’t yet there.

As a backup, Lindy had rung her mother about possible fields, but, worryingly and unexpectedly, she couldn’t think of a suitable one that was near enough. ‘It’s the flatness you need,’ she explained. ‘It’s all so hilly round here. If there was a bit more time I’m sure they could put a marquee on the side of a hill but the wedding is on Friday.’

‘Thanks, Mum,’ Lindy had replied, praying that Angus’s field was as flat as she remembered and that he would be willing to hire it out.

Her conversation with Rachel had been much more cheering. She’d confirmed that Raff did indeed have a hotline to a marquee company who owed him a favour and who had something suitable for this Friday.

‘It’s because it’s out of season,’ Rachel had said. ‘And they can do all the pretty bits too. Carpet, tables, fairy lights, the lot. And …’ Rachel had taken a breath and paused ‘… deluxe temporary loos. They are a bit expensive but not nearly as much as they should have been and I’m sure Vivien will pay. She won’t want Helena, or indeed anyone, having to visit a Ladies that is not pleasant in every way.’

‘Oh well done, Rachel. I never thought about loos, and of course they’re vital. I’m happy to pee behind a tree myself but of course, the guests won’t be.’

‘There might not be time to do flowers,’ Rachel had raised her eyes to heaven and then said, ‘given the short notice, so I’ve also ordered some circles made of mirror we can put candles on. Cheap and effective.’

‘Vivien will probably want pillars of jasmine and roses,’ Lindy had said, very slightly resentful.

‘Vivien will have what can be provided.’ Rachel had been firm but Lindy knew she would do absolutely anything to keep Vivien happy.

‘Don’t forget we’re going to the flower market,’ said Lindy. ‘We can buy material – using the jargon – there.’

‘It’s not just the material,’ said Rachel. ‘It’s the time. You could buy up the entire market but you can’t buy more time.’

‘Of course not. Oh, Rachel. Is this going to be OK?’

‘Of course it is,’ said Rachel. ‘I have every confidence. I’ll get in touch with Sarah to see if the Flower Guild or someone could make posies in jam jars or something, but we do have to manage Vivien’s expectations.’

‘If only Beth wasn’t on her mercy mission for the band she could talk to her mother.’

‘Actually,’ said Rachel. ‘Vivien and I get on. All this will be better coming from me.’

By the time she and Rachel had ended the call, Lindy knew there would be flowers on every table even if every pillar were not twined with lilies and bougainvillaea.

Lindy had just told Billy for the seventy-ninth time that no, they couldn’t do cooking, when Edward finally turned up.

‘Hi! Sorry I’m a bit late. Took bloody for ever to fit the car seats. Are you sure they’re really necessary?’

Lindy had forgotten that Edward always ploughed straight into conversations as if there hadn’t been a large gap since they’d had the last one. In a way it was maddening but it did avoid some of the awkwardness.

‘Yes, the seats are really necessary. Hello, Edward, you’re looking very suntanned, and do you mind taking me with you? I need to ask Angus something.’

‘Oh, sorry, Lind.’ He pecked her cheek clumsily. ‘You look well too. And no reason why you shouldn’t come with but why don’t you just call Angus?’

‘It’s a big ask. I need to do it in person, really.’

‘Well, he’ll be glad to see you. He seems to think you’re some kind of angel: the brave little single parent abandoned by a churlish husband. That would be me.’

Edward said this without rancour and Lindy wondered how much of it was true. Did Angus think so well of her? It gave her a happy glow to think so. He wouldn’t have said that about her if he just thought her an incredibly easy lay. Would he?

Because the boys had already been hanging round all morning and were overexcited at the thought of spending time with their dad and uncle, getting them into the car wasn’t easy. Billy absolutely refused to be strapped in and Edward suggested, in his hearing, that it was OK to skip this part.

‘Absolutely not,’ said Lindy. ‘Billy, darling, you know perfectly well we do not go in the car – any car including Daddy’s – without being strapped in. Apart from anything else it’s against the law. Daddy could go to prison.’ Currently this prospect was pleasing to Lindy but she knew her sons would feel differently.

‘Daddy says I don’t have to,’ said Billy.

‘And I say you do,’ said Lindy calmly.

‘But daddies are the boss,’ wailed Billy.

‘Who on earth told you that?’ Lindy was beginning to lose patience, if not with Billy, certainly her ex-husband. ‘I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life.’ With that she finally managed to put the fixing together with a satisfying snap. ‘There we go! Now, I’ll get in and put my seat belt on and we’ll be off.’

‘Will you stay with us all the time?’ said Ned, obviously wanting the answer to be yes.

‘I’ll stay with you a little while because I want to ask Uncle Angus something.’ It suddenly sounded weird referring to a man she’d slept with as an uncle.