‘Not long until your big day now,’ I say – not that she will have forgotten, of course.
‘Big week,’ Neil says under his breath.
Kelsey glances at her engagement ring and then back at me, unable to hide the mix of excitement and nerves surging through her body.
‘I know. I’m excited. And terrified. But mostly excited… I think.’
I reach for Todd’s water, to take a sip.
‘It’s going to be amazing,’ I reassure her.
It really is. Out of all the weddings this year – and there are so many – the one I’m looking forward to most is hers. Kelsey and Neil are doing something different. Something… very them though.
‘She’s got a plan for everything,’ Neil tells us. ‘Everything that could go wrong, she’s got it covered. Not that she’s made it easy for herself.’
‘Erm, what I’ve made is a hopefully beautiful wedding week – for both of us – thank you,’ she replies.
‘We’re having our wedding at sea,’ he claps back, deadpan. ‘If Mother Nature kicks off, there’s nothing your scrapbook can do about that.’
‘He’s clearly not seen inside my scrapbook,’ Kelsey tells me with a wink. Then she turns to him. ‘The actual wedding isn’t at sea. You do know that, right?’
She knows he knows that, but this is their thing: playful bickering.
Neil grins like the wind-up merchant he is.
‘Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m kidding. But come on, a five-day cruise before the wedding? You’re practically asking for a storm.’
‘A cruisetoa wedding,’ she corrects him. ‘Because onemember of the wedding party doesn’t like flying – just let me check my notes, see who that is, oh, yes – you.’
‘But you’re the one insisting we get married in Sicily, my darling,’ he replies.
Honestly, I could watch this all day.
Kelsey rolls her eyes and mutters something under her breath about how she could insist they don’t get married at all.
I just laugh. This is peak them. Their banter, their easy rhythm – it’s why I always feel happy when I’m around them. Todd seems a bit distracted – he’s probably still seething over having to sing, because that makes his life a little too much like a musical.
Kelsey really has taken destination weddings to a whole new level. She’s not just getting married abroad. No, no. Too simple. She’s sailing into her wedding like the queen that she is, turning the journey into a sort of pre-party at sea for the important names on the guest list. A five-day cruise through the Med, docking in Sicily where the actual ceremony will take place. That’s a movie-worthy wedding, surely?
Am I mad that I need to take a week off work for it? Absolutely not. Todd and I have been talking about needing a holiday for months, but we’re always too busy – one, the other or both of us. This way, it’s all rolled into one – a holiday, a wedding, an escape from day-to-day life. I’ve been trying to find a way for the two of us to spend more time together, so this is our chance. And we get to watch our best friends tie the knot too, so even better.
Luckily the expense isn’t something mere mortals like us need to worry about, because Neil is from one of those old-money families, and his family in particular just loves keeping up with the Joneses. Hilariously, their last name is Jones, which means they’re keeping up with themselves, and that seems accurate to me. I haven’t spent much time around Neil’s family, or his friendsoutside our mutual group, so I’m hoping it isn’t going to be an overly stuffy thing full of rich people who eat crumpets and play polo.
Kelsey might not be old money, but she’s always dreamed of a big fancy wedding, and she deserves this. Cruising to her perfect wedding. Love that for her.
The food is unbelievably good – all three courses of it. We’ve just finished dessert which was a dark chocolate tart with something citrusy and suspiciously addictive. I ate mine and half of Todd’s. Well, he did leave it unattended, so I assume he wasn’t planning on finishing it.
It’s a good job I’ve had Kelsey to chat with all day because Todd can’t seem to sit still for more than five minutes. He’s been up and down all through the meal – getting drinks, wandering outside, probably taking photos of the grounds or the old hall. He does that sometimes when he’s overwhelmed, he retreats to nature and architecture, so I just leave him to it.
‘I’m just going to nip to the loo,’ I tell Kelsey, pushing back from the table.
‘Don’t get lost,’ she replies. ‘I hear it’s a trek.’
Okay, she’s not kidding, you do have to ‘travel’ to the loos, but they have a golf buggy if you want a lift. I think that’s Kelly’s mum, kind of drunk, hanging off the back of it, so I make the short journey on foot, admiring the lake as I walk alongside it.
I step into a cubicle, and that’s when I notice it – someone crying in the one next to me. Not just quiet crying either. Full-on sobbing, with this weird, wobbly pitch to it. It sounds like yodelling. Like someone’s messing with the volume dial on a sad song. I’ve never heard anything like it.
‘Are you okay in there?’ I ask, knocking gently on the wall between us.
