My friend began pushing me over to the marquee.
‘Your shirt is in the bag behind the holly tree. You can slip it on over the dress when it’s time. Go, go, go!’
Together, we entered the tent. Breathless, I wove my way between the tables up to the empty seat of honour. Perry spotted me a few steps in, his face breaking out into relief as he rose to greet me with a kiss.
‘You made it! What a mix-up!’
‘I am so, so sorry.’ I turned slightly to address the rest of the table, including Larissa and Milton. ‘I had no idea – and my phone ran out of battery. I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.’
Larissa harrumphed and opened her mouth to say something, but her husband interjected. ‘Not at all. Perry should have warned you – at least checked if you would be available. Imagine if you had been away for the weekend, or out of the country?’ He shook his head. ‘The whole thing could have been a complete fiasco.’
Perry’s hand turned rigid in mine.
‘No, really. Perry called me hours ago but I didn’t get his message. I don’t think anyone’s to blame. And I’m here now, so no harm done. Is this my seat? Oh, and you’ve saved me some salmon. Wonderful. It looks delicious.’
I sat down and took an enthusiastic bite, trying to smile simultaneously. At the far end of the tent, I spied two waiting staff beginning to clear some of the plates. I chewed harder, gratefully accepting the glass of water handed to me by the woman to my right.
Perry slid into the spare seat on my other side, gesturing politely at the woman. ‘Faith, may I introduce Eleanor Upperton, my aunt and our generous hostess.’
I choked, grabbing my napkin in time to prevent crumbs spraying out of my mouth, at the same time using it as an excuse to both duck my head and hide behind the linen. Eleanor had spoken to me twice already that evening.
She stared at me, nose slightly wrinkled. ‘I think you need a moment to compose yourself, dear. You can introduce yourself properly later.’
I nodded gratefully and wiped my mouth, leaving the remaining salmon on the plate. ‘I’m so sorry, if you’d excuse me for a minute. I arrived here in rather a hurry and didn’t get a chance to tidy myself up.’
‘You can say that again!’ Larissa muttered, as I pushed back my chair. ‘And let’s be honest, it might take more than a minute.’
Doing my best to shake off her comment, I bolted back into the open air, straight over to the bush, where I donned my shirt, tucked it into my belt to give the appearance of wearing a skirt, and shoved my hair back into a ponytail. Scooting over to the door of the marquee, I snagged one of the other waitresses.
‘The top table’s finished – you need to clear them first.’
‘Feel free. I’m not going back there if I can help it.’ She began to move away.
‘I can’t – I’ve been asked to fetch some more bread. If you don’t, and she complains, I’ll remember we had this conversation.’
‘Whatever!’
I waited long enough to see her stomp up to the top table before re-entering, keeping my back to Perry and his parents as much as possible as I cleared the remaining plates at the furthest end of the tent. Three trips back and forth to the kitchen, a swipe of Marilyn’s lipstick to feign some ‘tidying up’ and I was back as Faith. And so it went on. My phone conveniently rang when it was time to serve the mains, thanks to Mission Commander, and I left to mop up the ‘accidentally’ spilled wine on my dress when it was time to clear them away. I simply skived serving dessert, dropping a fork under the table so I could duck down to avoid the waiter, and Marilyn dragged me off in the guiseof introducing me to some friends as we finished our chocolate parfait.
I was exhausted, fraught and coming across as an idiot, embarrassing Perry and irking his mother. This was preposterous.
But the worst was yet to come.
As I carefully poured out coffee for table eight, shielding myself behind a large bunch of flowers on a plinth, the tinkling sound of a fork on crystal caused the chattering to fade into silence.
Oh, no.
Perry got to his feet, glass in hand. He was going to make a toast.
‘Right, where’s my beautiful fiancée?’ He peered around the tent, where I stood, immobile, behind the flowers.
‘Excuse me, miss!’ An old man resembling a turtle smiled at me across the table. ‘May I please have a cup of coffee?’
Everyone, at that moment looking around and waiting for the missing fiancée, turned to stare at the man.
Marilyn called out, ‘I think she went outside for some fresh air. I’ll go and find her. Hang on.’
She caused a bit of a distraction, pushing and shoving needlessly through the tables, elbowing people in the head, and knocking over a water glass as she went, but it wasn’t enough.
