Wedding Night

to her. “No, nothing’s wrong—” He catches sight of me and starts in surprise. “Oh. Hello.”
    I wait for him to add a fulsome, groveling apology, but he seems to feel this greeting is enough. His dark eyes meet mine, and with no warning I have a flashback: a blurred moment of skin and lips from the middle of that night. His hot breath on my neck. My hands clutching his hair. The color comes to my cheeks and I glare at him even more venomously.
    “Hello?” I echo. “Is that all you can say? ‘Hello’?”
    “I guess we’re headed to the same place?” He puts his newspaper down and leans forward, his face suddenly intent. “Are you in touch with them? Because I have to talk to Ben, urgently. I have documents for him to sign. I need him to be at the hotel when I arrive. But he won’t pick up when I call. He’s avoiding me. He’s avoiding everything.”
    I stare at him in disbelief. All he’s concerned with is some business deal. What about the fact that his best friend has married my sister in a totally stupid knee-jerk gesture
caused by him
?
    “I’m in touch with Lottie. Not Ben.”
    “Huh.” He frowns and turns back to the paper. How can he read the paper? I feel deeply, mortally offended that he canconcentrate on the sports pages when he’s created such a mess.
    “Are you OK?” He peers up at me. “You seem a little … fixated.”
    I’m simmering all over with rage. I can feel my head prickling; I can feel my fists clenching. “Funnily enough, no,” I manage. “I’m not OK.”
    “Oh.” He glances at the paper yet again, and something inside me snaps.
    “Stop looking at that!” I leap up and grab it from his hands before I’m fully aware of what I’m doing. “Stop it!” I crumple the paper furiously and throw it on the floor. I’m panting and my cheeks are blazing.
    Lorcan stares at the paper, apparently bemused.
    “Mummy!” says Noah, in delighted shock. “Litterbug!”
    All the other airline passengers have turned to stare at me. Great. And now Lorcan is gazing up at me too, dark brows drawn together, as though I’m some inscrutable mystery.
    “What’s the problem?” he says at last. “Are you pissed off?”
    Is he joking?
    “Yes!” I erupt. “I
am
a little pissed off that, after I had sorted out the whole situation with Ben and my sister, you had to go barging in and wreck it!”
    I can see the truth slowly dawning on his face. “You’re blaming
me
?”
    “Of course I’m blaming you! If you’d said nothing, they wouldn’t be married!”
    “Uh-uh.” He shakes his head adamantly. “Incorrect. Ben’s mind was made up.”
    “Lottie said it was because of you.”
    “Lottie was wrong.”
    He’s not going to back down, is he? Bastard.
    “All I know is, I’d sorted the situation,” I say stonily. “I’d managed it. And then this happened.”
    “You
thought
you’d sorted it,” he corrects me. “You
thought
you’d managed it. When you know Ben as well as I do, you’ll realize that his mind flips direction like a fish. Previous agreements count for nothing. Agreements to sign crucial, time-sensitive documents, for example.” There’s a sudden irritation in his voice. “You can pin him down all you like. He still slips away.”
    “That’s why you’re here?” I glance at his briefcase. “Just for these documents?”
    “If Muhammad won’t come to the mountain, the mountain has to cancel all his plans and get on a plane.” His phone bleeps with a text and he reads it, then starts typing a reply. “It would
really
help me if I could talk to Ben,” he adds as he types. “Do you know what they’re doing?”
    “Couples’ Quiz,” I reply.
    Lorcan looks baffled, then types some more. Slowly, I sit down. Noah has descended onto the floor and is making a hat out of Lorcan’s newspaper.
    “Noah,” I say, without conviction. “Don’t do that. My son,” I add to Lorcan.
    “Hello,” says Lorcan to Noah. “Nice hat. So, you never told me. What are you doing here, exactly? Joining the happy couple, I assume. Do they know?”
    The question takes me off guard. I sip the water, my mind working hard.
    “Lottie asked me to go out there,” I lie at last. “But I’m not sure if Ben knows yet, so don’t mention that you’ve seen me, OK?”
    “Sure.” He shrugs. “A little odd, asking your sister to join you on honeymoon. Isn’t she having a good time?”
    “Actually, they’re thinking of renewing their vows,” I say in sudden