Page 85 of Lie For Me

‘I did,’ he nodded. ‘A forthright woman. She told me I had a pleasant smile but needed a haircut if I expected to be taken seriously.’

He ran his hand through his hair, and Lucy thought it would be a tragedy if he chose, for reasons of insanity, to listen to her nanna and cut off that golden mane.

Lucy burst out laughing.

‘Yes, that’s Nanna.’ Out of consideration for women everywhere, she added, ‘And I think your hair is great. You shouldn’t cut it.’

‘Hmm,’ Chris said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. ‘Two very different pieces of advice. Who to listen to…I’ll have to think about this.’

Lucy had forgotten all about Nanna’s glasses.

‘Can I get you a drink?’ Chris asked and pulled out a chair.

Lucy hesitated for just a moment before sinking into the seat.

‘Sure, G&T, please.’

Chris grabbed a passing waiter, gave the order and then pulled his chair in. Somewhere along the way, the guy Chris had been talking to had drifted off.

‘So, Lucy, Ollie’s Sister.’ He was grinning at her. ‘How are you enjoying the wedding so far? Any standout moments? Besides meeting me, of course.’

He grinned and was charming enough to get away with a comment like that. Truth be told, it was one of the more entertaining moments of the day. Better than being lectured by Nanna, or sweltering in the heat for yet another round of photos—or fighting with Jack.

She played along.

‘Oh,’ she nodded. ‘Of course. I shall forever think of this wedding as the day I was blessed to meet Chris.’

He nodded, his expression earnest.

‘That’s wise. Divide your life into Before Chris,’ he placed his hands on one side of the table, ‘and After Chris.’ He placed his hands on the other side.

Lucy’s drink came, and she twirled the straw.

‘So, how do you know Ollie? Another uni mate, I presume?’

Chris nodded. ‘Another uni mate, yes, but we weren’t in the same year or on the same course.’ He glanced over at Ollie, Sophie, Dave and the gang. ‘I was Ollie’s captain on the rugby team. I only knew him at uni for a year before I graduated, but then we both started playing for a local rugby team just for the fun and exercise, and we became quite close.’

Ollie, restored by cake and water, was now leading the dancing, jumping enthusiastically to Hey Ya! by Outkast.

‘And he was my best man at my wedding.’

Lucy’s head snapped around.

‘He was?’ She felt a jolt of disappointment. Her eyes flicked down, but there was no wedding band. ‘Is your wife here?’

She glanced about.

‘No.’ Chris smiled. ‘We didn’t make it to our first anniversary. We married young, we were just out of uni.’ He shrugged. ‘Should have known better, but I suppose that’s the point of being young—you don’t know better.’ He smiled and sipped his drink. ‘We got caught up in the excitement of the wedding part—forgot there was a marriage on the other side of the big day. If we hadn’t had that in common, the wedding planning, I am not even sure we’d have been together by the wedding date. About six months later, we agreed it was a mistake, and it all ended very politely, but,’ he grinned as Ollie tried to dip Sophie on the dance floor, ‘still felt like we’d failed.’

‘I can understand that,’ Lucy said, and followed his gaze to her brother dancing. ‘Or maybe Ollie, as your best man, was a bad luck charm.’

Chris burst out laughing and looked at her appreciatively.

‘Yes, maybe that was it. Sorry, I am sure there’s some etiquette about not talking about marriages ending while at a wedding.’

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Lucy said. ‘Nanna beat you to it hours ago. And her marriage-ending stories were much darker than yours.’

‘You know, Ollie never said how pretty you are,’ Chris said.

---