Page 66 of It's All Sun and Games

I’m sure he’s only feigning interest but I appreciate that he’s doing it for me.

‘It’s all me, you know,’ Rick tells him. ‘Everyone thinks it’s her indoors that has planned it, but the whole thing is my vision. The venue, the food, the music.’

‘Did she choose her own dress?’ I ask curiously.

‘Oh, yeah, of course,’ Rick replies. ‘It’s bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the big day, right?’

That’s – weirdly – a relief. I had visions of him telling his wife-to-be what she would be wearing.

‘I did tell her what kind would be the most appropriate, though,’ he adds. ‘So I sort of have an idea of what it’s going to be like – it’s going to be great. Honestly, I can’t wait. I really can’t wait.’

‘We can drink to that,’ Andrea suggests. ‘Salute!’

‘Salute!’ we all echo, clinking our glasses in the middle of the table.

‘So, what about your wedding?’ Rick asks.

I don’t know why I’m taken aback when I realise that he’s talking to me and Andrea. I suppose, because this isn’t a real engagement, I hadn’t actually considered that being engaged meant that we were intending to have a wedding at some point.

‘Oh, you know,’ I say simply – because I don’t know, do I? ‘We have some ideas, but we want to make sure it’s perfect before we lock anything in.’

I’m not being very convincing, am I? Almost to the point where it’s starting to seem like I’m not all that invested in the idea. I mean, what kind of person gets engaged, but has absolutely zero thoughts or feelings about their big day?

‘You don’t sound very excited,’ Liz points out – which is exactly what I was worried about.

‘There is so much to consider,’ Andrea tells her. ‘We want to do something special. Something that will honour both of our traditions. English weddings and Italian weddings are very different.’

Oh, he’s just so good at this.

‘Exactly,’ I quickly chime in. ‘We want to make sure we have a big day that both of our families can enjoy, with all of the traditions we all love and care about – we’re thinking we’ll have it here in Italy, if only because the weather is so much nicer.’

‘And the food,’ Andrea jokes – well, I suspect he’s half-joking, but he’s probably right. I’ve never been to an English wedding that wasn’t either a buffet or maxed out at three courses. I don’t know how many courses to expect tomorrow but, when I asked Andrea if it would be more than four, he just laughed.

‘We want to make sure that everyone is as happy as we are,’ Andrea says, taking my hand. ‘But I know that, when the day comes around, I will be the happiest man on the planet.’

My heart is going at a million beats per minute as the butterflies in my stomach do a jig. Honestly, if the chef thing doesn’t work out for him (which, let’s face it, isn’t going to happen, he’s clearly incredible), Andrea could absolutely make a career for himself by telling women what they want to hear for money. I know for sure that he doesn’t mean a word he just said but, even so, it feels so good to hear it. It’s like when you’re a kid, and you play make-believe, and you know it’s not real but you get way into it. Even if Andrea is only saying this to keep up the act, at this point, I’ll take what I can get. Everyone likes to hear nice things, right?

‘Don’t you think that’s all a bit selfish of you?’ Liz blurts.

Andrea and I seeming so loved up is obviously getting a bit much for her.

‘What do you mean?’ I reply.

‘I mean, if you get married here, where Andrea is from, instead of in England, where you are from,’ she points out, ‘it’s incredibly selfish to expect people to travel all the way to Italy, for your wedding.’

Rick clears his throat and Liz looks at him, but you can tell that she hasn’t realised what she’s done yet.

‘Well, that’s what I’m doing,’ Rick reminds her. ‘And I don’t think it’s selfish. It’s our wedding day and we’ll have it where we want – and the same goes for Robin and Andrea. Good for them, for making themselves happy. Sometimes I think people forget who a wedding is for. It’s for the couple, not the guests.’

Liz gets an instant sunburn. Oh, she’s mortified. She should be too. As the saying goes, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. She could have kept her mouth shut, but she couldn’t resist a little dig. Well, look where it’s got her. I wonder how far this has set her back in her mission to suck up to Rick, but it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person – or a not-very-nice person, as the case may be here.

‘I don’t get big weddings,’ James chimes in.

He’s been pretty quiet so far and, all of a sudden, it’s like something has built in him that he needs to get off his chest.

‘Well, you wouldn’t,’ Rick tells him with a chuckle. ‘You’re not that sort of bloke. You’re here for a good time, not a long term. If you were the marrying kind, believe me, you would feel different, but you are an eternal bachelor, my friend.’

My smile falls. Perhaps Rick is right; perhaps James is that sort of guy.

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