Page 88 of A Wedding in Tuscany

Tuscany

When I spin around, my sister’s face is contorted?confusion mixed with fury, is my best guess. ‘Cat? You okay?’

‘Catherine?language,’ says Mum.

‘Cat?’ I ask again. Dad and I exchange worried looks.

‘That’s …’ Cat shakes her head as though she can’t believe her eyes. ‘That woman?she’s Jean-Luc’s ex-wife.’

‘Vanessa?’ I ask unnecessarily. I turn back around and see Cécile, Louis and?OH. MY. GOD!?Jean-Luc’s ex-wife disappear up the staircase to the loft. What the actual …? There’s no way Jean-Luc would have invited her, even if they are on good terms. He knows there’s a big difference between Cat accepting the occasional lunch date with Vanessa and his ex-wife ATTENDING THEIR WEDDING! This had to be Cécile’s doing. That cow.

‘Let’s go back inside,’ I say, taking charge. Mum fumbles her ardent disagreement, indicating that she’s just as flummoxed as Cat, and I usher my family inside the apartment and into Cat and Jean-Luc’s bedroom. Cat immediately starts pacing, her kitten heels click-clacking loudly.

‘Catherine, it’s all right, darling, we’ll sort this out,’ says Mum. Only, how are we going to do that exactly? This isn’t one of those enormous weddings where you can bury?so to speak?the exes in the back row. There’s barely even a back row!

Cat looks like she’s on the verge of tears or about to tear someone’s head off. Maybe both. And Dad looks completely helpless. Think, Sarah, I tell myself. Jean-Luc must know by now. And his sister has pulled this stunt?he’ll have to be the one to fix things.

‘I’ll be right back,’ I say.

‘Where are you going?’ asks Mum.

‘I’m going to talk to the groom.’ Cat’s eyes lift to mine and it’s clear now that she’s closer to crying than chucking a tanty. ‘Do not cry. You’ll ruin your makeup.’ Of course, I don’t really care about her makeup, but it does the trick and she presses her lips together while blinking back tears. ‘Everyone stay put,’ I command as I leave. But really, where are they going to go?

I head out the door, along the gravel driveway?as fast as I can because I’m on tiptoes so I don’t shred my satin-clad heels?then up the stairs to the loft. At the top, I almost crash into Lou and Jaelee.

‘We were just coming to find you,’ says Lou. ‘Jean-Luc’s ex-wife is here.’

‘I know,’ I say, wincing. ‘And so does Cat.’

‘Well, fuck,’ says Jaelee.

‘That’s what she said. Wait, how do you know that’s Vanessa?’ I ask them.

They share a loaded look. ‘Cat Facebook stalked her when we were on our trip together,’ says Jaelee.

‘And you’d never forget a woman who looks like that,’ adds Lou.

We peek through the archway into the next room and seated right at the back is a Halle Berry look-alike. ‘Right,’ I say. Cécile whispers something to Vanessa then looks right at me and smiles sweetly. Only it isn’t sweet. It’s cruel and I’m positive she knows that.

‘Which one of us is going to deal with the witchy sister?’ asks Lou, her voice an octave lower than usual. ‘This must be her doing.’

There’s a moment of contemplation and I assume, like me, the others are conjuring heinous punishments for ‘witchy sister’ Cécile. I snap out of my wrathful reverie. ‘Okay, we’ll deal with her later, but right now I need to talk to Jean-Luc. Where is he?’

‘He and Josh are in the room at the end, waiting for my signal,’ says Jaelee.

I look through two archways into the furthest room where we’ve set up for the reception, but I can’t see him or Josh. ‘So, he doesn’t know yet?’

‘As soon as we realised, we came to find you.’

‘Oh, my god. Okay. I’ll go tell him and see what he wants to do.’

I set off, my heeled sandals loud on the ancient wooden floors and as I pass into the next room where all the guests and the celebrant are waiting, their heads turn in unison. Fuck, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. ‘Uh, hi everyone. Just a little delay. Nothing to worry about. Just, uh … sit back, chillax …’ I inwardly roll my eyes at myself?chillax? Have we suddenly been transported to 1995? ‘Uh … be right with you.’ I don’t want to stick around long enough to field questions?this isn’t a press conference?but I do catch Lindsey’s eye and with a cock of her head she asks if she can do anything. I shake my head ‘no’ and continue into the next room where I run into Josh.

He saves me as I stumble. ‘Hey, what’s going on?’

I look over at Jean-Luc, who’s waiting by the window, and grab Josh’s hand. ‘Come with me.’

As I approach him, Jean-Luc’s eyes search mine?confusion and worry playing out behind them. ‘Is it Catherine? Her feet are cold?’ he asks.

---