Page 115 of Degrees of Control

He took a deep breath, then seized her hand and clumsily slid the diamond onto the third finger of her left hand. It fit perfectly. She tugged on James’ hair. “Please come up here and kiss me right now.”

He did, and behind them, the horses began to whinny and shake their magnificent heads, as though in acknowledgement of their union.

Chapter 6

One year later

Hayley slumped back into the red and white silk lounge chair, her champagne glass tipping precariously to the side. “I told myself I wasn’t going to get drunk at your wedding.”

Jordan took a neat sip of champagne. “That’s funny because I remember saying you weredefinitelygoing to get drunk at, if notbefore,Charlie’s wedding. Want me to make her throw up, Charles?”

Charlie laughed. “That might make things worse. Don’t worry about it. All you guys have to do is walk in a straight line in front of me and your duties are pretty much done.”

“Good point.” Hayley took another gulp from her glass. “What’s the temperature in here? A million, million degrees?”

“It is pretty hot,” Charlie agreed. They were in a special outdoor gazebo, which while draped with a lot of bright scarves, wasn’t the coolest place in the world.

“I guess the flowers smell okay,” Hayley admitted. “But I can’t fuckin’ believe you got up at five in the morning and did yoga in this heat. It’s good for nothing except lying down and drinking mango lassies. Maybe while you’re getting some head.”

Charlie had barely opened her to reply when Sophia burst into the tent, hair and clipboard akimbo. “Thirty minutes, we are thirty minutes from the most important moment of Charlie’s life, everyone needs to look sharp.Sharp!”

Jordan covered her ears. “Calm down, psycho. We’re all aware of what time it is and where we are and what’s about to happen. Everything’s okay.”

“Is it?” Sophia’s expression was slightly deranged. “You’re acting like we didn’t have that complete chaos with the flowers!”

“You mean how they sent medium pink ones instead of light pink ones?”

“Completely throwing off the entire colour scheme! And then they ran out of salmon for the entrees!”

Jordan rolled her eyes. “And they replaced it with free whitefish, saving Charlie three hundred bucks on appetisers. Seriously, you’re driving yourself crazy for nothing.”

“Guys, be supportive,” Charlie said. “You’re doing an amazing job, Soph. Everything is going so well.”

“Thank you,” Sophia said, sounding teary.

She stood up and pulled her best friend into her arms, giving her the most soothing hug she could muster. When Sophia first offered up her soul to organise the wedding, Charlie had been very hesitant about accepting. There was the fact that she and James had agreed they’d go small and subtle and that that they wanted to get married in a different country, somewhere neutral but relatively cheap where neither her family nor James’ ones would get bragging rights. Sophia had listened attentively and still begged for the job. Not even the fact that she was weeks from exploding a human out of her body would deter her.

Charlie waited until Amelia was born to see if Sophia recovered well from the pregnancy. When her friend was back in Louboutin’s a week later, she knew Sophia was going to be the same ultra-organised superwoman she’d always been and gladly deferred all wedding planning to her.

It was Sophia who decided Bali would be the perfect location and planned the ceremony at the gorgeous place where Charlie ran yearly yoga retreats. Sophia also handled the food, the flowers, the seating arrangements,everything. Whenever Charlie guiltily asked if she should be doing more, Sophia clucked like a mother hen and told her this was her idea of a good time.

James had requested pork ribs for the main course and an open bar loaded with rye liquor and bourbon. Charlie had asked necessitated a vegan menu and that the aisle be big enough so that her mother and her father could walk her down. All those things were effortlessly arranged along with the thousand or so other details that made up a wedding. She and James had arrived in Indonesia three days ago and had nothing to do besides meet their celebrant, get massages and drink cocktails. Sophia had outdone herself and she’d only had two minor meltdowns, which, as she said, was pretty good for her.

“Thank you,” Charlie whispered as she hugged Sophia tighter. “No one could have done this but you, I’m so grateful we’re friends.”

“Family,” Sophia corrected. “Almost. Anyway, I’d better get back to the last checks. Let me know if you need a hug or a moment or a Xanax bar, okay?”

“I will.”

They squeezed each other for a second then released one another so that Sophia could dash out of the gazebo toward whatever she wanted to check.

“You nervous?” Hayley called from her lounge.

“A bit. How’s my makeup?”

“Perfect.”

Unassured, Charlie turned to look at herself in the freestanding mirror. In keeping with the minimalist wedding, she’d chosen a simple cream silk dress and blue peep toes. Her hair was long and loose the way James liked it and her makeup was as neutral as possible—sweating smoky eye wasn’t a good look on anyone. White roses formed a crown on her head, which Sophia had claimed made her eyes pop. She smiled and the bride in the mirror smiled back, looking both nervous and deathly excited.

---