The Guilt Trip(59)
“How the hell did they find this place?” asks Noah to no one in particular as he pays the cab fare. “It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
“It’s as if we could just dive off the side and straight in,” says Paige, in awe as she steps out and looks at the sea as it glistens in the afternoon sun. “It’s so freeing.”
Perhaps it’s a reflection of Rachel’s inner turmoil that she doesn’t share Paige’s sense of liberation. Instead, she finds the ominous cliffs suffocating; the black-winged Alpine swifts menacing as they circle overhead.
She’s tempted to ask the driver just to take her back to the villa, knowing that the next chance she has of getting out of here, her life may well be very different.
Noah leads the way across the flower-festooned terrace toward an uneven wooden staircase, ravaged by the salt water at high tide. The juxtaposition between the optimism of the cerise bougainvillea and the rickety platform that looks like it might collapse at any moment sends shivers down Rachel’s spine.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” asks Rachel as she steps from the relative security of the platform onto the precarious staircase. It had looked like the steps could lead to nowhere but the sea, yet as soon as Rachel’s at that vantage point, she can see a tiny crescent of golden sand, a sheltered cove protected by rock formations that rise out of the water, forming an arch at one end and a bank of caves at the other.
Just shy of the water’s edge is a white gazebo that looks like a dainty bird’s cage, set in front of six rows of chairs, each festooned with bright-pink flower garlands. It looks stunning, but Rachel refuses to say that, as if doing so will somehow condone what Ali’s doing.
She spots her parents-in-law: Bob, and Val in her big hat, beaming from ear to ear as they chat with Will and Jack, so immensely proud of their two boys. How would they feel if they found out one of them was betraying the other in the worst way possible?
A red carpet meets them at the bottom of the stairs and thankfully accompanies them, high heels and all, down the aisle. Rachel can’t wait to see how Ali manages to negotiate the unlevelled sand hidden underneath in those lace stilettos of hers.
“Rachel, you look gorgeous,” says Val. “A vision in yellow.”
“Thanks, Val, you look lovely too,” says Rachel, smiling as she ducks under the broad brim of her mother-in-law’s hat to give her a kiss on both cheeks.
“She’ll have someone’s eye out with that at some point today, I’m sure,” jokes Bob.
Rachel laughs. “You’re looking very dapper as well, Bob. You okay?”
He kisses her as if he’s still unaccustomed to it, even though that’s how they greet each other every time. He goes in for two when she’s pulling away after one, and there’s that awkward moment when neither of them is sure what to do. “You’re matching the sunshine today, kid,” he says, by way of filling the split-second silence.
“You know me…” she says, looking down at herself, hoping that she doesn’t look like a great big round yellow blob. “Always trying to bring a little sunshine into the world.”
Bob smiles before extending his hand to Noah.
“You’ve met Noah and Paige before, haven’t you?” Rachel asks.
“Yes, a couple of times over the years,” says Bob, before shaking Paige’s hand.
Val does the same. “You’re Rachel’s friend from university, aren’t you?” she says to Noah.
Just the association being acknowledged makes Rachel’s nerves jangle. She imagines him replying, And lover actually, albeit just once, though there’s every chance it resulted in me fathering the grandchild you dote on.
“How’s the groom feeling?” she says, turning to Will. “You okay?”
She knows that Jack is standing beside him, but can’t bring herself to look at him, knowing that if she does, she’s likely to want to punch him in the face.
Will shakes himself down, as if trying to rid any last-minute doubt. “She is coming, isn’t she?” he asks apprehensively.
“Of course she is,” says Rachel, while keeping everything crossed that by some divine intervention she isn’t. It won’t make what Ali and Jack are doing any less painful, but it will make the fallout a lot easier to deal with if she’s not already married into the family. At least for Will, in some small way.
“You okay?” asks Jack, as if sensing something’s wrong. She can think she’s hiding it all she likes; congratulating herself on how she’s going to be able to keep this under wraps until the wedding is over. But Jack will be able to tell from the set of her jawline, the lack of eye contact and the way her lips are pressed tightly together that she’s not happy.
“Fine,” she says tightly. “Will, where do you want us to sit?”
“Erm … anywhere,” he says, looking up toward the top of the wooden stairs, desperately searching for confirmation that his bride is going to turn up. “Anywhere in this row.” He points to the chairs behind his.
Rachel glances across the aisle to where Ali’s family is congregated and catches her mum’s eye. They nod their heads at each other, but Maria, Rachel notices, holds her gaze for a little longer. Rachel wonders if she knows what her daughter is up to, if she’s even positively encouraging it.