Today I am super excited to share with you all an extract from a book that was released yesterday - I saw it in Tesco's so it's out there! - and one that I am thoroughly enjoying (review will come when i'm finished reading it). It's a gorgeous little book with so many laugh out loud moments, so much truth - I find myself nodding along just knowing the feeling sometimes. I have to say it's a unique story, for me at least because I've not read anything with a similar theme running through it before.
Anyway, here is the extract for you to read, which I am sure you'll be hunting down the book afterwards because you'll need to know what happens next. Enjoy!
‘You may kiss the bride!’
There was a moment’s silence while we leant into each other, then my sisters started whooping as one, and as we kissed the whole register office applauded, and it felt alright for a moment. We pulled away and Jack looked like he was glowing, happiness pouring out of his freckles, and I thought, I wonder if I look like that?
Then the registrar said a few more things, the music started up and we were back down the aisle, out into the sunshine and then. . . then we didn’t know where we were supposed to go. The car wasn’t there – Al wasn’t due back for a good while yet. He was probably sitting back in the pub he’d picked me and Dad up from, enjoying a quiet drink before the happy couple spilt prosecco all over the back of his car. We milled about for a while, doubling back on ourselves to watch everyone trooping out, then we had to walk back in and out again so the photographer could get some shots of everyone throwing confetti at us on the stone steps.
My shoes hurt and my eyes felt heavy from the fake eyelashes I’d let myself be talked into, despite my choice of natural hair, plain white jumpsuit and simple faux fur. I was happy enough at this precise moment – all these people! Jack’s face! – but I’d wanted us to just keep on walking when we got outside, just hit the road, no looking back until we’d had some time to talk about all of this. I squeezed Jack’s hand and he squeezed back.
‘Happy?’ he said.
‘I was about to ask you the same thing.’
We smiled at each other, but neither of us answered.
The photographer moved us around from car park to entrance steps to under the one tree in the vicinity not surrounded by cigarette butts and cider cans, in an attempt to get a satisfactory shot. I tried to avoid Dad’s eye, until our driver finally turned up again. I dragged Jack into the car, and we sat back with a sigh, his arm around my shoulders, and we stayed in comfortable, quiet stillness until we reached our reception venue twenty minutes later. Al didn’t attempt small talk either, just turned up the heaters in the back a little more.
As we pulled up the drive to our hired manor house, the first arrivals of our wedding party, Jack stroked my handbag with one finger. ‘This looks fancy, Zo.’
‘Gift from Mum and Dad last night. More Mum than Dad, I expect. In fact, probably more my sisters than either, but still. . .’
‘You’ve always wanted one of those.’ I shrugged, smiling, and Jack went on, ‘And if everything else goes wrong in life, at least we know we can flog this and live like kings.’
I clutched it to my chest. ‘You wouldn’t. . .’
‘Of course I wouldn’t! I wouldn’t dare, my dearest.’ He picked it up, and looked at it more closely. ‘It doesn’t matter how expensive it was – you deserve something this gorgeous.’
Jack pulled me in for another kiss and I wondered if we could tell Al to go back down the drive. No one’s seen us. We could still escape, just me and Jack.
Then I remembered Dad’s words this morning –sometimes you just have to do what you think is right – and swallowed the feeling down.
***
You can grab yourself a copy of Sunshine on a Rainy Day here;
Posts
Post a Comment