‘That’s my cue,’ she exclaimed a little too brightly.

‘Thank you for this evening,’ he rushed out before she disappeared. ‘Really. I … thank you.’

She looked up at him, her large dark eyes round, a half smile on her lips, half something he didn’t want to name, because he felt it too. Hope. Need. Want. Then she blinked and it was gone. She reached up with her finger and thumb and gently directed his head to the side. Leaning up on tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his cheek.

‘Good night, Henry Hawkesbury,’ she whispered. And then she was gone.

CHAPTER SEVEN

HENRY REREAD THE TEXT he’d sent to Lily two minutes ago, just as confused as he had been when he’d woken up to the most awful screeching message on his answerphone at 6 a.m. with so few details it would take a crack team of investigators to decipher its meaning.

I’m not accustomed to hysterical women sobbing into my answering machine and cancelling My Dream Wedding! Who the hell is Jenny Langford anyway?!!

Henry grabbed a mouthful of much-needed coffee, watching the dots on the messaging app appear and disappear.

Really, dude? You’re not? You surprise me. Not a recent conquest, then? What happened to Lily? And … your dream wedding??

What? He checked and realized that he’d sent the message to Ben. Crap. He was never going to hear the end of that.

Not you. Not my wedding. Not now! Will call later.

He fired off the text again, copy and pasting for time.

HH, thought I brought u up better! Something u want to tell me? :0 Sadly, no idea who the lady in question is, but if u do find out, let me know. Curious and curiouser! ;)

He groaned out loud this time and didn’t spare a thought to his mother’s use of keyboard emojis and sudden lapse in grammar.

Message not meant for you, Mum. No wedding. No lady and certainly not my fault. Will explain later.

Whatever was going on, Henry decided it would be safer all round if he just went to find Lily in person. She’d know what the hell My Dream Wedding was, but he couldn’t quite shift the belief that she wasn’t going to be pleased. Not one bit.

As he pulled the old Jeep into the parking area by the harbour, he tried to account for the burst of excitement he felt coursing through his veins. It felt at odds with what he was sure would be the delivery of bad news. Lily had so much invested in this wedding. A little too much, even if it was for her best friend.