Название: The One with the White Wedding
Автор: Erin Lawless
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9780008181765
isbn:
Please Save the Date
for the wedding of
NORA EILEEN DERVAN
and
HENRY ROBERT CLARKE
New Year’s Eve
Nora Dervan, the bride
Harry Clarke, the groom
Bea Milton, a bridesmaid – Nora’s godsister and best friend since birth
Cleo Adkins, a bridesmaid – Nora’s best friend from university
Daisy Frankel, a bridesmaid – an American girl Nora befriended while travelling in their early 20s
Sarah Norris, a bridesmaid – the wife of the Best Man
Cole Norris, the Best Man – friends with Harry, Nora and Bea since primary school
Eli Hale, a groomsman – friends with Harry, Nora and Bea since primary school
Barlow Osbourne, a groomsman – Harry’s best friend from university
Archie Clarke, a groomsman – Harry’s younger brother
Eileen Dervan, Nora’s mother and Bea’s godmother
Cillian, Aoife, Alannah and Finola Dervan – Nora’s younger brother and sisters
Hannah Milton, Bea’s mother and Nora’s godmother
Gray Somers, a colleague of Cleo’s teaching at the Oakland Academy
Claire, a friend of Nora and Bea’s since secondary school
Darren, Daisy’s current boyfriend
Kirsty, Bea’s flatmate
Cleo studied the top of Gray’s bent head; the harshness of the overhead strip lights threw a halo of paleness around his crown. He sat in quiet concentration, his bottom lip sucked in between his teeth, click-click-clicking his pen absent-mindedly as he read through his student’s essay. He’d been doing this lately, bringing his marking along to breaks and lunch, a not-so-subtle but ever-so-polite barrier between them.
For the millionth time in her life – and at least the hundredth time since she got back from Paris – Cleo reflected on how very, very much alcohol was not her friend. Oh, how she rued that message she’d sent him, that split second while she’d been spangled on champagne and frankly giddy from being at the Moulin Rouge, but most of all she rued the fact that she’d turned her phone off for the rest of the evening and missed the three attempted calls he’d made to her in response.
A combination of hangover, embarrassment and dealing with the fall-out of the Bea / Cole big reveal had eaten up much of the next day, but – after bidding the rest of the (slightly subdued) hen party contingent goodbye at the Eurostar terminal – Cleo had sat on the tube back towards Acton, her phone heavy in her hands, a message to Gray resolutely undrafted. Copping out completely, dreaming of a chip butty and her blissful king-sized bed, Cleo had decided that a cheerful, face-to-face chat over coffee during Monday break time, where she could play down her slight Single White Female craziness, perhaps even distract Gray by telling him all the hen do gossip.
As it turned out, she needn’t have worried. Gray had appeared at their usual spot, armed with an over-done smile and a sheath of coursework. He’d gone through the motions all right, asking if Nora had enjoyed her spinsterhood send-off, making all the right noises as Cleo showed him some of the funniest snaps on her phone. He hadn’t mentioned Cleo’s particularly passive-aggressive beauty of a message, or how it could neatly be translated into a caterwauling СКАЧАТЬ