Page 10

More laughter.

“But…thankfully, she saw sense, and somehow, we found a way to work out that we are perfect for each other.” She turned to face Grace. “And if I had to pick one person on this planet to spend the rest of my days with…the honest answer is, it would be her.”

Grace blushed again and smiled up at her.

“So, before we all starve to death, I’d like to raise a toast to my wife, Grace. My person.”

Once more a chorus erupted, along with a round of applause as Caz sat down.

“That was beautiful,” Grace said. Watery eyes looked right into Caz’s soul.

“I know. They’re lapping it up, too.” Caz laughed, and without warning kissed Grace, to another chorus of congratulations. “Sorry, I—”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to ask. You’re my wife, remember?” Grace smiled, before her attention was taken by a waiter leaning over her other shoulder to place a plate down on the table in front of her.

“Okay, food,” Caz said, rubbing her hands together. “I am famished.” But the words,My wife,repeated over and over in her head.

They’d practiced the dance. Firstly, because Caz wasn’t quite as graceful as Grace when it came to moving in time, and with someone else.

And secondly, Grace had always been led, which meant Caz had to learn to do that too, and then they’d had to work out how they could make it look intimate and real in front of all of their loved ones, without actually having to do anything that made the other feel uncomfortable.

The song choice had taken a while to settle on, of course. They’d batted lots of options back and forth, but in the end they’d both agreed on Ed Sheeran’sPerfect. Because it was just that: Perfect.

The words were beautiful, and in some ways it encapsulated the two of them. They’d fallen in friend-love whenthey were kids, when Grace was nineteen and Caz was almost twenty-one, working together at the garage while Grace finished her studies.

Thick as thieves they’d been, right from the start. And Ron hadn’t minded. It was good to have his daughter working in the office and not frolicking with the lads who worked for him.

There were dalliances of course, but nobody ever stuck around. Not like Caz. And none of the boys would dare step out of line—not because their boss was Grace’s dad, but because Caz would string ‘em up and rip ‘em a new one if she found out. And she would find out, because Grace would tell her. They told each other everything.

Now here they were, on the dance floor by themselves, looking shyly at one another as they met in the middle, and Grace slid her arms up and around Caz’s neck. Reciprocating hands attached to her waist as the music gave way to lyrics, and they swayed and turned and held each other’s gaze, smiling at one another, whispering quietly to one another about their guests and the day.

Grace laughed when Caz spontaneously sung, “Darling you look perfect, tonight.” Caz pulled Grace closer, and then as rehearsed, spun her out and back in again, much to the crowd’s enjoyment. It all felt so real…and intimate.

There was no way they weren’t pulling this off.

And when it was halfway through and everyone else joined them on the dance floor, they stood still, hands clasped between them, as they stared at one another, each swaying gently with their own unasked questions.

The music came to a halt, everyone applauded, and the pair of them scarpered, running up the stairs, giggling.

“Caz, wait.” Grace laughed, stopping mid-flight to kick off her heels. And then she was running again to catch up. “Okay, go. Have you got the key?”

Caz reached into her dress and plucked the key card from her bra. “Yup.”

Their room was on the first floor and was the one everyone getting married used. No way around that without looking suspicious. But what did it matter there was only one bed?

They’d slept in worse places together, including several of the back seats of Caz’s cars after a night out when they’d drunk too much and couldn’t drive back.. And who could forget when they’d gone on a mad trip to Blackpool just to ride the Big One, before driving back home. There had been numerous times they’d woken up on a sofa, snuggled into each other under a blanket, having fallen asleep watching a film.

“I dunno how you can wear dresses all day,” Caz said when the door shut behind them. She pulled a hair tie off her wrist and swept her hair up, turning her back to Grace as she wriggled free of her dress and tossed it onto the bed.

“Unzip me?” Grace said.

Caz turned, in just her underwear, lacy stuff she would not have picked had it not been for Grace talking about VPL. Caz had needed to google that, and read that outfits with a ‘visible panty line’ might require no underwear, so a compromise was made and her usual shorts-style was put to one side for the dress.

Sweeping Grace’s long plait to the side, she tried to grab the fiddly little zipper. “Bloody hell, why do they make theseso small?” Her free hand landed on Grace’s bare shoulder for balance.

When she finally got hold of the zip, Caz muttered, “Slippery little—” and slid it downwards, revealing Grace. She glanced up and noticed both of them in the full-sized mirror.

Eyes connected through the glass.