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36 MEG

Five Hours Until the Wedding

Seven in the morning. Meg was in the bathroom getting ready. She was having what she called the warts-and-all. It was usually a Sunday night routine but instead it was now a morning ritual, which she imagined would help her both look and feel amazing for the day ahead.

First, she wrapped her hair in a hair mask and cling-filmed the lot. This kept it warm, and increased the efficacy of the mask. She had music playing from her phone and got through the list of tasks – cutting nails, plucking hairs, squeezing spots. Often, she flossed or used those expensive interdental brushes. Then she’d shave, use a face mask, then body-scrub her entire body before washing and conditioning her hair. She didn’t want the shower to end; it was the last moment of peace she was likely to have.

As she got out, she commenced the next stage of preparations. A Vitamin C sheet mask, body butter, hair serum. There was always so much to do.

Once she’d completed most stages of the getting-ready plan, she threw on a tracksuit to meet David who was coming round to theirs, hopefully to explain all that had happened overnight. She had to put that on, since she didn’t know what she was wearing, or where she was going. She stood close to the window to look out at the street, and though it wasn’t raining, she could feel the early morning chill through the glass. She’d felt bad when Hannah had left at six in the morning to get ready at her parents’ hotel.

‘Was it a late one?’ she asked David when he came in the door of their home.

‘No, no,’ he said. ‘It was surprisingly easy.’

She wasn’t sure she believed him but knew she would show her gratitude later.

The door went again and David went to go and let in the hair and make-up artist, Stacey.

Now they were there together, David, fully dressed in his baby-blue suit, began to make drinks and Stacey started laying out her equipment.

‘Exactly the same as the trial, is it, Meg?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘Perfect.’

Meg was glad now they’d decided to hire someone, as it meant she could sit calmly and think about the other parts of the day. Yes, she wished she knew about her parents, but there were so many other people making their way to be there for her and Hannah, and so many other unknowns now, that they were one of several worries.

‘Do you need anything, Meg?’ David asked, handing her a coffee, and reminding her to be careful with it. ‘I know it’s weird not to know anything.’

‘I … I wouldn’t know where to start. We can just go with it. I’ve got a couple of backup outfit options, depending on what you planned. Just in case.’

‘No worries,’ David said. ‘I thought you might have done that.’

Meg looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin looked calmer than it had this morning when she had showered, and her hair was being put up in rollers to set before it would be let down and finalized.

‘It’s looking, I think, eighty per cent sun,’ David was saying. ‘Maybe seventy-five, to be conservative.’

‘Okay,’ Meg said. ‘Well that’s good. Is there anything I need to know about … everything?’

‘I want to tell you all of it,’ David said. ‘I’m rubbish at keeping secrets. But, if you’re happy not to know anything, then just rest assured. We’ve thought of everything. You’ll eat, you’ll drink, you’ll dance and, most importantly, you’ll get married. That ticks everything off I think.’

‘Okay.’

‘You’ve got ages, so you can relax.’

‘Okay.’

Though it wasn’t the only thought in her head, it was one of the bigger ones. What were her parents doing right now? Her hand itched towards her phone, but she resisted.

Stay calm, she told herself. Whatever happens will happen.