‘Yes,’ Laura agreed. ‘And then Maggie would have been a bridesmaid for Fizz.’
Thank goodness their friends weren’t going down such a traditional format for their wedding. How awkward could that have been, with everyone they worked with watching them? Someone would have picked up on the odd vibe between the best man and the bridesmaid and maybe asked what the problem was, which would have only ramped up this odd tension.
There hadn’t been any chance to try and convince Joe that the notion of him being a sperm donor had only been a joke because the night shift crew had been outside chatting to their pilot as Maggie had followed behind Joe, who had got into his car and simply driven past, with a casual wave. Maggie had texted him later with what seemed a slightly awkward attempt to tell him he had nothing to worry about but the response had been a terse ‘Forget about it, I already have’, which didn’t quite ring true.
It was probably unfortunate that their days off had meant they hadn’t had to work together the following day. It would have been so much easier to brush off and genuinely forget about it if they hadn’t both had a couple of days to think about it.
Because Maggie was quite sure that Joe would have been thinking about it, even if it wasn’t filling his mind to quite the same extent as it was hers. Who wouldn’t have to give it some thought, when confronted by something you would never have expected your friend to come out with? Something that had clearly shocked him. She couldn’t text him again, either, because that would be making it into a bigger thing than it actually was. All they needed was to be in the same space, an opportunity to make a joke about it and then they could go back to the way things had always been—a friendship that made it possible to work and socialise together and to always feel perfectly safe.
‘Anyway...’ Maggie pasted a bright smile on her face. ‘Even though I’m not a bridesmaid, I think I will wear a dress. This dress.’
‘Good choice.’ Laura encouraged Harrison to slide off the couch but kept hold of his hand as she got up. ‘Want to help Mummy decide what she’s going to wear?’
‘I’m tired...’ Harrison was climbing back onto the couch. ‘Can I watch TV?’
‘I’ll help Mummy choose,’ Maggie offered. ‘Let’s both go girly with pretty dresses. How often do we get the chance to do that?’
‘Almost never,’ Laura said. She was smiling now, too. ‘It’s going to be a great day,’ she added. ‘I can’t wait.’
Maggie had to stop herself crossing her fingers, the way she used to when she was a kid and believed that the gesture excused you if you were about to tell an outright lie.
‘Me, too.’
* * *
‘You’re a brave man, Cooper Sinclair.’
‘Why is that, Joe?’ His colleague was grinning. ‘Because I’m taking the plunge and getting married?’
‘Nah... You’re on a hilltop in famously windy Wellington and you’re wearing a skirt.’
It was more than a hilltop. They were actually standing on the top of a cliff, with a spectacular view of the sea and islands through the archway that would frame the ceremony due to begin shortly. And, yes, while it was a gloriously sunny day, the currents of air were enough to be stirring the hemline of the kilt Cooper was wearing.
Cooper snorted. ‘What else would a Scotsman wear for the happiest day of his life?’ He wasn’t looking at Joe, however. His gaze was fixed on the Castle Cliff resort buildings and he obviously couldn’t wait to catch the first glimpse of his bride coming to meet him. He glanced at his watch then—a nervous gesture that was completely out of character.
‘It’s time...’
‘I’d better find a seat, then.’ Joe left his friend standing alone and headed for the far side of the last row of white seats that had been arranged in a semi-circle facing the archway. He wasn’t at all bothered that the first rows were already full of settled guests. He was happy to be attending this celebration but he didn’t want to be too close to the action. Weddings made him a little nervous, too. Didn’t Cooper and Fizz realise what a huge risk they were taking? How high the chances were that it wasn’t going to turn out to be happy-ever-after? And they had decided to get married because there was a baby on the way. Not that he was going to say anything but it felt a bit close to a death knell to Joe.
Just before he turned to sit down, he noticed another kilt-clad figure appear on an upper balcony of the resort building, a set of bagpipes cradled in his arms. At the same time, three figures were hurrying down the steps from the lower veranda, two of them wearing dresses. The other was a small boy and Joe knew that it must be Laura’s son, Harrison, who was apparently in charge of the wedding rings. Laura had to be watching over her son, as she always did, and that meant that the other woman was most likely her flatmate and close friend. He didn’t really need the glimpse of sunlight catching blonde curls to light them up like a halo to confirm his guess.
Maggie...
Joe sat down with a thump and fixed his gaze on the scene ahead of him, where the celebrant had joined Cooper.
The level of discomfort Joe was aware of now was far greater than anything weddings normally engendered. He hadn’t seen Maggie for days. Hadn’t wanted to see her after that shocking conversation at the end of their last shift together, and as the time apart was increasing, so was the level of...what...awkwardness? Certainly tension, anyway.
It wasn’t something he’d ever been aware of with Maggie. She was, in fact, probably the only woman he ever felt completely at ease with. Other than Shirley, of course, but the self-appointed housekeeper of the Aratika Rescue Base was a mother figure for everyone there, with zero risk of her wanting anything inappropriate from her relationship with Joe. He’d thought his friendship with Maggie was just as sacrosanct. That they were real friends who trusted each other and that there was no threat of the usual sexual tension that inevitably seemed to develop when he tried to be simply friends with a woman.
The other seats in this back row were filling up quickly from the aisle side as people realised the ceremony was about to start. Joe noticed Don, the base manager, take a seat and then Tom, one of the emergency department consultants at the Royal, took the next seat, leaving only two spaces. Tom was becoming more involved with the base, having taken over the shifts Fizz had had to relinquish when she’d discovered she was pregnant. Laura went past Joe on the other side, holding Harrison’s hand, leading him to where a seat had been saved in the front row, and then there was a swish of blue fabric right in front of Joe.
‘Excuse me.’
He pulled his feet closer as Maggie edged past his knees. Seeing Laura and Harrison had been a reminder of the example of successful single parenthood that Maggie was inspired by and that was yet another sharp reminder of the awkwardness that now lay between them. The fact that she was choosing to sit beside him came as something of a relief. Perhaps they could get past what was threatening to be an elephant in the room when they next had the opportunity to talk to each other, let alone the next time they had to work together.
Except that a quick glance showed that the empty seats beside Joe were the only ones available and Maggie chose the one next to Tom, leaving an empty seat between herself and Joe. She flicked him a quick smile of greeting but then turned to say hello to Tom and the slightly nervous way she had avoided more than a split second of eye contact gave Joe an odd jolt of something that he couldn’t define but which he definitely didn’t like.
Wow...how could a simple, white chair that wasn’t even solid suddenly feel like an impenetrable barrier?
The mournful wail of the bagpipe music starting in the background only added to the sensation that something had changed. Or been lost? Something potentially huge?
Like everyone else, Joe turned his head to watch Fizz come out onto the veranda and then walk down the steps towards the central aisle that led to the archway where Cooper was waiting. It was no surprise that she