Sitting on the beautiful staircase where we all had our photos taken earlier, I watch as people come and go from the hotel. I wonder if any of them have fucked up their life as spectacularly as I have. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, but I’m not sure where else to go.
‘Georgie?’ I hear my mum’s voice.
‘Hi,’ I say weakly.
My mum takes a seat next to me on the step.
I feel a tear roll down my cheek, which I quickly wipe away, but my mum sees it.
‘Come on,’ she says as she wraps her arm around me. ‘Start from the beginning.’
It takes me a second or two to get started, but once I start I sing like a bird, about everything, from start to finish. My mum sits quietly and listens, squeezing me supportively as I talk.
‘Love, you know you could have just told us the truth. We would’ve looked after you,’ she says.
‘I know,’ I sob. ‘But I didn’t want to cause any upset. And then I married Jack, and things seemed even worse, but then I thought maybe he could be the answer to all my problems.’
‘Georgie, you know we love you, and we just want you to be happy. What John did to you was awful, but if you still love him, then we’ll support you. And Jack, well, yes, we all think he’s wonderful, and if you love him, then we’ll figure that out, too. But Fliss was right to be upset. Whether you intended it or not, this shouldn’t have happened today. Things are carrying on with the wedding – and she will forgive you – but I think you need to sort this out before you try and come back in, because we can’t have any more upset.’
‘OK,’ I say softly. ‘I’ll fix this… just as soon as I figure out how.’
‘You need to decide who you want to be with,’ my mum tells me, taking a tissue from her clutch for me to dry my eyes. ‘Maybe it’s John, maybe it’s Jack – maybe it’s no one. But you need to let people know where they stand. If you love either of them, you need to go and tell them right away. You only get so many chances in life.’
I may have spent my life wishing my mum were cooler, or that she nagged me less, or that she kept her nose out of my business, but now I can see that, with everything she’s ever done, she’s always had my best interests at heart. I’m lucky to have her.
‘OK, I’ll do that now. Please tell Fliss I’m sorry, and that I’ll make this up to her, and that I’m going to sort this mess out and come back to the wedding, if she’ll have me.’
Sure of what I need to do, I slip off my heels and run up the stairs.
Standing outside room 220, I take a deep breath before knocking on the door.
‘Georgie,’ John says with surprise as he opens the door. ‘Come in.’
‘I’m not stopping,’ I tell him. ‘Look, it’s over. You know it as well as I do. We had some good times together but there’s no recovering from what happened.’
John sighs.
‘How can you be so sure?’ he asks.
‘Because I love Jack,’ I tell him. ‘I’m sorry if that’s hard to hear, but I do.’
‘Well, I don’t know what else I can say,’ he replies solemnly.
‘I’ll be flying back in a couple of days. I’ll stop by to clear out my things, but then I’m moving back here.’
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ he says weakly.
For a second, I feel guilty. We’ve built a life together. Am I really going to throw it all away?
‘I would have stayed with you forever,’ I tell him. ‘But it wouldn’t have been out of love. You deserve better than that.’
John gives me a half-smile.
‘Well, goodbye,’ I say, taking off my engagement ring and handing it to him.
‘Bye,’ he replies.
The second he closes his hotel-room door I feel my face light up. I know it’s awful, the way everything has happened, but finally there’s nothing to hold me back. I can go and find Jack and we can be ourselves, without needing to lie or pretend anymore.
Outside our hotel room, I take out the keycard I haven’t actually needed to use yet and open the door.
‘Jack?’ I call out, but there’s no sign of him. I check the bathroom, too, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
I glance around the room, but other than a few items of his disposable clothing, neither Jack nor any of his personal belongings are anywhere to be seen. I should have known that, after I unceremoniously rejected him and then sat there while my ex tried to fight him, he wouldn’t stick around.
As I head back down in the lift I slip my heels back on. I was going to try and re-join to the wedding, but I’m not even sure they’ll have me.
As I slink in through the door, I eyeball my mum, and hurry straight over to her.
‘How did it go?’ my mum asks.
‘I went to see John,’ I tell her. Her face falls as I say his name. ‘Just to tell him it’s over. Then I went to find Jack, but I think he’s gone.’
My mum chuckles.
‘Don’t be so worried,’ she replies.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, the bride and groom will now take to the floor for their first dance,’ the DJ announces.
Oh God, the dance. At least I don’t have to be a part of it now – not that I could have done it without Jack anyway.
Fliss and Dougie take to the floor and you’d never know she’d been crying, unlike me, who caught sight of my horrible panda eyes in the lift a few minutes ago.
At the side of the dance floor I spy my Uncle Barry, sitting on a chair with his foot propped up.
‘Oh God, don’t tell me he’s going to have to sit the dance out?’ I say to my mum, feeling terrible.
‘Yes, he’s gone over on his ankle, unfortunately,’ she replies. ‘Your auntie will be fine, though, she has a new dance partner.’
As the other couples emerge to join in with the routine, I notice that my Auntie Di does have a new dance partner: Jack.
My auntie is practically swooning as they perform the routine together, each step absolutely flawless.
‘Jack came back not too long ago. He said he was worried Barry might not be able to do the routine and offered to fill in for him. Naturally Fliss was so relieved, I don’t think she holds him responsible for any upset.’
‘Just me,’ I reply.
‘No, your auntie and I had a chat while you were gone,’ my mum says. ‘We both acknowledged we sometimes measure you and Fliss against each other, and that might have made it hard for you to own up to what was going on.’
I smile.
As Jack moves around the floor with my auntie, I catch his eye and he smiles at me.
Once the routine finishes, he heads straight over to me.
‘Georgie,’ he starts, but he doesn’t get to finish.
‘Is there a Jack Bolton here?’ the DJ calls out. Everyone looks over to him, only to see two police officers standing next to him.
‘More strippers, Georgie?’ Fliss asks me, clearly nowhere near to forgiving me.
‘Not guilty,’ I joke.
Neither the male nor the female officer looks especially happy about being called a stripper.
‘That’s me,’ Jack says, stepping forward.
‘Sir, we’re going to need to ask you a few questions,’ the female officer says.
‘What’s this about?’ I ask.
The officer nods towards the door where Betty is standing with another two officers.
‘Mrs Bonneville’s family came to visit her today, except she wasn’t there. Supposedly her nephew, Jack, had taken her on a trip, but it turns out she doesn’t have a nephew called Jack.’
‘Oh shit,’ Jack blurts. ‘I thought she was my auntie.’
‘If you could just come with us to the station, I’m sure we can figure this all out,’ the male officer says. ‘This way, please.’
Jack lets out a little laugh.
‘Sure,’ he says, before turning to me. ‘I’ll be in touch.’
I watch as Jack is escorted out by police officers – I’d imagine on suspicion of kidnapping an old lady. Today has been such a weird day.