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with eyebags and elephant skin for the entire fortnight. ‘I thought you were getting married though,’ she added, as if this made Sadie the enemy. ‘Wasn’t it you carrying a big dress off the plane?’
    The girl’s grin disappeared. ‘Oh, well yeah. I am. Well that’s the plan, but it’s been going a bit pear-shaped. We shouldn’t even
be
here.’
    â€˜Huh? Like you’ve come to the wrong
place
?’
    Sadie laughed. ‘No! Well yeah actually, but not like that. It was going to be in the Seychelles. And it was supposed to be just me and Mark on this sort of deserted island, no-one else, dead romantic. We had it all planned ages ago. We’d made all the arrangements.’ She stabbed a stick in the sand and impaled a bit of palm leaf on top of it.
    â€˜So, like how did you end up here?’ No-one could be that bad at geography, Delilah thought, that they’d go the wrong way across the world for their own wedding. And wouldn’t someone point it out at the airport when they checked in?
    â€˜The hotel we were going to suddenly closed. “Refurbishing” they told us, which really means they’ve gone bust. The tour operator was all apologies and offered us this instead. My uncle said he’d been here a few times and that it was OK so we went for it. But then,’ Sadie sighed, ‘Mum decided
she
wanted to come. And then Dad found out about that which meant
he
didn’t want to be left out so he’s here as well, even though they’re divorced and hate each other and barely even speak.’
    Delilah hardly dared ask but out it came. ‘And Mark?’
    â€˜Couldn’t get on the same flight. Don’t even ask how that cock-up happened. He’s supposed to get here tonight. He’d bloody better, that’s all I can say.’
    â€˜Yeah. Um, right.’
    Close up, under the harsh sun, Sadie didn’t look much older than Delilah. Young to be in charge of a whole wedding, anyway. Delilah gazed out to sea, pastthe reef towards the yachts moored over on Dragon Island, and tried to imagine the hassle of planning her own wedding. It would be all right if it was to Prince William, because presumably the royal flunkeys would take care of all the arrangements and she’d just have to roll up to the Abbey (the gold coach? Like Princess Di or Cinderella?) in a fabulous frock with her hair (Nicky Clarke) and make-up (Jemma Kidd) looking brilliant. She somehow doubted William would be allowed to sneak off alone with her for a quick Caribbean beachfront ceremony with a steel band and rum punch. But suppose she met someone in the next couple of years who she couldn’t imagine living without? So far in her short life she hadn’t had to plan anything more complicated than Suki’s surprise sixteenth a few months ago. It had been a vodka and Red Bull extravaganza down the local rec, that had had very messy consequences all over the see-saw and some old Neighbourhood Watch colonel-type threatening to set his fat Labrador on them. Her own wedding, without serious and responsible grown-ups in charge, would probably be the same sort of fiasco.
    â€˜Aren’t you a bit young?’ Delilah asked bluntly.
    â€˜Twenny-one.’ Sadie sounded gloomy again. ‘And me and Mark, we’re solid. Well we would be if they’d just effin’ leave us alone to get on with it. My uncle and aunt are coming on the same plane as him, so that’s even
more
people. We’ve got nearly two weeks ’til the wedding, plus a week after for, like, the honeymoon, so they thought, well hey, might as well turn up for a holiday. They’d even planned to tag along to the Seychelles, can you believe? To “surprise us”!’ She held up her fingers in little quote signs and looked furious, then she delved into her straw beach bag and pulled out some cigarettes. ‘Want one?’ Delilah shook her head.
    â€˜Why