Little Beach Street Bakery
Page 87

Polly bit her lip and carried on walking. Gasps were greeting the arrival of the bride behind her. This was good; Polly felt there weren’t as many eyes on her now. She’d been instructed to go down the aisle then stand to the left of the rabbi, on the bride’s side. Huckle of course was on the other side. But he came towards her immediately, holding out his hand. She swallowed hard.
‘Hello,’ he said quietly.
‘Hello,’ she replied, and as if he’d never been away, he planted the softest kiss on her cheek and led her over to his side, despite Reuben harrumphing crossly.
‘I like your hair.’
‘Shut up,’ she said, her heart thumping.
‘No, I mean it.’
‘You’re wearing a jerkin. How could I possibly take what you have to say seriously?’
They arranged their faces into expressions of suitable solemnity as Kerensa, looking truly like a queen, took her place next to Reuben, hissing at Polly to go round her other side. Polly pretended not to hear her. She also noticed that Reuben was wearing platform boots.
Inside, her whole body was like fireworks, exploding with joy. She couldn’t keep the smile from her lips or the glow from her face as Huckle gently took her hand. All the difficulties, the separation, the long, cold winter months, the lonely nights, the long days, the fact that seeing him again was temporary; all those things dissolved just being near him.
‘Where’s Neil?’ he whispered.
‘Did you know they don’t give out passports for seabirds? It’s a disgrace.’
‘Well if you stay here long enough, he’ll probably find us.’
Polly smiled.
‘If everyone has quite settled down,’ said the rabbi, rather tersely and giving them a sharp look, ‘we can begin.’
‘My queen,’ recited Reuben in a low monotone, reading from a card. ‘May the Force be with us as we travel through the galaxy of life. I pledge never to turn to the dark side…’
‘Bit late for that,’ whispered Huckle, and Polly smacked him.
‘… but to stand for ever in the illumination of our love. I vow to fight the evil empire and you may take your place at my side as we rule the galaxy.’
‘I will,’ said Kerensa.
She took out her own card. Polly bit her lip very, very hard.
‘My Jedi, my love. I take your hand and accept your pledge. May the Force be strong in us. Remain a Jedi and I will stand by you.’
‘I will,’ said Reuben, the heavy breathing from his mouthpiece making it come out as a rasp.
Polly felt herself getting vaguely hysterical. It didn’t help that after they’d crushed the chuppah, and it was announced that Reuben could kiss his bride, he couldn’t get his helmet off. Mostly people were clapping and didn’t notice straight away that there was a titanic struggle going on. Kerensa tried to help, but couldn’t raise her arms in her enormous dress. The rabbi had to step in and try and unfasten him, with Reuben expostulating furiously the entire time.
Polly felt an insistent hand on hers.
‘Come with me.’
‘We can’t leave yet.’
‘We’ll be back before he’s got that thing off.’
Huckle drew Polly out through the side of the flower-entwined bower – nobody even passingly looked at them – and down a little slope to the beach, where nobody could see them.
And down there, he took her hands.
‘I am so sorry your boyfriend died,’ he began, carefully.
Polly looked at him.
‘I… I was fond of Tarnie,’ she said. ‘But he wasn’t… It was awful that he died, but we’d… you know, we weren’t together.’
‘You acted like it was wrong.’
‘Oh Huckle!’ said Polly. ‘THEN! It felt wrong THEN! At his FUNERAL! Not FOR EVER, you big doof!’
She saw the slow, lazy grin crack across his face, and found she couldn’t help it; there was no holding back now. She hurled herself into his arms and kissed him, fiercely, the two of them rolling down the dune towards the surf.
‘I thought it was for the best,’ he said, when they came up for air. ‘But if I’m honest… if I’m honest with myself, I couldn’t believe how much I missed you, how much I thought about you. Every day, every minute, every second. I’ve been waiting for this.’
‘I’ve been dreading it,’ said Polly.
‘Why?’ asked Huckle.
‘In case you were back with your ex… in case you had someone else.’
Huckle shook his head. ‘God, no.’
‘But to leave and not to contact me…’
‘I thought you were grieving for Tarnie and I would only get in your way.’
And as they kissed, the entire wedding party – C-3PO, R2-D2, plenty of Ewoks, a very unhappy Jabba the Hutt and a Jar Jar Binks who’d almost got turned away at the door – appeared over the top of the dune, coming down to get their photographs taken. Polly instantly felt guilty for behaving badly at her best friend’s wedding, until Kerensa, right in the centre of the group, moving very slowly as befitted her queenly status and uncomfortable garments, came towards her with her bouquet of blood-red roses outstretched.
‘I’m not going to throw these,’ she said. ‘I can’t lift my arms anyway. I think they are just for you.’
The rest of the wedding was a riot of excess: oysters and fresh Maine lobster, a new cocktail, rows of immaculate waiters, and a famous eighties band who were truly terrible in every way, though the people in costumes rivalled it. There was a choreographed dance by the bride and groom that nobody who saw it ever forgot; four hours of speeches during which six people fell asleep, and a cabaret performance by a famous stand-up comedian and a dancing dog.
It was all completely wasted on Polly and Huckle, who liberated a bottle or two of the Krug and stayed down by the water’s edge, completely wrapped up in one another. Huckle remembered that he should go and make his best man’s speech, but when he got to the vast marquee and saw people fanning themselves and passing out all over the place, he simply sidled over, hugged his friend (whose plastic carapace was uncomfortable to the touch and felt increasingly sticky, though Reuben refused to remove it) and whispered in his ear:
‘Do you want the full version or the short version?’
‘MAKE THIS HELL END,’ breathed Reuben through his regulator, whereupon Huckle held up his glass and declared: