Harriet's Arrangement

Jennifer

The week after their triple date dinner (after which Tom had unleashed his nervous energy in the most delicious of ways) went quickly for Harriet. Work was busy at the moment, with their next event less than two weeks away, but with Johnny almost back to his normal self, things were starting to feel comfortable and right again. Meetings with Kieran and Johnny became almost as enjoyable as they used to be, and she stopped dreading heading into work, no longer wondering how she would tiptoe around awkward conversations. Kieran was delighted that his two team members had found a way through this difficult period, and seemed more relaxed as well.

Harriet and Tom were spending more and more time at one another's flats, and were talking quite seriously about moving in together. Pooling their resources would mean a bigger place – maybe two bedrooms, if they stayed in the same area. Tom's book was coming on well – and he had a publisher interested, with a first draft almost complete. Harriet had started to write again as well, here and there, and on the whole, as Lily's much-anticipated wedding day approached, she felt like life was finally back on track the way it should be.

***

"How are you feeling, Lils?" Eva asked, handing her friend a glass of fizz that Harriet had just returned with from the bar. The three of them had just finished with final wedding day preparation, and Lily had said her goodnights to her fiancé: the girls would now have dinner with Lily's parents in the hotel restaurant where the wedding breakfast would take place the following day, and she and Adam wouldn't see one another until Lily walked down the aisle in the village church the following day.

"Oh gosh, I've no idea!" Lily said, laughing, "I can't believe I'm getting married tomorrow!"

Harriet sat down next to her friends and grinned at Lily. "Exciting, right?!" she said, "I can't wait. It's going to be so amazing."

"It's time to chill now," Eva said, reassuringly, "You absolutely deserve to. You've planned this day incredibly: there's nothing more to do!"

Harriet smiled, so happy for Lily basking in her pre-wedding glow, thinking again how settled things had begun to feel.

But then, as if the universe was determined to keep her on her toes, over Eva's shoulder she saw a movement that made her blood run cold. Her friends looked at her. "Hattie?" Lily asked.

"Um... uh Lily, wasn't the hotel... haven't you booked the hotel exclusively this weekend?" she stuttered. She'd gone deathly white.

"Yes... why?" Lily said, looking round, while Eva tried to get Harriet to breathe.

"Why is... that... why is Malcolm Crawford standing at the bar?"

"Oh, gosh! I never told you!" Lily said, spotting who Harriet was staring at. "Adam's dad and Malcolm Crawford are old friends, back from university days or something – they have that weird relationship where they go to each other's kids' weddings. So he and his wife are on the guest list. I've never met them as with half Adam's parents' guests, and I only made the connection to your work a couple of weeks ago: I –" She tailed off, seeing the expression on Harriet's face. "Hattie, what's wrong?"

Harriet looked as though she was about to faint. She was still staring at Malcolm, who was laughing with the barman, and who thankfully hadn't noticed her yet. "His wife?" she said, weakly. Of everything Lily had just said, that was what had deafened her completely.

"Hattie, what the fuck is going on?" asked Eva quietly.

Harriet finally tore her gaze away from Malcolm and looked at them both across the table, not quite finding the words. Eva clicked first. "Oh shit, Hattie," she whispered, "That man is..."