Zoey Jones [Bonus Material]

Still Single

He sighed but nodded.

"Ok, let's get this show on the road. You're sure you've got everything in the car?"

He sighed, this time in irritation. It was understandable. I'd been asking variations of the question for the last three hours. Then he saw my grin and grinned too. Both of us were about as excited as Mum and Dad were. We'd seen the numerous proposals over the years and I was sure more happened behind closed doors. They may as well have been married since they were twenty, but finally it was going to be official.

I hugged him in shared excitement, laughed a little and then sat back on my seat. We grinned a little more and then we put our plan into action.

"Dad!" I yelled. "Dad, Dan's sliced his finger open!"

Dad jumped into action and thundered down the stairs along with Mum. Their son was notorious for fainting at the nearest drop of blood, hurting himself had always been cause for concern. He was a little better when it was his own blood – weird – but not better enough to handle a sliced open finger.

"Zoey, what the hell?" Dad asked. He was stood in the doorway, had his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Not a good sign.

So of course I grumbled and said, "Fine, you win the bet."

Dan looked at me like I was an idiot because telling Dad we'd taken bets on which swear word he'd used was not a good idea right now. In fact it was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

"You think this is a joke, Zoey Anne Jones?" Dad said, his voice a whip crack that brought tears to my eyes.

Dan shot up from his chair and followed the rest of the plan to the letter. "Time to go, Dad," he said quickly and started pushing our surprised looking father out of the kitchen despite the fact he was in a dressing gown that was only loosely tied. "I've got the car packed and everything."

"Daniel –"

"Don't argue, Dad," Dan said and pushed Dad through the lounge. "You're going to love it."

"What on earth..."

The front door opened and closed and a moment later the car started.

"Really, Zoey," Mum huffed and leaned on the door frame. Her arms were crossed too. "What is all this about? It's only just turned midnight."

I looked at the clock. The second hand was reaching the number six. I grinned. "Just in time."

"What's just in time?"

"The bride and groom can't see each other the day before the wedding. It's bad luck," I said innocently and with a too sweet smile.

Mum sighed in irritation.

"Don't give me that, Mum," I gently mocked. "Dan and I are ensuring marital bliss."

"Marital bli – I'm going back to bed."

I yawed and decided bed was a good idea.

*     *     *     *

Mum's two other bridesmaids arrived at midday, waking both me and Mum up. We spent the day first of all getting waxes, calling the hotel to check that everything was ready for tomorrow and nothing had gone wrong, and then slobbing out in the lounge watching TV.

"I'm so glad you made up with Alexander," Catalina said to me. So far all she'd done was gush about how much I'd grown so the change in topic was a welcome one.

We were making dinner together and it was a healthy paella with prawns and chorizo. She was doing most of the cooking and I was doing a very good job of being propped up by the unit.