An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding by Christina Jones

Cobbler’s rose-covered doorway to collect glasses. ‘Hi, Gina. No – Sophie was just wondering if you had a spare room.’
    ‘Been chucked out of your flat, have you, Soph?’ Gina blew strands of hair away from her face. ‘Too many all-night parties? And yes, I’ve got a couple of rooms free.’
    ‘It’s not for me. It’s for Nalisha,’ Sophie said. ‘You know, Jay’s
friend.
’
    ‘Ah yes –’ Gina gave Erin a sympathetic glance ‘– I’ve heard all about her. And I thought she wasn’t coming for a few days and when she did she was staying at the Bates Motel.’
    Erin flapped her hands. ‘She’s here now, but don’t worry, I’ll go and see Esme Bates and sort it out. I wouldn’t want to inflict her on you.’
    Sophie giggled. ‘Erin’s jealous.’
    ‘Oh, God! Grow up! I’m not jealous – just annoyed.’
    ‘Understandably.’ Gina smiled kindly, then flapped her curls away from her face. ‘Jeeze, it’s hot out here. Mind you, it’s even hotter inside and there’s only me and Part-time Pearl and old Sam to serve. Part-time Pearl is already complaining about her “poor ol’ feet giving her gyp”, and Sam’s gone selectively deaf today and is slower than a snail, love him. If you hear of anyone even slightly able-bodied looking for bar work I’ll snap ’em up. Er, by the way, Erin, did you see Doug? Did you mention …?’
    ‘Yes and yes. He’s, er, busy with a customer at the moment, though. He’ll … um … probably be across as soon as he’s free.’
    Gina smiled happily.
    ‘Right.’ Erin stood up. ‘I’m off to sort out Nalisha’s accommodation. I may be some time.’
    Now cursing herself for havinggiven the still smiling Gina false hopes, Erin took a deep breath of scorching air and set off across the green towards the vet’s surgery.
    Nook Green sweltered. A heat haze hung motionless over the village. Everywhere was silent, somnolent, drowsy. A few villagers gossiped idly in whatever shade they could find. A radio played muted nostalgia from an open window and the air smelled of scorched, baked earth.
    Scrunching her way diagonally over the tinder-dry grass, kicking up little puffballs of dust, Erin was so immersed in her thoughts that she hardly felt the sun prickling the top of her head and the sweat trickling down the back of her vest.
    And for the first time in months, her forthcoming marriage to Jay wasn’t the thing that was uppermost in her mind. Well, not directly at least. There was Doug and Gina to worry about now, and the two-faced Nalisha and possibly a further clash with Deena.
    Erin gulped the warm, stifling air and sighed heavily. Usually, the pretty familiarity of the village acted as a balm whatever her problems. But not today. Today, the symmetry of Nook Green – with St Lawrence’s church at one end of the green, the Merry Cobbler at the other; the Old Curiosity Shop to one side and Jay’s veterinary surgery opposite; and all of them linked together by an uneven circle of skew-whiff cottages and mellow redbrick houses, not to mention the Nook Green Stores and Post Office – failed to comfort her.
    She was almost unaware of the canopyof delicious shade offered by the lacy tracery of the towering sycamores and horse chestnuts, of the glorious fallen-rainbow cottage gardens, or the distant shouts of children playing on the Nook Green recreation ground on one of the myriad lanes that radiated in high-hedged ripples from the centre of the village.
    Even the hotly exotic scents of flowers and the incessant babble-over-pebbles trickle of the Nook – yet another tributary of the River Maizey – as it wandered aimlessly through the green’s tussocky grass, both of which usually delighted her, went unnoticed.
    Oh, sod Doug and his cavalier approach to his love life. And sod Deena Keskar and her interfering, however well intentioned. And even more sod Nalisha for – well, just being Nalisha.
    Erin quietly opened the door of the vet’s surgery and almost