‘Earth to Zoe. Are you there?’
Zoe blinked, and realised Bella had been talking, and by the look of frustration on her face she’d been saying something important. ‘Sorry. I—ah—missed what you said.’
Bella sighed and gave a little, heaven-help-me eye roll. ‘I said I was hoping you’d be my bridesmaid.’
Zap!
Zoe’s heart gave a jolt, like a soldier jumping to attention. She’d been so busy getting her head around Bella’s new status as fiancée, she’d given no thought to her actual wedding. But bridesmaid?
Wow!
She had a sudden vision of Bella looking lovely in white, with a misty veil … and herself in a beautiful bridesmaid’s gown.
There’d be bouquets … and handsome guys in formal suits.
She’d never been a bridesmaid.
Warmth flooded her and she felt quite dizzy with excitement. ‘I’d love to be your bridesmaid. I’d be totally honoured.’
This was no exaggeration. In fact, Zoe was quite sure Bella could never guess how over-the-top excited she was about this.
She’d heard other girls groan about being bridesmaids. They seemed to look on the honour as a boring chore and they told war stories about having to wear horrible satin gowns in the worst possible colours and styles.
Talk about ungrateful! For Zoe, being a bridesmaid was a wonderful privilege. She would wear anything Bella chose—puce coloured lace or slime-toned velvet—she wouldn’t care. Being Bella’s bridesmaid was clear, indisputable evidence that she was someone’s really close friend.
Finally.
Oh, cringe. Anyone would think she was a total loser.
Well … truth was … she’d actually felt like a loser for much of her childhood. She’d had so few chances to make close friends, because her parents had dragged her all around the country, living—honest to God—in the back of a bus. There’d never been time for her friendships to get off the ground.
Her best effort had been in the fifth grade when the band broke up for a bit and her parents had stayed in Shepparton for almost twelve months. Zoe had become really good friends with Melanie Trotter. But then the band had regrouped and her parents had moved on, and the girls’ letter exchange had lasted six months before slowing to a trickle, then, inevitably, dried up.
It wasn’t until Zoe started work at Bodwin & North and met Bella that she’d finally had the chance to form the kind of ongoing friendship she’d always longed for. And now, here was the proof—an invitation to be Bella’s bridesmaid.
Zoe beamed at Bella. ‘Will it be a country wedding?’
‘Yes—on the Rigbys’ property—Willara Downs.’
‘Wow. That sounds utterly perfect.’ Ever since her childhood, travelling through endless country towns, Zoe had known a secret yearning to drive through a farm gateway instead of whizzing past. Now, she wouldn’t merely be driving through the farm gate, she’d be totally involved in the proceedings.
Wow, again. She could picture Bella’s big day so easily—white-covered trestle tables on a homestead veranda. A ceremony beneath an archway of pale pink roses. Male guests with broad shoulders and suntans. Women in pearls.
‘So … how many bridesmaids are you planning’ She tried to sound casual, which wasn’t easy when she was holding her breath. Would she be sharing this honour with six bridesmaids? Hadn’t she read somewhere that a celebrity had eighteen attendants—all of them in purple silk?
‘Only one,’ Bella said calmly as she spooned fragrant froth from the inside of her glass. ‘It won’t be a big flashy wedding. Just family and close friends. I’ve never wanted a swarm of bridesmaids.’ She smiled. ‘I just want you, Zoes. You’ll be perfect.’
Perfect. What a wonderful word.
‘I’ll do everything I can to make the day perfect for you,’ Zoe said.
There was no question—she would try her utmost to be the perfect bridesmaid. She would research her duties and carry them out conscientiously. No bride had ever had a more dedicated wedding attendant. ‘So, do we have a date? Is there a time line?’
‘Actually, we were thinking about October twenty-first.’
‘Gosh, that’s only a few weeks away.’
‘I know, but Kent and I didn’t want to wait.’
How romantic.
Zoe supposed she’d hear the phrase Kent and I rather a lot in the next few weeks. She wondered, as she had many times, what it was like to be so deeply in love.
But then another thought struck. Leaning closer, she whispered, ‘Bell, you’re not pregnant, are you?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Just checking, seeing you’re in such a rush, in case my bridesmaid’s duties involved knitting bootees.’
Bright red in the face, Bella slapped her wrist. ‘Shut up, idiot.’
‘Sorry.’ Zoe smiled. ‘Well, a tight deadline can focus the mind wonderfully.’
‘It shouldn’t be too hard to organise. Everything will happen at the homestead, so we won’t need to book a church, or cars or a reception venue, and the local rector is a good friend of the Rigbys.’
‘So you only have to buy a wedding dress and order a cake.’
‘Yes. Too easy,’ Bella said with a laugh, and then as they started on their sandwiches her face grew more serious. ‘I’ve made an appointment with Eric Bodwin. I’ll have to resign, because I’ll be living at Willara, but I was also hoping we might be able to arrange time off for you as well, so you can come out and help with all the last minute organising. I don’t want to burden Kent with too much of the leg-work. But I know the time off would eat into your holiday allowance—’
‘That’s fine,’ Zoe said quickly. ‘I’d love a week or so in the country.’ She was feeling a bit down at the thought of Bella resigning, but then she grinned. ‘As a bonus, I might have a chance to wangle a nice country romance of my own.’
Bella’s eyes danced. ‘Now that’s a thought.’ It wasn’t just an idle thought for Zoe. As a young girl, experiencing constant brief tastes of country towns before moving on, she’d developed something of a penchant for the jeans-clad sons of farmers with their muscular shoulders and rolling, loose-hipped strides.
‘Mind you,’ Bella said, ‘I’ve grown away from country life since I moved to Brisbane.’
‘But you’re looking forward to going back and settling down as a farmer’s wife, aren’t you?’
Bella gave her lower lip a slightly troubled chew. ‘It will certainly be an adjustment.’
‘I
